{"name":"The Diary of a Superfluous Man by Ivan S. Turgenev","short_name":"The Diary of a Superfluous Man by Ivan S. Turgenev","theme_color":"#ffffff","start_url":"/","display":"standalone","background_color":"#fff","description":"Turgenev’s shy hero, Tchulkaturin, is a representative example of a Russian archetype – the “superfluous man”, a sort of Hamlet not necessarily dignified with the title Prince: an individual of comfortable means leading a dreary existence, without purpose and led on by events which may, as in this story, engulf him. The novella takes the form of a diary started by Tchulkaturin in the shock of being diagnosed as having a terminal illness. The journal entries cover a period of two weeks, leading to his death. Tchulkaturin quickly homes in on the only significant event in his life – an unreciprocated falling-in-love leading haphazardly to a non-fatal duel that leaves him desolated and fully conscious of the futility of his inactive existence.","icons":[{"src":"https://deow9bq0xqvbj.cloudfront.net/image-logo/18509299/the-diary-of-a-superfluous-man-by-ivan-turgenev_300x300.jpg","sizes":"300x300","type":"image/png"}]}