About the product
The story “Youth” by Tolstoy, written in 1857, became the completion of Lev Nikolaevich’s famous trilogy (“Childhood”, “Adolescence”, “Youth”). The book describes the student years of the life of the main character and his close circle.
The story is autobiographical, it belongs to the direction of “critical realism”. The work describes growing up and developing a personality.
On our website we recommend reading online a summary of “Youth” chapter by chapter; this will be useful for a reading diary and preparation for a literature lesson.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.
Text of the book "Youth"
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy
Youth
Chapter I.
WHAT I CONSIDER AS THE BEGINNING OF YOUTH
I said that my friendship with Dmitry gave me a new perspective on life, its purpose and relationships. The essence of this view was the conviction that the purpose of man is the desire for moral improvement and that this improvement is easy, possible and eternal. But until now I have only enjoyed the discovery of new thoughts arising from this conviction, and the drawing up of brilliant plans for a moral, active future; but my life continued in the same petty, confused and idle order.
Those virtuous thoughts that we went through in conversations with my adored friend Dmitry, the wonderful Mitya
, as I sometimes called it in a whisper to myself, still only appealed to my mind, and not to my feelings. But the time came when these thoughts came into my head with such a fresh force of moral discovery that I became frightened, thinking about how much time I had wasted, and immediately, that very second, I wanted to apply these thoughts to life, with the firm intention of never don't change them anymore.
And from this time I consider the beginning of youth
.
At that time I was sixteen years old. Teachers continued to visit me, St.-Jérôme supervised my studies, and I reluctantly and unwillingly prepared for university. Outside of studies, my activities consisted of: solitary, incoherent dreams and reflections, doing gymnastics in order to become the first strongman in the world, wandering without any specific purpose or thought through all the rooms and especially the corridor of the maid’s room, and looking at myself in the mirror, from which However, I always left with a heavy feeling of despondency and even disgust. My appearance, I was convinced, was not only ugly, but I could not even console myself with ordinary consolations in such cases. I could not say that I had an expressive, intelligent or noble face. There was nothing expressive - the most ordinary, rude and bad features; my small gray eyes, especially when I looked in the mirror, were more stupid than smart. There was even less courage: despite the fact that I was not short in stature and very strong for my years, all my facial features were soft, sluggish, and vague. There was nothing even noble; on the contrary, my face was like that of a simple peasant, and my legs and arms were just as big; and at that time it seemed very shameful to me.
Chapter II.
SPRING
The year I entered the university, the Saint was somehow late in April, so the exams were scheduled for St. Thomas, and on Passion I had to fast and finally prepare.
The weather after wet snow, which Karl Ivanovich used to call “ the son came for his father.”
“, it had been quiet, warm and clear for three days now. There was not a patch of snow visible on the streets, the dirty dough was replaced by wet, shiny pavement and fast streams. The last drops were already melting from the roofs in the sun, buds were swelling on the trees in the front garden, there was a dry path in the yard, past a frozen pile of manure to the stables and near the porch there was green mossy grass between the stones. There was that special period of spring that has the strongest effect on a person’s soul: a bright, shiny, but not hot sun, streams and thawed patches, fragrant freshness in the air and a soft blue sky with long transparent clouds. I don’t know why, but it seems to me that in a big city the influence of this first period of the birth of spring is even more noticeable and stronger on the soul - you see less, but you anticipate more. I stood near the window, through which the morning sun through the double frames cast dusty rays onto the floor of my unbearably boring classroom, and solved some long algebraic equation on the black board. In one hand I held Francoeur’s tattered soft “Algebra”, in the other a small piece of chalk, with which I had already stained both hands, the face and elbows of the half-coat. Nikolai, wearing an apron and with his sleeves rolled up, was beating off the putty with pliers and bending the nails of the window that opened into the front garden. His occupation and the knocking he made entertained my attention. Moreover, I was in a very bad, dissatisfied mood. I somehow didn’t succeed: I made a mistake at the beginning of the calculation, so I had to start everything from the beginning; I dropped the chalk twice, I felt that my face and hands were dirty, the sponge was missing somewhere, the knocking that Nikolai made somehow painfully shook my nerves. I wanted to get angry and grumble; I dropped the chalk and Algebra and began walking around the room. But I remembered that today is Holy Wednesday, today we must confess, and that we must refrain from everything bad; and suddenly I came into some special, meek state of mind and approached Nikolai.
