Books - Home of the Gentry

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	Books - Home of the Gentry

Home of the Gentry (Russian: Дворянское гнездо) is a novel published by Ivan Turgenev in 1859. It was enthusiastically received by the Russian society and remained his less controversial and most widely-read novel until the end of the 19th century. It was turned into a movie by Andron Konchalovsky in 1969.

The novel's protagonist is Lavretsky, a nobleman who shares many traits with Turgenev. His father had him brought up as an Anglomane but, having returned to his family nest, Lavretsky feels that his education and manners alienate him from common Russian people. He falls in love with Liza, a nun-like innocent girl who shares religious and Slavophile feelings that were on the upsurge in Russia on the eve of the Crimean War. At the close of the book, Lavretsky feels himself reconciled and decides that his destination is to "plough the land" and to serve his people.

The novel is often interpreted as reflecting Turgenev's disillusionment with and valediction to his own generation which he thought was rootless and alien to the Russian society. In his future novels, he would decribe a generation that followed. The novel is famous for its soft, evocative atmosphere. Music plays a large part in the inner workings of the novel, as the characters are highlighted by the music they like or dislike.

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