''First Love'' (russian: Первая любовь, ''Pervaya lyubov'') is a

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...

, first published in 1860. It is one of his most popular pieces of short fiction. It tells the love story between a 21-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy.

Background

''First Love'' was published in March 1860 in the '' Reader's Library''. The author claimed it was the most autobiographical of all his works. Here Turgenev is retelling an incident from his own life, his infatuation with a young neighbor in the country, Princess Catherine Shakhovskoy (the Zinaida of the novella), an infatuation that lasted until his discovery that Catherine was in fact his own father's mistress. Critics were divided. Some criticized its light subject matter that did not touch upon any of the pressing social and political issues of the day. Others condemned the impropriety of that subject matter, namely a father and son in love with the same woman and a young woman who was the mistress of a married man. But it had its many admirers, including the French novelist

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

, who gushed in a letter to Turgenev, "What an exciting girl that Zinochka inaidais!" The Countess Lambert, a close acquaintance of Turgenev, told the author that the

Russian emperor The emperor or empress of all the Russias or All Russia, ''Imperator Vserossiyskiy'', ''Imperatritsa Vserossiyskaya'' (often titled Tsar or Tsarina/Tsaritsa) was the monarch of the Russian Empire. The title originated in connection with Russia' ...

himself had read the novella to the empress and been delighted by it.

Central characters

Vladimir Petrovich – The storyteller, at the time of narration a 16-year-old boy; the protagonist of the story. Zinaida Alexandrovna Zasyekina – The object of Vladimir's affections. Capricious, mocking and difficult, she is inconsistent in her affections towards her suitors, of which Vladimir is the one to whom she shows (outwardly) the most affection. However, it is the affection of sister to brother rather than between lovers. Pyotr Vasilyevich – Vladimir's father, a stoic symbol of 19th century masculinity; very 'British' in outlook and apparently unreceptive to emotion but the object of quiet admiration by the son

English translations

*Turgenev, Ivan. ''Turgenev's Novels'', v. 11 ("The Torrents of Spring." "First Love." "Mumu."). Trans. Constance Garnett. London: Heinemann, 1897. Out of print. *Turgenev, Ivan. ''First Love''. Trans. Isaiah Berlin. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1950. Out of print. Now available in Penguin Classics, 1978. . :Penguin edition includes an introduction by V.S. Pritchett. *Turgenev, Ivan. ''First Love and Other Stories'', Oxford World's Classics. Trans. Richard Freeborn. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. . :The translation is based on the text from I.S. Turgenev, ''Polnoye sobraniye sochineniy i pisem''. Moskva-Leningrad, Vol. IX, 1965, pp. 7–76. This edition also contains ''The Diary of a Superfluous Man'', ''Mumu'', ''Asya'', ''King Lear of the Steppes'', and ''The Song of Triumpant Love''. *Turgenev, Ivan. ''First Love.'' New York: Penguin Books, 2007.

Film adaptation

"Pervaya lyubov'" (Первая любовь) USSR, Mosfilm 1968, 76 min A German-Swiss film adaption of Turgenev's novella directed by

Maximilian Schell Maximilian Schell (8 December 1930 – 1 February 2014) was an Austrian-born Swiss actor, who also wrote, directed and produced some of his own films. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1961 American film ''Judgment at Nuremberg'', h ...

was released on 1970 and was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. Anne Flournoy's 1983 short ''Nadja Yet'' is an adaptation of "First Love." Zinaida Alexandrovna Zasyekina is played by Jenny Wright. Pyotr Vasilyevich is played by Stephen Payne. Vladimir Petrovich is played by a live-action housefly. ''Nadja Yet'' can be seen on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. The film '' Lover's Prayer'' combining Turgenev's novella and Chekhov's ''The Peasant Woman'' was released in 2001. The Tamil

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...

movie ''

Sindhu Samaveli ''Sindhu Samaveli'' () is a 2010 Tamil-language independent erotic thriller film written and directed by Samy. The film stars debutants Harish Kalyan, Amala Paul, and Ghajini. The music was composed by Sundar C Babu. The film became Samy's ...

'' is an adaptation of ''First Love''. In literal context, ''Sindhu Samaveli'' is the Tamil name for

Indus Valley civilization The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900&n ...

Takarazuka Revue The is a Japanese all-female musical theatre troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions of Western-style musicals and stories adapted from films, novels, manga, and Japane ...

's 2014 Bowhall production "Nocturne - Memory of a Distant Summer Day" (ノクターン－遠い夏の日の記憶－) is a musical adaptation of the novella.

Modern reception

The story was featured at number four on

Rosa Rankin-Gee Rosa Rankin-Gee (born 1986) is a British writer based in Ramsgate. Rankin-Gee was brought up in Kensal Rise, London. She studied at Durham University.- After leaving university with a degree in modern languages she moved to Sark in the Channel ...

's top 10 novellas about love via ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and featured in a similar roundup by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 2013. In 2020, an adaptation of the novella titled ''About Love'' was presented off-Broadway at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture.

References

External links

Trans. Constance Garnett. Includes ''First Love'' along with two other Turgenev stories, '' Torrents of Spring'' and '' Mumu''. *
Full text of ''First Love'' in the original Russian
at Alexei Komarov's Internet Library {{DEFAULTSORT:First Love (Novella) 1860 Russian novels Frame stories Novellas by Ivan Turgenev Russian novels adapted into films