“Let me help you, Nikolai,” I said, trying to give my voice the meekest expression; and the thought that I was doing well by suppressing my annoyance and helping him further strengthened this meek mood of spirit in me.
The putty was knocked off, the nails were bent, but, despite the fact that Nikolai pulled the crossbars with all his might, the frame did not move.
“If the frame comes out right now when I pull with it,” I thought, “that means it’s a sin, and there’s no need to do any more work today.” The frame leaned to one side and walked out.
-Where should I take her? - I said.
“Let me handle it myself,” answered Nikolai, apparently surprised and, it seems, dissatisfied with my diligence, “we must not confuse them, otherwise I have them in the closet by numbers.”
“I’ll notice her,” I said, lifting the frame.
It seems to me that if the closet were two miles away and the frame weighed twice as much, I would be very pleased. I wanted to wear myself out doing this service to Nikolai. When I returned to the room, the bricks and salt pyramids had already been placed on the windowsill and Nikolai was sweeping sand and sleepy flies out of the open window with his wing. Fresh fragrant air had already entered the room and filled it. From the window one could hear the noise of the city and the chirping of sparrows in the front garden.
All objects were brightly lit, the room became cheerful, a light spring breeze stirred the sheets of my Algebra and the hair on Nikolai’s head. I went to the window, sat down on it, leaned into the front garden and thought.
Some new, extremely strong and pleasant feeling suddenly penetrated my soul. Wet earth, along which here and there bright green needles of grass with yellow stems were knocked out, streams shining in the sun, along which pieces of earth and wood chips curled, reddened lilac twigs with swollen buds swaying just under the window, the busy chirping of birds swarming in it. bush, a blackish fence wet from the snow melting on it, and most importantly, this fragrant damp air and joyful sun spoke to me clearly, clearly about something new and beautiful, which, although I cannot convey the way it affected me, I will try to convey the way I perceived it - everything spoke to me about beauty, happiness and virtue, said that both were easy and possible for me, that one cannot exist without the other, and even that beauty, happiness and virtue - same. “How could I not understand this, how bad I was before, how I could and can be good and happy in the future! - I said to myself. “We must quickly, quickly, this very minute, become a different person and begin to live differently.” Despite this, I, however, sat on the window for a long time, dreaming and doing nothing. Have you ever gone to bed in the summer during the day in cloudy rainy weather and, waking up at sunset, open your eyes and in the expanding quadrangle of the window, from under the linen blind, which, inflated, beats like a rod on the window sill, see the rain-wet, shady, lilac side? a linden alley and a damp garden path illuminated by bright slanting rays, suddenly hear the cheerful life of birds in the garden and see insects that hover in the window opening, shining through in the sun, smell the after-rain air and think: “How embarrassed I was to sleep through such an evening.” , - and hastily jump up to go to the garden to enjoy life? If it happened, then here is an example of the strong feeling that I experienced at that time.
Chapter III.
DREAMS
“Today I confess, I am cleansed of all sins,” I thought, “and I will never do it again... (here I remembered all the sins that tormented me most), I will definitely go to church every Sunday, and after that I will read for an hour the gospel, then from the little white one
, which I will receive every month when I enter the university, I will certainly give two and a half (one tenth) to the poor, and so that no one knows: and not to the beggars, but I will begin to look for such poor people, an orphan or an old woman, about whom No one knows.
