About the product
The story “Spring Waters” by Turgenev was written in 1872. The work belongs to the late period of the writer’s work and tells the story of the love story of a rich Russian landowner who fruitlessly squandered his best years.
To better prepare for a literature lesson, we recommend reading online a summary of the story “Spring Waters” chapter by chapter. A retelling of the work will also be useful for the reader's diary.
The material was prepared jointly with the highest category teacher Lyubov Alexandrovna Koroshchup.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 30 years.
Other characters
- Lenore Roselli is Gemma's mother, a widow, a kind, pragmatic woman.
- Emilio Roselli is Gemma's brother, an ardent and noble teenager.
- Pantaleone is an old and faithful servant of the Roselli family.
- Karl Klüber is a young wealthy German, Gemma's fiancé.
- Dongof is a baron with whom Sanin became friends after the duel.
- Ippolit Polozov is Sanin’s childhood friend, the weak-willed husband of Marya Nikolaevna.
Brief summary of the work “Spring Waters” for a reader’s diary (I. S. Turgenev)
The prose of I. S. Turgenev is not only fascinating and beautiful, but also very useful in exams, where the student has to make extraordinary literary arguments. To do this, you need to remember the main events from the book and know the plot. The “Literaguru” team and its brief retelling for the reader’s diary will help you in mastering this material.
(513 words) Turgenev in his work talks about a landowner. His name was Dmitry Pavlovich Sanin, he was 52 years old. Returning home, he angrily began to talk about vanity, uselessness, and the vulgar falsehood of everything human. The man was very rich, but lonely, which made his life empty and useless. In order not to think about it, Dmitry Pavlovich began to delve into his old papers, among them he discovered love letters and a garnet cross. Memories of the past came flooding back to him.
He turned 22 when he went on a trip to Europe. He traveled with the money of a distant relative, who left him a small inheritance. Sanin stayed in Frankfurt and decided to walk around the city. Dmitry stopped by an Italian pastry shop to get himself a glass of lemonade. A young lady ran up to him from the threshold with pleas for help; her brother lost consciousness. Dmitry helped the young man (Emil) come to his senses. In gratitude, his mother invited Sanin to dinner. Her name was Leonora Roselli, about twenty years ago she and her husband moved from Italy. Their beautiful daughter was named Gemma. Another member of their family was their devoted servant Pantaleone. The main character was disappointed that Gemma was engaged to Karl Kluber (department manager at the store).
Dmitry did not have time for his stagecoach, and his financial situation left much to be desired. He borrowed money from his friend. Soon Sanin became friends with Emil and met Gemma's fiancé.
One day Klüber organized a trip to Soden. Gemma was tired of the walk, and she decided to eat on an ordinary terrace. A tipsy officer approached the girl and took a flower that was lying next to her plate. She was offended. But her fiancé, instead of defending his beloved’s honor, quickly paid the bill and escorted Gemma to the hotel. Dmitry took the rose from the officer. A duel was scheduled. Pantaleone was called as a second.
Dmitry spent the rest of the day with Gemma. She gave him the already dried rose, which was then lying next to her plate. He realized that he was in love.
The officer in the duel deliberately missed, because he realized he was wrong. Gemma learned from Pantaleone about the fight and wanted to break off the engagement. But their family was on the verge of ruin, and only their daughter’s marriage could save them. Dmitry, at the request of Gemma's mother, tried to dissuade her from this act, but they realized that they were in love with each other, and he asked for her hand.
All he could do was sell his estate in the Tula province in order to improve his financial situation. Dmitry ran into his classmate Ippolit Polozov. He was married to a wealthy lady. The main character invited Ippolit to buy his estate, but he denied that all the business was run by his wife, Marya Nikolaevna.
Dmitry agreed to meet with Polozov's wife. She turned out to be not bad-looking. Marya Nikolaevna made a bet with her husband; she had to seduce Sanin. He succumbed to her charms.
