Ivan Sergeyevitch Turgenev was born of wealthy parents in the city of Oryol, central Russia, on October 28, 1818. He spent most of his childhood on the family estate under the instruction of tutors until he enrolled at the University of Moscow in 1833. Before a year had passed he transferred to the University of Petersburg, from which he graduated in 1837.
Turgenev traveled for some time in Europe, especially Germany, and chiefly studied philosophy. In 1843, he accepted a minor post in the Ministry of the Interior and also made the acquaintance of Pauline Viardot, a sophisticated French singer whom he would remain devoted to for the rest of his life and for whose sake he would often remain abroad for long periods of time.
After retiring from the service, he went to France, spending summers on the Viardot's estate and winters in Paris. This French period proved to be a very fertile one in his literary career, for it was here that he wrote most of the pieces which later (August, 1852) were to comprise his A Sportsman's Sketches. Turgenev had witnessed the February Revolution in Paris (1848) and his subsequent connection with reform groups in Russia and his eulogy of the recently deceased but highly "suspect" Gogol in 1852 led to his arrest and one-month imprisonment in Petersburg.