I will have a special room (that's right, St. Jérôme's), and I will clean it myself and keep it amazingly clean; I will not force a person to do anything for himself. After all, he is the same as me. Then I’ll walk to the university every day (and if they give me a droshky, I’ll sell it and put that money aside for the poor) and I’ll do everything exactly (what that “everything” was, I couldn’t have said then, but I vividly understood and felt this “everything” of a rational, moral, impeccable life). I will compose lectures and even go through subjects ahead, so that in the first year I will be the first and write a dissertation; in the second year I will already know everything in advance, and they can transfer me straight to the third year, so that at the age of eighteen I will finish the course as the first candidate with two gold medals, then I will pass the master's degree, the doctorate and become the first scientist in Russia... even in Europe I I can be the first scientist... Well, and then? - I asked myself, but then I remembered that these dreams are pride, a sin, about which I will have to tell my confessor that very evening, and I returned to the beginning of my reasoning: - To prepare for the lectures, I will walk on Vorobyovy Gory; I’ll choose a place there under a tree and give lectures; sometimes I’ll take something to snack with me: cheese or a pie from Pedotti, or something. I’ll rest and then read some good book, or draw views, or play some instrument (I’ll definitely learn to play the flute). Then she
He will also go for walks on Vorobyovy Gory and someday he will come up to me and ask: who am I?
I will look at her so sadly and say that I am the son of a priest alone and that I am happy only here, when I am alone, completely alone. She will give me her hand, say something and sit next to me. So every day we will come here, we will be friends, and I will kiss her... No, this is not good. On the contrary, from now on I will no longer look at women. I will never, never go to the girls' room, I will even try not to pass by; and in three years I will leave guardianship and definitely get married. I will deliberately do as many movements as possible, gymnastics every day, so that when I am twenty-five years old, I will be stronger than Rappo. The first day I will hold half a pound “with my outstretched hand” for five minutes, the next day twenty-one pounds, on the third day twenty-two pounds and so on, so that finally there are four pounds in each hand, and so that I will be the strongest in dvorne; and when suddenly someone decides to insult me or begins to speak disrespectfully about her, I will simply take him by the chest, lift him two arshins from the ground with one hand and just hold him so that he feels my strength, and leave him; but, however, this is not good either; no, nothing, because I won’t do him harm, but will only prove that I…” Let them not reproach me for the fact that the dreams of my youth are as childish as the dreams of childhood and adolescence. I am convinced that if I am destined to live to a ripe old age and my story catches up with my age, I, an old man of seventy years old, will be just as impossible to childishly dream as I am now. I will dream about some lovely Maria who will love me, a toothless old man, as she fell in love with Mazepa, about how my feeble-minded son will suddenly become a minister for some unusual occasion, or about how suddenly I will lose millions of money . I am convinced that there is no human being or age that is deprived of this beneficial, comforting ability of dreaming. But, excluding the common feature of impossibility - the magic of dreams, the dreams of each person and each age have their own distinctive character. During that period of time, which I consider the limit of adolescence and the beginning of youth, the basis of my dreams were four feelings: love for her
, for an imaginary woman whom I always dreamed of in the same sense and whom I expected to meet somewhere at every moment.
She
was a little bit Sonechka, a little bit Masha, Vasily’s wife, while she washes clothes in a trough, and a little bit the woman with pearls on her white neck, whom I saw a long time ago in the theater, in the box next to us
. The second feeling was love love. I wanted everyone to know and love me. I wanted to say my name: Nikolai Irtenyev, and so that everyone would be amazed by this news, surround me and thank me for something. The third feeling was hope for extraordinary, vain happiness - so strong and firm that it turned into madness. I was so sure that very soon, as a result of some extraordinary event, I would suddenly become the richest and most noble person in the world, that I was constantly in anxious anticipation of something magically happy. I kept waiting for it to begin
and for me to achieve everything that a person could desire, and I was always in a hurry everywhere, believing that it was already
beginning
where I was not. The fourth and main feeling was self-loathing and repentance, but repentance was so fused with hope for happiness that it had nothing sad in it. It seemed so easy and natural to me to break away from everything that had happened, to redo it, to forget everything that had happened, and to start my life with all its relationships completely again, that the past did not burden me or bind me. I even enjoyed the disgust of the past and tried to see it darker than it was. The blacker the circle of memories of the past was, the purer and brighter the bright, pure point of the present emerged from it and the rainbow colors of the future developed. It was this voice of repentance and passionate desire for perfection that was the main new spiritual sensation in that era of my development, and it laid new foundations for my view of myself, of people and of the world of God. A good, joyful voice, so many times since then, in those sad times when the soul silently submitted to the power of life’s lies and depravity, suddenly boldly rebelling against all untruth, maliciously distinguishing the past, pointing out, forcing her to love, the clear point of the present and promising good and happiness in the future - a good, gratifying voice! Will you ever stop sounding?