Now, after so many years, he could not understand why he left his beloved. Dmitry even tried to find Gemma, but there was no trace of her in Germany. The landowner found out that his beloved was married and moved to New York. He found her address and sent a letter. In a reply message, Gemma told him that her life had turned out very well, that she was extremely happy with her husband. She became the mother of five children.
Dmitry Sanin sent his beloved a garnet cross as a gift. They said that he sold all his estates and was going to America.
Author: Elizaveta Burkova
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Summary
Landowner Dmitry Pavlovich Sanin “recently passed his 52nd year.” While going through old letters in the table, he accidentally came across a case in which a “small garnet cross” was kept. Seeing him, the man cried out weakly and plunged into memories...
Chapters 1–3
In 1840, “Sanin turned 22.” Returning home from Italy, he decided to spend one day in Frankfurt. After wandering around the city, the young man went into an Italian pastry shop.
Suddenly, a beautiful dark-haired girl ran into the room and began to ask for help. Sanin followed the stranger and in the next room found a pale teenage boy who was in a deep faint.
Sanin ordered brushes to be brought and “began scrubbing his chest and arms with all his might.” Against his will, he glanced sideways at the girl: “Oh my God! what a beauty she was!”
Sanin managed to bring the boy to his senses. Soon his mother appeared in the pastry shop, accompanied by a doctor. Deciding “that he was becoming superfluous,” the young man wanted to go outside, but the girl asked him to come to them “in an hour for a cup of chocolate.”
Chapters 4–7
Sanin reappeared in the confectionery shop, whose owners accepted him as if they were their own. He met the Roselli family: the widow Lenore, her eldest daughter Gemma and son Emilio, as well as the old faithful servant Pantaleone.
Madame Lenore had a vague idea of Russia. She believed that there was “eternal snow, everyone wears fur coats, and everyone is military.” Sanin began to talk fascinatingly about his homeland. He even performed several old romances and folk songs, which won over his new acquaintances.
Sanin was so carried away by the conversation that he was late for the evening stagecoach. The Rosellis invited their Russian guest to visit them the next day so that he could meet Gemma's fiancé.
Chapters 8–13
The beauty's groom turned out to be a “prominent and tall young man with a handsome face” named Karl Klüber.
In a private conversation, Emilio admitted to his new friend that his mother, under the influence of Kluber, wanted to make him a merchant, while the boy himself dreamed of fame as an artist. Sanin decided to talk to Mrs. Lenore about his son’s future, but she didn’t want to hear anything about “the arts.”
Sanin spent the whole day with the Roselli family. Returning home late at night, he kept thinking about the beautiful Gemma.
Chapters 14–22
The next day, Emilio and Kluber came to Sanin to go for a walk together in an open carriage. Mrs. Roselli refused the trip because of a headache, but allowed Gemma to join the young people.
During lunch at the tavern, one of the officers, being tipsy, approached Gemma and showered her with vulgar compliments. The girl was beside herself with rage, but Kluber only “demanded immediate payment” from the waiter and hurried to take the bride away. Sanin, who could not “see such insolence with indifference,” challenged the arrogant officer to a duel. Kluber pretended not to notice Sanin’s explanation with the officer, and spent the whole way talking about the decline of morals. It was noticeable to the naked eye that “Gemma clearly became ashamed of her fiancé.”
Sanin's opponent turned out to be Baron von Dongof. The young man asked old man Pantaleone to be his second, which greatly touched him. Gemma found out about the upcoming duel and gave Sanin a rose the night before. Emilio, also privy to the secret, did not take his admiring eyes off his Russian friend.
Before the fight, Sanin asked Pantaleone to return the rose to Gemma in case he was killed. He shot first, but missed. The Baron deliberately fired into the air. He admitted his guilt, “hesitated a little on the spot, and hesitantly extended his hand forward.” The young people shook hands and parted as friends.
