History of writing
Turgenev began writing the story “Asya” in July 1857 in Germany, in the city of Sinzeg on the Rhine, where the events described in the book take place. Having finished the book in November of the same year (the writing of the story was a little delayed due to the author’s illness and overwork), Turgenev sent the work to the editors of the Russian magazine Sovremennik, in which it had long been awaited and published at the beginning of 1858.
According to Turgenev himself, he was inspired to write the story by a fleeting picture he saw in Germany: an elderly woman looks out from the window of a house on the first floor, and the silhouette of a young girl can be seen in the window of the second floor. The writer, thinking about what he saw, comes up with a possible fate for these people and thus creates the story “Asya”.
According to many literary critics, this story was of a personal nature for the author, since it was based on some events that took place in Turgenev’s real life, and the images of the main characters have a clear connection both with the author himself and with his immediate circle (prototype for Asya could be the fate of his illegitimate daughter Polina Brewer or his half-sister V.N. Zhitova, also born out of wedlock, Mr. N.N., on whose behalf the story is told in “Asa”, has character traits and a similar fate with the author himself) .
Read more: I.S. Turgenev “Asya”: the history of the story
Analysis of the work
Plot development
The description of the events that took place in the story is written on behalf of a certain N.N., whose name the author leaves unknown. The narrator recalls his youth and his stay in Germany, where on the banks of the Rhine he meets his compatriot from Russia Gagin and his sister Anna, whom he takes care of and calls Asya. The young girl, with her eccentric actions, constantly changing disposition and amazing attractive appearance, impresses N.N. is very impressed and he wants to know as much as possible about her.
Gagin tells him the difficult fate of Asya: she is his illegitimate half-sister, born from his father’s relationship with the maid. After the death of her mother, her father took thirteen-year-old Asya to his place and raised her as befits a young lady from a good society. After the death of her father, Gagin becomes her guardian, first sends her to a boarding house, then they go to live abroad. Now N.N., knowing the unclear social status of the girl who was born to a serf mother and a landowner father, understands what caused Asya’s nervous tension and her slightly eccentric behavior. He feels deeply sorry for the unfortunate Asya, and he begins to experience tender feelings for the girl.
Asya, like Pushkin’s Tatyana, writes a letter to Mr. N.N. asking for a date, he, unsure of his feelings, hesitates and makes a promise to Gagin not to accept his sister’s love, because he is afraid to marry her. The meeting between Asya and the narrator is chaotic, Mr. N.N. reproaches her for confessing her feelings for him to her brother and now they cannot be together. Asya runs away in confusion, N.N. realizes that he really loves the girl and wants to return her, but cannot find her. The next day, having come to the Gagins' house with the firm intention of asking for the girl's hand, he learns that Gagin and Asya have left the city, he tries to find them, but all his efforts are in vain. Never again in his life N.N. does not meet Asya and her brother, and at the end of his life's journey he realizes that although he had other hobbies, he truly loved only Asya and he still keeps the dried flower that she once gave him.
Read more: I.S. Turgenev “Asya”: plot and summary of the chapters of the story
Idea and genre
Studying the analysis of the work “Asya”, the reader understands without any doubt that this is a story , because the stories are not divided into chapters and have a smaller volume. The author also attributed his work to this genre direction.
The classic version of the story involves more events and characters than in the story. In addition, the subject of the image is a sequence of episodes that reveal cause and effect. Through this, readers come to understand the essence of the ending: the characters get to know each other, then mutual sympathy arises between them, the man learns about the origin of his beloved, the latter confesses her feelings to the chosen one, but he is afraid to take love seriously.
As a result, the work ends with a break in the relationship. The author first intrigues by demonstrating the girl’s strange behavior, and then explains it with the story of Asya’s birth.
The main character is a young man leading the narrative . It is noteworthy that this is the story of a mature man who recalls the events of his youth.
In the story, a man named N.N. recalls a story that happened to him at the age of 25. The exposition of the work is the beginning of the hero’s narrative, where he talks about meeting his brother and sister named Gagina. The scene is the small town of Z. in Germany, located near the Rhine River. The author means the German town of Sinzig, which he visited in 1857. The narrator initially stipulates that all events took place more than 20 years ago.
The events of Turgenev's story are familiar to the reader from the work "Eugene Onegin". The main character is the same Tatyana, who fell in love, but did not receive reciprocity from her chosen one. Once N.N. read this poem to Gagin.
However, Asya is not like Larina. The girl is fickle: sometimes she walks around gloomy, sometimes she laughs all day. The reason for the sudden mood swings lies in her difficult fate: she is an illegitimate daughter. Among representatives of high society, the girl feels like a stranger. Thinking about the future weighs heavily on Anna. As a result, she decides to tell her lover about her feelings.
N.N. promises the heroine's brother to explain everything to her, and he himself accuses Asya of sharing her experiences with a loved one, exposing the man to ridicule. The girl never heard the long-awaited confession from him.
Main characters
Asya
The main character of the story, Anna, whom her brother calls Asya, is a young girl with an unusual attractive appearance (a thin boyish figure, short curly hair, wide-open eyes bordered by long and fluffy eyelashes), a spontaneous and noble character, distinguished by an ardent temperament and a difficult, tragic fate. Born from an extramarital affair between a maid and a landowner, and raised by her mother in severity and obedience, after her death she cannot get used to her new role as a lady for a long time. She perfectly understands her false position, therefore she does not know how to behave in society, she is shy and shy of everyone, and at the same time she proudly wants no one to pay attention to her origin. Left early alone without parental attention and left to her own devices, Asya begins to think about the contradictions in life that surround her.