Chapter IV.
OUR FAMILY CIRCLE
Dad was rarely at home this spring. But when this happened, he was extremely cheerful, strummed his favorite things on the piano, made sweet eyes and made up jokes about all of us and Mimi, like the one about the Georgian prince who saw Mimi skating and fell in love so much that he submitted a petition to the synod about the divorce, that I was being appointed as an assistant to the Viennese envoy - and with a serious face he told us this news; scared Katenka with spiders, which she was afraid of; he was very affectionate with our friends Dubkov and Nekhlyudov and constantly told us and the guests his plans for the next year. Despite the fact that these plans changed almost every day and contradicted one another, they were so fascinating that we listened to them, and Lyubochka, without blinking, looked straight at dad’s mouth so as not to utter a single word. Either the plan was to leave us in Moscow at the university, while Lyubochka and I went to Italy for two years, then to buy an estate in the Crimea, on the southern coast, and go there every summer, then to move to St. Petersburg with the whole family, etc. But, besides the special fun, there has been another change in my dad lately that really surprised me. He made himself a fashionable dress - an olive tailcoat, fashionable trousers with straps and a long bekesha, which suited him very well, and he often smelled wonderful of perfume when he went to visit, and especially to one lady, about whom Mimi did not say otherwise, as if with a sigh and with such a face on which you can read the words: “Poor orphans! Unhappy passion! It’s good that she’s no longer here,” etc. I learned from Nikolai, because dad didn’t tell us anything about his gambling affairs, that he played especially happily this winter; I won something an awful lot, put the money in a pawnshop, and in the spring I didn’t want to play anymore. It’s true that, afraid of not being able to resist, he so wanted to leave for the village as soon as possible. He even decided, without waiting for me to enter the university, immediately after Easter to go with the girls to Petrovskoye, where Volodya and I were supposed to arrive afterwards.
Volodya was inseparable from Dubkov all that winter and until spring (they began to coldly separate from Dmitry). Their main pleasures, as far as I could conclude from the conversations I heard, always consisted in the fact that they constantly drank champagne, rode in a sleigh under the windows of the young lady with whom, it seemed, they were in love together, and danced vis-à-vis no longer in children’s rooms, but at real balls. This last circumstance, despite the fact that Volodya and I loved each other, separated us a lot. We felt too great a difference - between the boy whose teachers go to him and the man who dances at big balls - to decide to communicate our thoughts to each other. Katenka was already quite old, she had read a lot of novels, and the thought that she might soon get married no longer seemed like a joke to me; but, despite the fact that Volodya was big, they did not get along with him and even, it seems, mutually despised each other. In general, when Katenka was alone at home, nothing but novels occupied her, and she was mostly bored; when strangers were present, she became very lively and amiable and did with her eyes what I could no longer understand, what she wanted to express. Then only, having heard from her in a conversation that the only coquetry permissible for a girl is the coquetry of the eyes, I could explain to myself these strange unnatural grimaces with the eyes, which, it seems, did not surprise others at all. Lyubochka was also already beginning to wear an almost long dress, so that her goose bumps were almost invisible, but she was the same crybaby as before. Now she dreamed of marrying not a hussar, but a singer or musician, and for this purpose she diligently studied music. St.-Jérôme, who, knowing that he was staying in our house only until the end of my exams, found a place for himself with some count, from then on somehow looked contemptuously at our family. He was rarely at home, began to smoke cigarettes, which were then a great luxury, and constantly whistled some cheerful tunes through his card. Mimi became more and more upset every day and, it seemed, since we all began to grow big, she did not expect anything good from anyone or anything.
