The diary of a superfluous man, and other stories

"The Diary of a Superfluous Man" by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev is a compilation of stories that reads like a personal journal from the late 1800s. The main story centers around Tchulkaturin, a man facing his own mortality, who begins a diary to examine his past and his feeling unneeded in the world. He writes about his family history, his father’s gambling problems, his mother’s strict nature, and his own feelings of not measuring up, which leads him to call himself "superfluous". As he remembers moments from his childhood, his relationships, and his emotional ups and downs, he shows himself as a complicated person filled with both happiness and sadness, especially when it comes to his one-sided love for a delightful girl named Liza. This starts a journey into deep thoughts about what it means to be alive, touching on themes of love, who we are, and what it means to be human.