Chapters 23–30
At the hotel, Sanin was visited by Mrs. Lenore, who thanked the young man for his manly act. She admitted that Gemma refused Kluber, and now their family is facing ruin. The woman began to beg Sanin to talk to Gemma and ask her to change her mind.
Having met a beautiful Italian woman in the garden, Sanin told her about his mother’s request. He asked her not to make any decisions until the evening. Returning to the hotel, the young man wrote Gemma a letter declaring his love.
The whole next day Sanin walked around the city with Emilio and only in the evening received a note from Gemma, in which she made an appointment for him in the garden. At the meeting, the girl admitted that she had resolutely refused Kluber. Sanin asked to be taken to his mother to prove that he was “not a deceiver.”
Having learned about her daughter’s decision, Mrs. Lenore cried bitterly. She calmed down somewhat only when she heard about the upcoming marriage of Gemma and Sanin. The inspired groom even agreed to sell the family estate in order to better equip Roselli's confectionery.
At dinner, Gemma gave her lover her garnet cross as a sign that different religions would not interfere with their marriage.
Chapters 31–42
The next day, fate brought Sanin together with his childhood friend Ippolit Polozov. He was married to a very rich woman, whose estate was located next to the lands of Sanin. The young man was glad to have the opportunity to quickly and profitably sell his inheritance and agreed to go to Wiesbaden to visit Polozov’s wife, since only she could decide on the deal.
Sanin hurried to the pastry shop to inform about the upcoming trip. He promised Gemma to return “the day after tomorrow - with a shield or on a shield.”
In Wiesbaden, Sanin met Polozov’s wife, the charming Marya Nikolaevna. The woman did not have striking beauty, but was very smart and courteous. Marya Nikolaevna became interested in Sanin and invited him to stay for a couple of days in order to calmly make a decision about buying the estate.
“The cheeky manner of Mrs. Polozova” did not bother Sanin - he was ready to indulge her in everything, just to quickly complete a deal that was important to him. Sanin “was very handsome,” and Marya Nikolaevna began to skillfully seduce the young man. She even made a bet with her husband that she could do it in two days.
At the theater, where Polozova invited the young man, she said that “most of all and above all” she values personal freedom. That is why she chose Hippolytus as her husband - a man who could be commanded.
The next morning, Marya Nikolaevna invited Sanin for a horse ride. She was a deft rider and easily charmed the young man even more. While walking, the riders were caught in a downpour, which they decided to wait out in a tiny lodge. So Polozov “lost the bet.”
When Marya Nikolaevna asked Sanin where he would go now, he replied that from now on he would follow her forever. The woman’s eyes at that moment “expressed nothing but ruthless dullness and the satiety of victory.”
Chapters 43–44
Sanin recalled with bitterness his voluntary slavery to Marya Nikolaevna. After a while, she mercilessly got rid of her annoying lover. Sanin returned to his homeland, but only hopeless melancholy and loneliness awaited him there.
Memories crowded into Sanin’s head, and unexpectedly for everyone, he decided to go abroad - to the city where he had once been truly happy. In Frankfurt, “not a trace remains” of Roselli’s pastry shop. From Baron Dongof, Sanin learned that Gemma married a rich American and went to her husband in New York.
Having learned the address of his former lover, Sanin wrote her a letter of repentance. He really hoped to receive an answer and received it. Gemma's letter "was very sweet and simple." She thanked Sanin for not marrying Kluber and thereby not ruining her life. Gemma said that she is very happily married, “that she has five children - four sons and one eighteen-year-old daughter.” Seeing Marianna’s photograph, Sanin was so stunned: “Gemma, living Gemma, young, as he knew her thirty years ago.” From the letter he learned that Pantaleone had died before leaving for America, and that Mrs. Lenore had already died in New York. Emilio died a heroic death fighting in Garibaldi's troops.
Sanin immediately sent Marianna a gift - “a garnet cross set in a magnificent pearl necklace.” Returning to St. Petersburg, Sanin began selling all his estates. According to rumors, he was going to America...