When I came to dinner, I found only Mimi, Katenka, Lyubochka and St.-Jérôme in the dining room; Dad was not at home, and Volodya was preparing for the exam with his comrades in his room and demanded lunch. In general, lately, for the most part, the first place at the table was occupied by Mimi, whom no one respected, and dinner lost a lot of its charm. Dinner was no longer, as with maman or grandmother, some kind of ritual that united the whole family at a certain hour and divided the day into two halves. We allowed ourselves to be late, arrive for the second course, drink wine in glasses (which St.-Jérôme himself set as an example), fall back on a chair, get up before finishing dinner, and similar liberties. Since then, dinner has ceased to be, as before, a daily family joyful celebration. It used to be like that in Petrovsky, when at two o’clock everyone, washed and dressed for dinner, was sitting in the living room, talking cheerfully, waiting for the appointed hour. Just as the clock in the waitress wheezes to strike two, Foka enters with quiet steps with a napkin on his hand, with a dignified and somewhat stern face. “The food is ready!” - he proclaims in a loud, drawn-out voice, and everyone with cheerful, satisfied faces, the older ones in front, the younger ones behind, rustling their starched skirts and creaking boots and shoes, go to the dining room and, talking quietly, sit down in certain places. Or what happened in Moscow, when everyone, quietly talking, stood in front of the set table in the hall, waiting for grandmother, to whom Gavrilo had already gone to report that the food had been set - suddenly the door opened, the rustle of a dress was heard, the shuffling of feet, and the grandmother , wearing a cap with some unusual purple bow, floats out of his room sideways, smiling or gloomily looking askance (depending on the state of health). Gavrilo rushes to her chair, the chairs are making noise, and, feeling some kind of cold running down your back - a harbinger of appetite, you take up a damp starched napkin, eat a crust of bread and with impatient and joyful greed, rubbing your hands under the table, you look at the smoking plates soups, which are poured by the butler according to rank, age and attention of the grandmother.
Now I no longer felt any joy or excitement when I came to dinner.
The chatter of Mimi, St.-Jérôme and the girls about what terrible boots the Russian teacher wears, how the Kornakov princesses have dresses with flounces, etc. - their chatter, which previously inspired me with sincere contempt, which I, especially in relation to Lyubochka and Katenka, I didn’t try to hide, didn’t bring me out of my new, virtuous frame of mind. I was unusually meek; smiling, listened to them especially affectionately, respectfully asked to pass me the kvass and agreed with St.-Jérôme, who corrected me in the phrase that I said at dinner, saying that it is more beautiful to say je puis [1] than je peux. However, I must admit that I was somewhat unpleasant that no one paid special attention to my meekness and virtue. Lyubochka showed me after dinner a piece of paper on which she wrote down all her sins; I found that this is very good, but what is even better is to write down all your sins in your soul, and that “all this is not the same.”
- Why isn’t that the case? - asked Lyubochka.
- Well, yes, and that’s good; you won’t understand me, - and I went upstairs, telling St. Jérôme that I was going to study, but, in fact, so that before confession, which was an hour and a half before, I would write myself a schedule for the rest of my life. responsibilities and activities, set out on paper the purpose of your life and the rules by which you always act, without retreating.
Short description
Chapter I. What I consider the beginning of youth
The young nobleman Nikolenka Irtenyev is “in his sixteenth year.” He greatly values his friendship with Dmitry Nekhlyudov, an interesting, smart young man, thanks to whom Nikolai became interested in the idea of self-development.
Currently, the hero dreams of successfully passing the university entrance exams.
Chapter II. Spring
Spring is coming into its own, and Nikolenka admires the changes in nature that inspire him.
Chapter III. Dreams
Young Irtenyev dreams of how he will go to university and will “give part of the scholarship to the poor, and so that no one knows.” He will live a simple, modest life and will certainly graduate "from the course as the first candidate with two gold medals."
Chapter IV. Our family circle
Nikolenka’s father is absent for a long time, but with his appearance in the house, fun always begins. Nikolai is increasingly moving away from his older brother Volodya, despite the fact that the brothers still love each other. Sister Lyubochka has become quite an adult and is now a girl of marriageable age.
