Fathers and sons turgenev pdf

Russian Literature

The next three writers whose short stories we are going to study in this course are

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881), and Lev (or,

Leo) Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910). These three contemporaries, almost peers, are

considered the most important Russian novelists and prose writers of the 19th century.

Among all three, Tolstoy is often viewed as the world’s 19th-century greatest writer, and

his novel, War and Peace, the best novel in the world’s literature. Tolstoy’s supremacy in

literature, however, is argued by the supporters of Dostoevsky, whilst Turgenev has both

“the pleasure and pain” of being the contemporary of these two rivals (who, by the way,

had never met in person). Yet, Turgenev’s Western friends and colleagues, Gustave

Flaubert, and Henry James, considered him the best of all Russian prose writers, even

though Russian critics generally depicted him as a poor relative of his more talented

contemporaries.

According to an American literary critic and scholar, Irwil Weil, “This depiction

is grossly unfair, as anyone who has read Turgenev’s prose with half a heart can testify.

Yet life itself seemed determined to put Turgenev down. He was once challenged by

Tolstoy to a duel, and he was branded as a coward when he wisely avoided such a

potential tragedy. Later, there was the famous reconciliation at Iasnaia Poliana [Tolstoy’s

country estate located not far from the city of Tula, 200 km south-west of Moscow –

S.C.], lasting until one of them lost a game of checkers! Dostoevsky never forgave

Turgenev his kindness in lending money when Dostoevsky desperately needed it. Later,

the religious writer savaged Turgenev as Karmazinov in the novel translated as The

Possessed. Such are the literary rewards of liberal kindness! In almost all the Russian

writers we have thus far examined, one of their outstanding characteristics was a strength

of conviction, the notion that they had an idea or a theme of vital importance, which they

would communicate directly, no matter what the consequences might be. In the case of

Turgenev, we find a genuine contrast to this kind of extreme passion. Turgenev, with the

temperament of the true liberal, the man who found himself between the extremes of

public opinion, often ended up in the middle of his society’s polemics, attacked and even

cursed by both sides or, even worse, praised for exactly the wrong reasons, or so it

seemed to him.” (Classics of Russian Literature, 2, 47-8. The Teaching Company,

Chantilly, VA, 2007).

Turgenev was born into a wealthy landowner’s family who lived in their own

large estate in central part of Russia, in the province of Orel. His mother was known for

cruelness to her own serfs – the behavior which was strongly opposed by Turgenev.

During all his life he would fight against any forms of slavery, however, like in the case

with Tolstoy, there was a deep contradiction in Turgenev since he himself was bound by

the restrictions of his class and depended on the income produced by his estate. His

mother was very manipulative and used this as a means to control the actions and

opinions of her son literally until her death.

In 1847, Turgenev published the first of several of the short stories called “Khor’

and Kalinych” (the names of the two male peasants) presumably about his hunting

expeditions in the Russian countryside. Later these stories were gathered in one volume

called Notes of a Hunter (or,…of a Huntsman, or… of a Sportsman, in the English

translation). The book became the most truthful contemporary portrayal of the Russian

peasantry, suppressed by the landowners, and of the horrific conditions it lived under.

After its publication Turgenev became increasingly popular among all classes and,

naturally, greatly beloved by the peasants. His book made a significant input in the case

of the liberation of the peasants and their official emancipation (the abolition of the

serfdom) which occurred in 1861.

Generally, Turgenev’s political views were on the side with those who wanted

western type of parliamentary democracy in Russia – something that in the country of

whose days was absolutely impossible due to the rule of the tsars and to the absence of

any political or social freedom. The supporters of the tsardom were opposed by the

radicals, who wanted to see more crucial political changed, i.e. socialism. And many of

the latter looked upon Turgenev as a supporter, who after having inherited his family

estate was able to provide such a support. Both for that and for his critical opinions about

the government, he fell under the dislike and suspicion of the government. After his

speech in support of Gogol’s satirical views of the Russian bureaucracy, Turgenev was

briefly imprison, and after the release from the prison had to leave Russia for a long

period of time, settling in Europe, mostly in France.

