Pushkin’s teachers gather in the old mansion. The house is already two hundred years old and miraculously survived the Patriotic War of 1812. And from 1840 to 1850 it was filmed by Colonel Varvara Turgeneva, the writer’s mother. It is this estate that is described in the story “Mumu” by Ivan Turgenev, and its inhabitants became the prototypes of the heroes.
Award-winning Belarusian Galina Bogdan casually comments: “Mu-Mu is full of archaic vocabulary, but our children really like the story.”
The mansion’s fascinating history continues. It turns out that, in addition to Turgenev, the house was glorified by other famous families. For example, it was filmed by the author of “The Scarlet Flower” Sergei Aksakov, and Pushkin’s wife Natalya Nikolaevna rented it…
Uzbekistan teacher Davron Asatov says his students enjoy studying the works of Ivan Sergeevich. And he himself is close to the hero of “Fathers and Sons” Bazarov, with his nihilism, his directness… “With children, we often discuss the conflict of generations in this work, which is always relevant,” the teacher summarizes. . He captivates schoolchildren by the fact that in the climactic moments he withdraws, does not finish speaking, choosing to read the brightest and most interesting parts of the work. “Then they want to read the novel to the end,” explains the Russian specialist.
By the way, houses in Moscow were very expensive, the guide informs. Pushkin’s teachers shake their heads in surprise: Varvara Turgeneva paid more than a thousand rubles in rent a year. With this money she could buy a herd of 200 cows.
“At the Estonian Turgenev School there are few events, most of them at reduced prices. But no one cancels the theatrical performances,” says Estonian Russian specialist Eleonora Rudakovskaya-Borisova, looking at photographs of the house’s tenants.
“The actor Shchepkin was here, and in general the cream of Moscow society came,” the guide continues. Teachers walk around the “Moscow World and Family” room. There is good acoustics there, in the writer’s time there was music and his muse Pauline Viardot visited. “A Spanish woman, a gypsy, a vampire,” says Russian Transnistria specialist Marianna Smirnova. – It was very interesting for me to read the correspondence between Turgenev and Viardot. Descriptions of how to play musical instruments are found very frequently in the writer’s works.”
Russian teachers admire the portrait of Varvara Turgeneva. A noblewoman from the ancient Lutovinov family, she considered herself a “knowing and understanding” woman, but she was proud and tough. “I did not give my adult children money, nor deeds of gift of property.” The guide includes on screen a scene of an unpleasant conversation between Varvara Petrovna and her children, played by actors. Everyone listens very carefully.
And they shake their heads when they see on the wall a portrait of Turgenev’s father, who died when the writer was only 16 years old. Sergei Turgenev was a hero of the War of 1812. Russian scholars are especially delighted with the story of how a father participated in the education of his children. An excerpt from his memoirs has survived, where he looks for a Russian (“Russian”) language teacher for them. And while he is abroad, the writer’s father asks his children in a letter why they neglect his native language. And he is cunning: he asks the children to explain to him how to correctly say this or that word in Russian, in which case to put, “if not, he forgot” …
Before his death, his father decided that Turgenev should study. The teachers admire the writer because he added two more years to be able to enroll in university at the age of 14.
In the room dedicated to Turgenev’s work, Marianna Smirnova draws attention to the spine of the book: “Look, it says “On the eve” and with “er” at the end of the word, and not “on the eve.” so interesting, like “on the eve” of something, “she reflects. The teacher says that the children’s acquaintance with Turgenev’s work in her school begins with the series “Notes of a Hunter.” Then the schoolchildren learn his great poem in prose about the Russian language, precisely what every Russian teacher remembers when he needs support: “In the days of doubt, in the days of painful thoughts about the fate of my homeland, only you are my support and support. Oh, great!”, powerful, truthful and free Russian language!” And deeper, the Russian specialist continues, Turgenev is touched by Pridnestrovia schoolchildren in grade 8. It all begins with “Asia”. The prototype of the heroine of the story is considered to be Turgenev’s illegitimate daughter Pelagia. To the students Eighth graders really like this image of Turgenev’s girl, pure and open, because Asya is not like most of her contemporaries.
“By the way, Asya (Pelageya) divorced her husband. In the 19th century… Imagine!” the teacher is surprised.