Chapter V. Rules
Nikolai decides to draw up a “schedule of duties and activities for the next year.” There were so many plans that the young man had to sew a notebook from sheets of paper and call it “Rules of Life.”
The father invites a confessor to the house so that the whole family can confess.
Chapter VI. Confession
The Irtenievs take turns visiting the monk and confessing their sins. After confession, Nikolenka feels “completely pure, morally reborn and a new person.” Before going to bed, he remembers the “shameful sin that he hid in confession” and is very worried about this. Nikolai decides to go to the monastery tomorrow and confess again.
Chapter VII. Trip to the monastery
After spending an anxious night, Nikolenka wakes up at dawn and immediately gets ready to hit the road. Having difficulty catching a cab driver on a deserted street, he worries that he will take him “to a back alley and rob him.” But soon Nikolai calms down and arrives safely at the monastery.
Chapter VIII. Second confession
Nikolai confesses again, and after his confession feels unspeakable relief. However, minor everyday troubles “soon dispersed this feeling.”
Chapter IX. How do I prepare for the exam
The entire Irtenyev family, with the exception of Nikolai and Volodya, leaves for the village. “The consciousness of freedom and that spring feeling of expectation of something” prevent Nikolenka from concentrating on preparing for the exams. And only the fear of disappointing Nekhlyudov forces the young man to study diligently.
Chapter X. History Exam
For his first exam in his life, Nikolai puts on a tailcoat. It seems to him that he is simply “dazzling,” but confidence gives way to timidity immediately after the young man steps over the threshold of the audience. Nikolenka comes across a familiar ticket, and he passes the story with an “excellent” mark.
Chapter XI. Mathematics exam
The next exam is mathematics. Nikolenka knows “the subject fairly well, but there were two questions from algebra” with which he was completely unfamiliar. The young man comes to learn from his new acquaintance, Ikonin, who gives him his ticket. As a result, Nikolenka passes the exam with flying colors.
Chapter XII. Latin exam
Nikolenka learns that the professor taking the Latin exam “was like some kind of beast who enjoyed the death of young people” whom he failed in the exams. The professor gives Irtenyev a text that was not included in the preparatory program. The young man has difficulty coping with it, and as a result receives a lower grade.
Chapter XIII. I'm big
Nikolai successfully passes the final exam and becomes a student. Now he has his own horse and coachman. In order to fully feel like an adult, Nikolenka lights a pipe and begins to “let the rings and take a drag,” but very quickly he becomes ill.
Chapter XIV. What did Volodya and Dubkov do?
Dmitry comes to congratulate Nikolai, and together they go to Dubkov, where they find Volodya playing cards. Volodya loses, and the whole company decides to go to a restaurant to congratulate Nikolenka on entering the university.
Chapter XV. They congratulate me
Everyone in the restaurant congratulates Nikolai. He really wants to seem like an adult, and he orders “half a bottle of champagne” with his own money. Volodya, looking at his drunken brother, becomes embarrassed.
Chapter XVI. Argument
At the restaurant, Nikolai has a conflict with one of the visitors, who calls him an ignoramus. The confused young man was unable to give a proper rebuff and, ashamed of his behavior, hides this unfortunate incident from his friends. In the future, he will worry about this for a long time, believing that he “acted like a coward.”
Chapter XVII. I'm going to make visits
On the last day of his stay in Moscow, Nikolai was supposed to “make visits, by order of the pope.” He hopes that Volodya will keep him company, but his brother resolutely refuses.
Chapter XVIII. Wallachines
Nikolenka pays her first visit to Valakhin. He awaits Sonechka’s appearance with trepidation, since “he still had a living and touching memory of past childhood love.” Nikolai knows that a couple of years ago, “Sonya’s face was cut by the windows of a carriage,” which overturned while moving. However, when he sees the girl, the younger Irtenyev does not notice any scars - he sees in front of him the same sweet girl with whom he was once so in love.