The main character of the story, like other female characters in Turgenev’s works, is distinguished by amazing purity of soul, morality, sincerity and openness of feelings, a craving for strong feelings and experiences, a desire to perform feats and great deeds for the benefit of people. It is on the pages of this story that the concept of Turgenev’s young lady and Turgenev’s feeling of love, common to all heroines, appears, which for the author is akin to a revolution invading the lives of the heroes, testing their feelings for perseverance and ability to survive in difficult living conditions.
Read more: Asya: characteristics and image of the heroine
Mr. N.N.
The main male character and narrator of the story, Mr. N.N., has the features of a new literary type, which in Turgenev replaced the “extra people” type. This hero completely lacks the typical “extra person” conflict with the outside world. He is an absolutely calm and prosperous person with a balanced and harmonious self-organization, easily susceptible to vivid impressions and feelings, all his experiences are simple and natural, without falsehood or pretense. In his love experiences, this hero strives for mental balance, which would be intertwined with their aesthetic completeness.
After meeting Asya, his love becomes more intense and contradictory; at the last moment, the hero cannot fully surrender to his feelings, because they are overshadowed by the disclosure of the secrets of his feelings. Later, he cannot immediately tell Asya’s brother that he is ready to marry her, because he does not want to disturb his overwhelming feeling of happiness, and also fearing future changes and the responsibility that he will have to take for someone else’s life. All this leads to a tragic outcome: after his betrayal, he loses Asya forever and it is too late to correct the mistakes he made. He has lost his love, rejected the future and the very life he could have had, and pays for it throughout his entire joyless and loveless existence.
Read more: Mister N.N.: characteristics and image of the hero
Quotes
“You think I only know how to laugh” Asya.
“No, I don’t want to love anyone but you, no, no, I want to love you alone - and forever.” Asya .
“My wings have grown, but I have nowhere to fly.” Asya.
"No! Not a single eye has replaced those eyes that once looked at me with love; to no one’s heart, falling to my chest, has my heart responded with such joyful and sweet fading!” N.N.
“Asya remained in my memory the same girl as I knew her in the best time of my life, as I saw her for the last time, leaning on the back of a low wooden chair” N.N.
“Happiness has no tomorrow; he doesn’t even have yesterday; it does not remember the past, does not think about the future; he has a present - and that’s not a day - but a moment.” Author.
Read more: I.S. Turgenev “Asya”: quotes from the characters and the author of the story
main idea
The plot of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev's story is quite simple due to the fact that it is more important for him to depict the inner world of his heroes than their actions. The psychology of the book is much more important than the action. Portraying the characters, the writer reflected on what the thirst for shapes them. Therefore, the meaning of the work can be expressed by the phrase: “Happiness has no tomorrow.” N.N. lived in anticipation of him, unconsciously looked for him on his travels, but, having come face to face with him, he lost him forever, smugly believing that tomorrow he would have time to return him. But the essence of happiness is fleetingness and fragility - as soon as you miss it, it will disappear forever, and there will be no “tomorrow”.
Features of compositional construction
The genre of this work refers to an elegiac story, the basis of which is a description of love experiences and melancholic reflections on the meaning of life, regret about unfulfilled dreams and sadness about the future. The work is based on a beautiful love story that ended in tragic separation. The composition of the story is built according to the classical model: the beginning of the plot is a meeting with the Gagin family, the development of the plot is the rapprochement of the main characters, the emergence of love, the climax is a conversation between Gagin and N.N. about Asya’s feelings, denouement - a date with Asya, explanation of the main characters, the Gagin family leaves Germany, epilogue - Mr. N.N. reflects on the past, regrets unfulfilled love. The highlight of this work is Turgenev’s use of the ancient literary device of plot framing, when a narrator is introduced into the narrative and the motivation for his actions is given. Thus, the reader receives a “story within a story” designed to enhance the meaning of the story being told.
In his critical article “Russian Man at a Rendezvous,” Chernyshevsky sharply condemns the indecision and petty timid egoism of Mr. N.N., whose image is slightly softened by the author in the epilogue of the work. Chernyshevsky, on the contrary, without choosing expressions, sharply condemns the act of Mr. N.N. and pronounces his verdict on those who are the same as him. The story “Asya”, thanks to the depth of its content, has become a real pearl in the literary heritage of the great Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. The great writer, like no one else, was able to convey his philosophical reflections and thoughts about the destinies of people, about that time in the life of every person when his actions and words can forever change it for the better or for the worse.
Minor characters from Turgenev’s story “Asya”
Gagin
— Asya’s brother, is raising his sister. I didn’t find my place in life, I wanted to paint, but I never realized my plans. He is kind to his sister and interested in her well-being. Having learned about Asya’s feelings, he himself comes to Mr. N.N. to find out what he thinks about his sister. Sincere concern perhaps prompts him to take his sister out of town so as not to ruin her life.
Frau Louise
- a mean woman, a widow. Wise, seasoned madam. It is in her house that Asya makes an appointment with Mr. N.N., and through the widow he learns about the note that the girl should give him.