Spring waters
He returned home at two o'clock in the morning, tired and full of disgust for life. He was 52 years old, and he perceived his life as a calm, smooth sea, in the depths of which monsters lurked: “all everyday ailments, illnesses, sorrows, madness, poverty, blindness.” Every minute he expected one of them to capsize his fragile boat. The life of this rich but very lonely man was empty, worthless and disgusting. To escape from these thoughts, he began to sort through old papers, yellowed love letters and found among them a small octagonal box in which a small garnet cross was kept. He reminded Dmitry Pavlovich Sanin of the past.
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In the summer of 1840, when Sanin turned 22, he traveled around Europe, squandering a small inheritance from a distant relative. Returning home, he stopped in Frankfurt. The stagecoach to Berlin was leaving late, and Sanin decided to take a walk around the city. Finding himself on a small street, Dmitry went into the “Giovanni Roselli Italian Pastry Shop” to drink a glass of lemonade. Before he could enter the hall, a girl ran out from the next room and began to beg Sanin for help. It turned out that the girl’s younger brother, a boy of about fourteen named Emil, had lost consciousness. Only the old servant Pantaleone was at home, and the girl was in a panic.
Sanin rubbed the boy with brushes, and he, to the joy of his sister, came to his senses. While saving Emil, Dmitry looked at the girl, marveling at her amazing classical beauty. At this time a lady entered the room, accompanied by a doctor, for whom a maid had been sent. The lady was the mother of Emilio and the girl. She was so happy about her son’s salvation that she invited Sanin to dinner.
In the evening, Dmitry was greeted as a hero and savior. He learned that the mother of the family's name was Leonora Roselli. Twenty years ago, she and her husband, Giovanni Battista Roselli, left Italy to open a pastry shop in Frankfurt. The beauty's name was Gemma. And their faithful servant Pantaleone, a funny little old man, was a former opera tenor. Another full member of the family was the poodle Tartaglia. To his disappointment, Sanin learned that Gemma was engaged to Mr. Karl Klüber, the head of a department of one of the large stores.
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Sanin stayed up late with them and was late for the stagecoach. He had little money left, and he asked for a loan from his Berlin friend. While waiting for a response letter, Dmitry was forced to stay in the city for several days. In the morning, Emil visited Sanin, accompanied by Karl Klüber. This prominent and tall young man, impeccable, handsome and pleasant in all respects, thanked Dmitry on behalf of his bride, invited him on a pleasure walk to Soden and left. Emil asked permission to stay and soon became friends with Sanin.
Dmitry spent the whole day at Roselli's, admiring the beauty of Gemma, and even managed to work as a salesman in a pastry shop. Sanin went to the hotel late in the evening, taking with him “the image of a young girl, now laughing, now thoughtful, now calm and even indifferent, but always attractive.”
A few words should be said about Sanin. He was a stately and slender young man with slightly blurred facial features, blue eyes and golden hair, the scion of a sedate noble family. Dmitry combined freshness, health and an infinitely gentle character.
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In the morning there was a walk to Soden, a small picturesque town half an hour’s drive from Frankfurt, organized by Herr Klüber with truly German pedantry. We dined at the best tavern in Soden. Gemma got bored with the walk. To unwind, she wanted to have lunch not in a secluded gazebo, which her pedantic fiancé had already ordered, but on the common terrace. A company of officers from the Mainz garrison was dining at the next table. One of them, being heavily drunk, approached Gemma, “slammed the glass” for her health and impudently grabbed a rose lying near her plate.
This act offended the girl. Instead of interceding for the bride, Herr Klüber hastily paid and, loudly indignant, took her to the hotel. Sanin approached the officer, called him impudent, took the rose and asked for a duel. Emil was delighted by Dmitry's action, and Kluber pretended not to notice anything. All the way back, Gemma listened to the groom’s self-confident rantings and in the end began to be ashamed of him.
