A Month in the Country: Analysis of Setting
"A Month in the Country" is a play by Ivan Turgenev set on the tranquil estate of Arkady Islaev, a wealthy landowner in an unspecified region of Russia. The setting serves as a backdrop that contrasts the serene beauty of nature with the emotional upheaval experienced by the characters, particularly in their love lives. The estate features various leisurely spaces, such as drawing rooms, gardens, and a ballroom, which highlight the characters' affluent and relaxed lifestyle. However, beneath this peaceful exterior lies a web of unrequited love and jealousy, notably involving Islaev's wife, Natalia Petrovna, and her infatuation with a young student, Belaev. The irony of the characters frequently escaping to Moscow when emotions run high suggests a tension between their idyllic surroundings and the complexities of their relationships. Ultimately, the return to quiet life at the estate forces the remaining characters to reevaluate their connections with nature and each other. This exploration of setting not only enhances the narrative but also positions Turgenev's work as a precursor to the more action-averse plays of Anton Chekhov.
A Month in the Country: Analysis of Setting
First published:Mesyats v derevne, 1855 (English translation, 1924)
First produced: 1872
Type of work: Drama
Type of plot: Psychological realism
Time of work: 1840’s
Places Discussed
Islaev estate
Islaev estate (ees-LA-ev). Country estate of a rich landowner, Arkady Islaev, located in an unspecified part of Russia. Ivan Turgenev uses a tranquil country setting because he is familiar with it, despite his frequent world travels, and also because he wants to contrast it with the emotional turmoil within practically all the characters. Although the play is subtitled a comedy, it depicts serious conflicts of several love relationships, mostly unrequited, that belie the quiet and beautiful settings of nature. Drawing rooms, a card table, the ballroom, the gardens, a shady pavilion—all point to a leisurely life in the country.
It is ironic that, when love’s passions reach a boiling point, “like a sudden storm on a fine day,” several characters leave for Moscow, as if fleeing from rustic country life. This seems to confirm the critic Georg Brandes’s seeing nature in Turgenev’s works as la grande indifférente. After several characters leave the estate, the quiet life returns. Those that remain, especially Islaev’s wife Natalia Petrovna, who had caused most of the turmoil with her infatuation with the young student Belaev, her jealousy and her desire to break the monotony of her life, are forced to find a rapport with nature again. With its lyrical mood and scarcity of action, A Month in the Country is a forerunner of Anton Chekhov’s plays.
Bibliography
Fitzlyon, April. A Month in the Country: An Exhibition Presented by the Theatre Museum. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983. A useful illustrated presentation of Turgenev’s work for theater, with a bibliography of translations of his plays into English and of their productions in Great Britain. Various aspects of A Month in the Country are treated in an uncluttered way.
Freeborn, Richard. “Turgenev the Dramatist.” In Critical Essays on Ivan Turgenev, edited by David A. Lowe. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1989. An excellent survey of Turgenev’s dramatic works. Freeborn considers Turgenev’s work for the theater a part of his apprenticeship for future works. In A Month in the Country, he added a dimension of forceful psychological insight, reinforced by a sharp edge of social criticism.
Magarshack, David. Turgenev: A Life. London: Faber and Faber, 1954. An illustrated biography by Turgenev’s translator, concentrating on the events shaping his life, his relationships with Russian and foreign writers, and the circumstances surrounding his works, including A Month in the Country.
Seeley, Frank Friedeberg. “Poetry, Plays, Criticism.” In Turgenev: A Reading of His Fiction. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. In this survey of Turgenev’s poetry and plays, Seeley finds A Month in the Country to be a combination of two subtle psychological portraits, that of a woman in crisis and of a Hamlet-type hero. The play marks the full development of the Russian psychological drama a generation before Chekhov.