The Peasant Proprietor Ovsyanikov

By Ivan Turgenev

The story follows the life of Stepan Ovsyanikov, a peasant who has recently become a landowner. Stepan, who was once a serf, is now the proud owner of a small estate. Despite his newfound freedom, Stepan's life is far from easy. He struggles to manage his land and make ends meet, and his relationships with his family members are strained. As the story unfolds, we see Stepan grappling with the responsibilities that come with landownership. He tries to be a good landlord to his serfs, but he is also forced to collect rent from them in order to pay off his own debts. Meanwhile, his son Vasya, who has been educated in the city, has grown distant from his father and sees his new status as a landowner as a burden.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Interactive Media
• Release date: Feb 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9781787241596

Ivan Turgenev

Ivan Turgenev was a Russian writer whose work is exemplary of Russian Realism. A student of Hegel, Turgenev’s political views and writing were heavily influenced by the Age of Enlightenment. Among his most recognized works are the classic Fathers and Sons, A Sportsman’s Sketches, and A Month in the Country. Turgenev is today recognized for his artistic purity, which influenced writers such as Henry James and Joseph Conrad. Turgenev died in 1883, and is credited with returning Leo Tolstoy to writing as the result of his death-bed plea.

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Ivan Turgenev

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Ivan Turgenev

The Peasant Proprietor Ovsyanikov

Published by Sovereign

This edition first published in 2017

Copyright © 2017 Sovereign

All Rights Reserve

ISBN: 9781787241596

Contents

THE PEASANT PROPRIETOR OVSYANIKOV

THE PEASANT PROPRIETOR OVSYANIKOV

Picture to yourselves, gentle readers, a stout, tall man of seventy, with a face reminding one somewhat of the face of Kriloff, clear and intelligent eyes under overhanging brows, dignified in bearing, slow in speech, and deliberate in movement: there you have Ovsyanikov. He wore an ample blue overcoat with long sleeves, buttoned all the way up, a lilac silk-handkerchief round his neck, brightly polished boots with tassels, and altogether resembled in appearance a well-to-do merchant. His hands were handsome, soft, and white; he often fumbled with the buttons of his coat as he talked. With his dignity and his composure, his good sense and his indolence, his uprightness and his obstinacy, Ovsyanikov reminded me of the Russian boyars of the times before Peter the Great.... The national holiday dress would have suited him well. He was one of the last men left of the old time. All his neighbours had a great respect for him, and considered it an honour to be acquainted with him. His fellow peasant-proprietors almost worshipped him, and took off their hats to him from a distance: they were proud of him. Generally speaking, in these days, it is difficult to tell a peasant- proprietor from a peasant; his husbandry is almost worse than the peasant’s; his calves are wretchedly small; his horses are only half alive; his harness is made of rope. Ovsyanikov was an exception to the general rule, though he did not pass for a wealthy man. He lived alone with his wife in a clean and comfortable little house, kept a few servants, whom he dressed in the Russian style and called his ‘workmen.’ They were employed also in ploughing his land. He did not attempt to pass for a nobleman, did not affect to be a landowner; never, as they say,