屠格涅夫在写了许多短篇、中篇小说之后,感到他有可能去从事长篇小说的创作了。一八五二年十二月二十八日他给安宁可夫的信中写道:“我是否能够从事一点较大的安静的工作呢?”他想写一部长篇小说,来概括整个的俄罗斯社会,来描写新的“当代英雄”。一八五二年底他开始写作长篇小说《两代人》。在这部作品里,他打算描述两个平行而又互相联系的故事,一是女地主凶狠残忍、刚愎自用的性 Turgenev wrote many short, novels, he felt he might engage in the creation of novels. In his letter to Ankhov on December 28, 1852, he wrote: “Can I engage in a larger, quieter job?” He wanted to write a novel to summarize the entire Russian society, to describe the new “contemporary hero.” By the end of 1852 he began writing the novel “Two Generations.” In this work, he intends to describe two parallel and interconnected stories. First, the landlady is brutally cruel and self-use.