The Dog

In the early 1960s, a theme of the mysterious appeared in the works of the great Russian writer Turgenev. For the first time, it took shape in the story "Ghosts," written in 1861–1863. Then the image of the mysterious began to arise more and more often.

A sober realist, always astounding with the astonishing life-like credibility of his scenes—yet suddenly, mystical stories about ghosts, a love after death, mysterious dreams and meetings with the dead… Many people were confused by it. Especially the writer got it for the story "A Dog"—about a ruined landowner who thinks that he is being followed by the ghost of some mysterious dog. Perhaps creating works of such an unusual genre is connected with external and internal reasons. When class struggle intensified, Turgenev fell into a depressed state; during this period he experienced a severe personal crisis—maybe the sharpest of all he had ever endured…