First Love (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Ivan Turgenev
- First Published: 1860
- Type of Work: Novella
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: 1833
- Setting: Moscow, a summer home near the Neskutchny gardens, and St. Petersburg
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Bildungsroman
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Family or family life, Parents and children, Teenagers, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Nineteenth century, Obsession, Fathers, Death or dying, Romanticism, Russia or Russian people, Summer
- Locales: Moscow, Russia, St. Petersburg, Russia
Characters Discussed
Vladimir Petrovich Voldemar (vlah- DIH-mihr peh-TROH-vihch VOL-deh- mahr), the romantic sixteen-year-old protagonist and the thoughtful forty-year-old narrator. The youthful Vladimir meets Zinaida during the summer of his sixteenth year while staying with his family at their summer home. He immediately becomes infatuated with her and tries to live this first love according to the dictates of the romantic novels he has read. He dreams of winning Zinaida’s love with acts of heroism and idealizes the object of his affection. He eventually discovers that his...
[The entire page is 664 words long]
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