Chapter XIX. Kornakovs
The visit to the Kornakovs turned out to be less pleasant for Nikolai. During a conversation with the princess and her daughters, the young man learns that the Kornakovs and Irtenyevs are the only legal heirs of the wealthy Prince Ivan Ivanovich.
Chapter XX. Iviny
At the Ivins', Nikolenka feels extremely uncomfortable. When meeting, the general’s son shows courtesy, but at the same time makes it clear that he is not at all happy about Nikolenka’s arrival. As a result, Irtenyev begins to “get into an irritated state of mind.” The princess puts Nikolenka in an awkward position with her unexpected tears, and the prince behaves coldly and arrogantly towards him.
Chapter XXI. Prince Ivan Ivanovich
Nicholas pays his last visit to the prince. As a child, he called “Ivan Ivanovich grandfather,” but the news that he is one of his heirs makes Nikolenka feel uncomfortable in the company of the benevolent old man.
Chapter XXII. An intimate conversation with my friend
Nikolenka goes with Dmitry to the Nekhlyudovs’ dacha. On the way, the friends have a heart-to-heart talk, and Dmitry confesses his love for his hanger-on Lyubov Sergeevna.
Chapter XXIII. Nekhlyudovs
At the dacha, Nikolenka meets Dmitry’s mother and sister. He wonders how his friend could fall in love with the old maid Lyubov Sergeevna, who “was very ugly: red-haired, thin, short in stature, a little lopsided.”
Chapter XXIV. Love
Also at the Nekhlyudovs, Nikolai meets Dmitry’s own aunt Sofya Ivanovna, an amazingly kind and loving woman.
Chapter XXV. I'm getting acquainted
Nikolenka notes that in the Nekhlyudov family a sore subject is Dmitry’s feeling for the hanger-on. Irtenyev is very pleased with the trip: among these people he feels completely grown up.
Chapter XXVI. I show myself at my best
While walking through the garden, Nikolenka, wanting to impress, boasts of her relationship with Ivan Ivanovich. He embellishes his relationship with the prince, which makes him embarrassed and blush.
Chapter XXVII. Dmitriy
A severe toothache changes Dmitry's mood for the worse. At first he took it out on the maid, and then “with all his might he punched” the servant boy in the head several times. Noticing that Nikolai witnessed his cruelty, Dmitry felt ashamed.
Chapter XXVIII. In the village
Nikolenka and Volodya join their family in the village. Nikolai periodically remembers his love for Sonya, but soon village life captivates him. He notices that his father seems unusually cheerful lately.
Chapter XXIX. Relationships between us and the girls
Nikolenka “completely involuntarily looks at girls” imitates her older brother, and treats her sister and Katya somewhat contemptuously. Meanwhile, the brothers become even closer to each other.
Chapter XXX. My classes
Convinced that she has “talent and passion for music,” Nikolenka spends the entire summer taking piano lessons. This is how he wants to charm young ladies. Nikolai also enjoys reading French novels.
Chapter XXXI. Comme il faut
Wanting to imitate the heroes of novels, Nikolenka always strives to look perfect. He places special emphasis on the condition of his nails.
Chapter XXXII. Youth
This summer, Nikolenka acutely feels that he is “young, innocent, free and therefore almost happy.” He enjoys the summer, admires nature and does what his soul is drawn to.
Chapter XXXIII. Neighbours
Nikolenka notices with surprise that her father has changed in his attitude towards his neighbors Epifanov, with whom he had a long-standing “litigation for some land.” My father often visits his neighbors and calls them “nice people.”
Chapter XXXIV. Father's marriage
For the second time, Nikolai’s father is going to marry at the age of 48. Avdotya Vasilyevna Epifanova, a young and beautiful woman, becomes his chosen one.
Chapter XXXV. How did we receive this news?
The father's marriage becomes the main subject of discussion in the Irtenyev family. Volodya is extremely negative towards his future stepmother and admits that the reason for the marriage is a certain “dark story”.
Chapter XXXVI. University
Classes begin at the university, and Volodya and Nikolai are forced to miss the wedding of their father and Avdotya. At the university, Nikolenka cannot quickly and easily join “any company and, feeling lonely and incapable of getting closer,” begins to behave arrogantly with his classmates.
