The Golovlyov Family
First edition
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| Author | Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin |
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| Original title | Господа Головлёвы |
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
| Publisher | Otechestvennye Zapiski |
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Publication date
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1880 |
The Golovlyov Family (Russian: Господа Головлёвы, translit. Gospoda Golovlyovy) is a novel by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, written in the course of five years, first published in 1880 by Alexey Suvorin's publishing house, and generally regarded as the author's magnum opus.
The novel is divided into 7 chapters. The first five were initially published as a series of short stories, part of a cycle called The Well-Meant Speeches (Благонамеренные речи, 1875–1876) in Otechestvennye Zapiski. In 1876 Saltykov-Shchedrin united all the parts into one novel and added two more chapters to it, which appeared in the same magazine. The revised version of the novel came out as a separate edition in 1881.
In the mid-19th century old-fashioned estate based on serfdom laws and traditions, tough and shrewd Arina Petrovna tries her best to make her realm prosper and even expand – despite unwillingness of her husband and three of her four children to lend helping hands... Ten years on, serfdom abolished, and now Porfiry-Yudishka, the epitome of a corrupt, cruel hypocrite, becomes the heir to the estate. Dullness and horrors of life, spent in destroying everybody around him, finally makes him to slowly realize things went somehow wrong. Half-mad, apparently, he goes to the cemetery to "ask for forgiveness" from his mother Arina Petrovna, and dies somewhere along his way, his frozen corpse found the next day.
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Wikipedia