In France, Turgenev’s life-long affair with a famous ballerina, Pauline Viardot,

continued. But Pauline was married, and for years to come this was a sort of ménage de

trios, preventing Turgenev from a complete personal happiness and an established family

life. Turgenev’s correspondence with Poline is a deeply touching romance in letters.

While abroad, Turgenev was very much involved in the political and cultural

events at his home country. His love and passion to Russia was never ending and he

deeply suffered due to the fact of his separation from his country and the lack of freedom

in it. In the West, Turgenev tried extremely hard to popularize the works of his great

Russian contemporaries, particularly Pushkin and Tolstoy. His pain and compassion

about Russia is reflected in his famous poem in prose, On the Russian Language (see at

the end of this lecture). He died in 1883 in Russia, and “when he was on his deathbed, he

wrote a deeply moving letter to Tolstoy, begging him to return his great talent to

literature for the sake of Russia's welfare.” (Weil, 50). Tolstoy by that time had almost

completely deviated from writing literary works, becoming an open opponent of the

regime and a disdainer of the oppression of the people by the government and official

church.

In his many other works, Turgenev presented an outstanding panorama of both

male and female characters, and particularly, their duality which apparently became

strongly expressed in his depiction of the conflict between generations. Passions of his

protagonists are particularly emphasized by Turgenev: his female characters are active

and powerful, and his male protagonists, though good in words, often lose when it comes

to a decisive action. His other works include a series of extremely finely crafted short

stories and novellas, as well as several relatively short novels. Among a few examples are

a short story “First Love,” an essay, “Hamlet and Don Quixote,” and a major novel,

Fathers and Sons (in Russian – Fathers and Children, 1861). The most influential in the

cultural, political and social sense is Fathers and Sons. Its central character is a young

and talented doctor Bazarov who presents himself as a “nihilist” – the one who wants to

destroy all present institutions. Turgenev’s invention of this term was a reflection of the

most acute contemporary problems that existed between the conservatives and liberals,

and between the younger and the old generations.

From the literary perspective, a nihilist Bazarov became the literary type who

extended the line of a superfluous man, began by Pushkin’s Onegin (in his novel in verse,

Eugene Onegin) and continued by Lermontov’s Pechorin (in his Hero of Our Time). In

Turgenev’s novel, the clash between two generations has turned out to be mortal, and at

the end of it Bazarov dies. Turgenev was blamed by many for this “killing” of the

opponent of the regime, especially during the decade of the 1860s. This was a very

productive time for the development of Russian prose. All writers, including these three

giants, were in the middle of the polemics about the future fate of Russia’s peasants, the

younger and the old generations, and the new ways of the political development of the

rapidly changing country. After the oppressive Tsar Nikolas I (under whom Pushkin,

Lermontov, and Gogol lived) died in 1854, the relatively liberal Alexander II came to

power; his regime made it possible to dispute many of the previously forbidden political

and social questions openly. The Russian writers were the first to catch this moment, and

Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons was the first major novel to appear. Not only it had

influenced Tolstoy’s and Dostoevsky’s future writings but also played a tremendous role

in the life of society and in the development of liberal process.

“Bezhin Meadow” (From Notes of a Hunter)

Turgenev’s work under discussion is a short story “Bezhin Meadow” from the

aforementioned collection, Notes of a Hunter. A precursor of Fathers and Sons, Notes of

a Hunter revealed Turgenev’s innovative approach not only to literary writing but also to

the most burning social issues. First and foremost, it was appreciated by the

contemporaries due to its truthful depiction of the acute social issues and seen as an open

call in the defense of suppressed peasantry. Turgenev introduced the new protagonists –

Russian serfs – as a major collective character. His Notes became a social and moral

tuner for other literati who wanted to touch upon the issues of social inequality and

describe the life of the repressed people.