Chapter XXXVII. Matters of the heart
Nikolenka often falls in love “with strangers and especially married women.” However, all his heartfelt interests are very fleeting.
Chapter XXXVIII. Light
“Secular pleasures” disappoint Nikolenka. Finding himself at the long-awaited reception with the Kornakovs, the young man becomes timid and begins to behave extremely unnaturally and talk all sorts of nonsense. He looks so stupid that even Volodya avoids him.
Chapter XXXIX. Revelry
In winter, Nikolai happens to take part in a revelry, and he gets out of it “not a very pleasant feeling.” He had been preparing for the upcoming event for a long time, but in reality it turned out to be not as fun as young Irtenyev expected. He is incredibly surprised that the next day the participants in the revelry praised him in every possible way.
Chapter XL. Friendship with the Nekhlyudovs
Nikolai becomes a frequent guest in the Nekhlyudovs’ house. He likes to be in this family, and soon he becomes close to Dmitry’s sister, Varya.
Chapter XLI. Friendship with Nekhlyudov
And if Nikolai’s friendship with the Nekhlyudovs is strengthening, then relations with Dmitry himself at that time hung “only by a thread.” Nikolenka ceases to understand the actions of his friend, he finds many shortcomings in him, and one day a quarrel breaks out between the friends.
Chapter XLII. Stepmother
His father and stepmother come to Moscow, whom Nikolenka does not like or respect. Avdotya’s duplicity especially irritates him: when guests are present, she is invariably “a young, healthy and cold beauty,” but in ordinary life she is “a melancholy woman, sloppy and bored.”
Chapter XLIII. New comrades
Nikolai is preparing for the upcoming exams. He meets poor, but extremely smart and interesting students who are superior to him in everything except belonging to the aristocracy.
Chapter XLIV. Zukhin and Semenov
Among Nikolenka’s acquaintances, two students especially stand out: Semenov and Zukhin. The latter “was extraordinarily intelligent” and was highly respected among teachers, while Semenov was a passionate carouser. As a result, he became terribly in debt and was forced to quit university and become a soldier.
Chapter XLV. I'm falling through
Nikolenka fails his math exam miserably and is not promoted to the next course. Locked in his room, he cries bitterly for three days, regretting that he did not adhere to his own “Rules of Life.” Nikolai vows “not to do anything bad,” to work and not to betray his own principles.
Content
Chapter I. What I consider the beginning of youth Chapter II. Spring Chapter III. Dreams Chapter IV. Our family circle Chapter V. Rules Chapter VI. Confession Chapter VII. Trip to the monastery Chapter VIII. Second Confession Chapter IX. How I prepare for the exam Chapter X. History exam Chapter XI. Mathematics Exam Chapter XII. Latin Exam Chapter XIII. I'm big Chapter XIV. What Volodya and Dubkov were doing Chapter XV. Congratulations to me Chapter XVI. Quarrel Chapter XVII. I'm going to make visits Chapter XVIII. Wallachins Chapter XIX. Kornakova Chapter XX. Ivina Chapter XXI. Prince Ivan Ivanovich Chapter XXII. An intimate conversation with my friend Chapter XXIII. Nekhlyudovs Chapter XXIV. Love Chapter XXV. I am reading Chapter XXVI. I show myself from the most advantageous side Chapter XXVII. Dmitry Chapter XXVIII. In the village Chapter XXIX. The relationship between us and the girls Chapter XXX. My studies Chapter XXXI. Somme il faut Chapter XXXII. Youth Chapter XXXIII. Neighbors Chapter XXXIV. Father's Marriage Chapter XXXV. How we received this news Chapter XXXVI. University Chapter XXXVII. Matters of the Heart Chapter XXXVIII. Light Chapter XXXIX. Revelry Chapter XL. Friendship with the Nekhlyudovs Chapter XLI. Friendship with Nekhlyudov Chapter XLII. Stepmother Chapter XLIII. New comrades Chapter XLIV. Zukhin and Semenov Chapter XLV. I'm falling through
