Mumu

About the work

In the Moscow house of a capricious lady, the yard keeper is Gerasim - a giant of a man, deaf and mute from birth. Brought from the village, he pines in the city until he finds a little dog and grows deeply attached to her. But in a house ruled by the mistress's whims, a serf has no right even to such an attachment.

Contents

1. IChapter 1

How it was written

Turgenev wrote the story in 1852 while under arrest for his obituary of Gogol. It was first published in the magazine Sovremennik (The Contemporary) in 1854.

Context

The story shows serfdom from inside a landowner's household in the mid-nineteenth century. The plot is simple and the language clear, so Mumu is often one of the first longer texts learners read in Russian.

Interesting facts

• The writer's mother, Varvara Turgeneva, is considered the prototype of the lady.
• The story is part of the school curriculum and is familiar to every Russian reader.