He never married, but he did have a daughter with one of his family’s servants. He lived either at Baden-Baden or Paris, often near the singer Pauline Viardot, who he was having an affair with. In later life, Turgenev did not live in Russia much. In 1879, he received an honorary degree from the University of Oxford in England.

Smoke was published in 1867, but again was not popular in Russia. Many people did not like the novel which upset Turgenev and he began to write less. In 1862, Fathers and Sons, Turgenev’s most famous novel, appeared. In 1860 one of Turgenev’s most famous novels, First Love, was published. Writers and artists had more freedom from this time. The political system in Russia changed in 1855 when Alexander II took over power from his father Nicholas I. In 1854, Turgenev moved to Western Europe and started writing his novel Rudin, which complained about the Russia of the 1840s and 1850s. In 1852 Turgenev himself was put in prison for a month for praising Nikolai Gogol – a famous Russian writer who had been criticised by the ruling powers in the country. Many intelligent Russians left the country and went to England, France and Germany. The political system did not allow them to express themselves as they wanted to. The 1840s and 1850s were hard times for writers and artists in Russia. Turgenev liked Germany and thought Russia should change their social system to be more like Germany’s. In 1838 he went to the University of Berlin to study philosophy and history. Turgenev went to the University of Moscow for one year and then moved to the University of Saint Petersburg, where he studied Classics and Russian Literature. He and his brother Nicholas were brought up by their mother. His father died when Turgenev was sixteen. Turgenev was born into a rich land-owning family in Oryol, Russia, on 9 November 1818. Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (9 November 1818 - 3 September 1883) was a Russian writer, most famous for his novel Fathers and Sons.

1862 turgenev novel