At the same time, the critical social sound of these stories was not their only

important feature: in addition, this book presented a panoramic description of Russian life

with its traditions and beliefs whose sole bearer and keeper was the people. Turgenev

portrays numerous types of characters, their visions of life, their mindsets, understanding

of good and evil, generosity, truthfulness, and spiritual search. Altogether, these

characters carry on the features of Russian national character, represent the future of the

country, and, at the same time, show how much of the positive energy and how many

aspirations disappear in this nation without a trace.

The very devise of “walking” through the native land provides the author with the

opportunity to see both a poor peasant village and a rich landowner’s estate, a small

forest house of a huntsman and a roadside tavern, and to meet with an impoverished

peasant and with aristocrats educated in Europe. Satirical portrayals of the landowners

contrast with the depiction of the genuine features of the peasants. Turgenev shows life

and death of a simple Russian man, his love and suffering, his hopes and superstitions,

and in each and every story the most important role is given to the pictures of nature. And

to prove the importance of these beautifully depicted landscapes to the main idea of the

book, Turgenev completes this book with the story called “The Forest and the Steppe” –

the apotheosis of Russian nature.

Nature is a usual and an ordinary habitat of the peasants yet in Turgenev’s stories

it never plays the role of a passive background. The images of nature increase poetic

depictions of the characters and add to the creation of a certain artistic mood. Through

these pictures of nature Turgenev expresses his love to the motherland and to his people.

At the same time, nature is a huge elemental force full of the unsolved mysteries,

independent from humans, their lives, and their movements. The landscapes thus become

the most important part of the entire collection which unite its components and carry its

artistic meaning. Overall, Turgenev became the first writer who “opened up,” revealed

the poetry of the landscapes of the central part of Russia to the rest of the world,

presenting them in their natural beauty and filling his descriptions with a deep

philosophical sense.

In “Bezhin Meadow,” the narrator- hunter meets five peasant boys in the middle

of the steppe and spends a night with them under the starts. These boys, while watching

horses, are sitting around the bonfire and telling stories to each other; the narrator is

listening to their stories, making notes about their characters and drawing his own

conclusions. Their names are: Fedya, Pavlusha, Ilyusha, Kostya, and Vanya. Although

these are the abbreviated versions of the adult names, they are not used by the author in

their diminutive, neglecting forms (the way the peasant children would usually be

referred to) but rather in the tender, family-like forms. In this positive mood the author’s

depiction of the boys begins, going through the entire story, and ending both with the

joyful celebration of the coming morning and the sad news about the future death of one

of the boys.

To continue and complete the analysis of this story, you should be able to answer

the following questions:

1. Describe the appearance and the character of each of the boys.

2. Whom does the narrator like and whom does he dislike? Why?

3. What are the stories the boys are telling to each other about? What makes them

choose such topics?

4. What scares the boys? And what makes them laugh?

5. Does the narrator interact with them at all or not? If yes, in what manner?

6. Do you think these boys are literate or not? Are they superstitious and religious or

are they rational? Are they poor or rich?

7. What can you tell about the depiction of nature in this story? Why does the

narrator begin and end his story with the beautiful descriptions of the landscapes,

of the evening, of the night, and the early morning? How does the nature

contribute to the creation of the artistic mood along the story?

8. Make a guess: to which trend in the 19th-century literature this story belongs:

sentimentalism, romanticism, realism or critical realism as a continuation of

realism? Or, maybe, to fantastic realism?

9. Did you like this story or not? Please explain why.

ON THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE by Ivan Turgenev

In these days of doubt, in these days of painful brooding over the fate of my country, you

alone are my rod and staff, O great, mighty, true and free Russian language! If it were not

for you, how could one keep up from despairing at the sight of what is going on at home?

It is inconceivable that such a language should not belong to a great people (Translated

by George Gibian).