The next morning, Sanin was visited by Baron von Donhoff's second. Dmitry had no acquaintances in Frankfurt, and he had to invite Pantaleone to be his seconds. He took up his duties with extraordinary zeal and destroyed all attempts at reconciliation. It was decided to shoot with pistols from twenty steps.
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Sanin spent the rest of the day with Gemma. Late in the evening, when Dmitry was leaving the pastry shop, Gemma called him to the window and gave him the same, already withered, rose. She awkwardly leaned over and leaned on Sanin's shoulders. At that moment, a hot whirlwind swept down the street, “like a flock of huge birds,” and the young man realized that he was in love.
The duel took place at ten o'clock in the morning. Baron von Dongoff deliberately fired to the side, admitting his guilt. The duelists shook hands and dispersed, and Sanin was ashamed for a long time - everything turned out very childish. At the hotel it turned out that Pantaleone had blabbed about the duel to Gemma.
In the afternoon, Sanina visited Frau Leone. Gemma wanted to break off the engagement, although the Roselli family was practically ruined, and only this marriage could save her. Frau Leone asked Dmitry to influence Gemma and persuade her not to refuse her groom. Sanin agreed and even tried to talk to the girl, but the persuasion backfired - Dmitry finally fell in love and realized that Gemma loved him too. After a secret date in the city garden and mutual confessions, he had no choice but to propose to her.
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Frau Leone greeted this news with tears, but after asking the newly-minted groom about his financial situation, she calmed down and resigned herself. Sanin owned a small estate in the Tula province, which he urgently needed to sell in order to invest in a confectionery. Dmitry already wanted to go to Russia, when he suddenly met his former classmate on the street. This fat fellow named Ippolit Sidorich Polozov was married to a very beautiful and rich woman from the merchant class. Sanin approached him with a request to buy the estate. Polozov replied that his wife decides all financial issues, and offered to take Sanin to her.
Having said goodbye to his bride, Dmitry went to Wiesbaden, where Mrs. Polozova was treated with water. Marya Nikolaevna really turned out to be a beauty with heavy brown hair and somewhat vulgar facial features. She immediately began to court Sanin. It turned out that Polozov was a “convenient husband” who did not interfere in his wife’s affairs and gave her complete freedom. They had no children, and all Polozov’s interests converged on tasty, plentiful food and a luxurious life.
The couple made a bet. Ippolit Sidorovich was sure that this time he would not get his wife - Sanin was very much in love. Unfortunately, Polozov lost, although his wife had to work hard. During the numerous dinners, walks and visits to the theater that Mrs. Polozova arranged for Sanin, he met von Dongoff, the mistress’s previous lover. Dmitry cheated on his fiancee three days after arriving in Wiesbaden on a horseback ride organized by Marya Nikolaevna.
Sanin had the conscience to admit to Gemma that he had cheated on him. After that, he completely submitted to Polozova, became her slave and followed her until she drank him dry and threw him away like an old rag. In memory of Gemma, Sanin only had a cross. He still did not understand why he left the girl, “so tenderly and passionately loved by him, for a woman whom he did not love at all.”
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After an evening of memories, Sanin got ready and went to Frankfurt in the middle of winter. He wanted to find Gemma and ask for forgiveness, but he couldn’t even find the street on which the pastry shop stood thirty years ago. In the Frankfurt address book he came across the name of Major von Donhof. He told Sanin that Gemma had gotten married and gave her address in New York. Dmitry sent her letter and received an answer. Gemma wrote that she was very happily married and was grateful to Sanin for upsetting her first engagement. She gave birth to five children. Pantaleone and Frau Leone died, and Emilio died fighting for Garibaldi. The letter contained a photograph of Gemma's daughter, who looked very much like her mother. The girl was engaged. Sanin sent her a “garnet cross set in a magnificent pearl necklace” as a gift, and then he himself got ready to go to America.
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