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Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883)
Ivan Turgenev was the son
of a retired cavalry officer and a wealthy aristocratic mother. His childhood
was spent on an extensive estate in the country, Spasskoye-Lutovinovo.
Later in life, Turgenev described his home as ‘an island of gentry civilization in rural Russia’ but also as ‘a symbol
of the injustice inherent in serfdom’. Turgenev was educated at
universities in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and then he ‘plunged into the
German sea’ from 1838-1841 at the University of Berlin. When he returned
home, Turgenev had become a firm believer in the need for Russia to follow a
course of Westernization. In 1843, the critic
Belinsky recognized promise in Turgenev’s first literary efforts. He encouraged
the young poet to commit himself to writing in a realist style by describing
the world as it is. Belinsky also encouraged the young man to join the
intelligentsia in its opposition to the injustices of the Tsar’s regime. That same year Turgenev
fell in love with a famous singer, Pauline Viardot,
who refused his advances yet remained his lifelong friend. That year Turgenev
also fathered an illegitimate daughter with a peasant woman who lived on his
parents’ estate. The child was raised by Viardot.
This love triangle would be recalled twenty years later in the novel Fathers and Sons. During the 1840’s Turgenev
wrote epic poems imitating Byron, plays in imitation of Gogol, and short
stories that studied the intellectuals of his generation. The most famous of
his early stories was “The
Diary of a Superfluous Man” which established a new type in Russian
literature: the superfluous man. Isaiah Berlin describes the superfluous man
as a “member
of the tiny minority of educated and morally sensitive men who is unable to
find a place in his native land and, driven in upon himself, is liable to
escape either into fantasies or illusions, or into cynicism or despair,
ending more often than not in self-destruction and surrender. [The
superfluous man] suffers acute shame or furious indignation caused by the
misery and degradation of a system in which human beings, serfs, were viewed
as baptized property, together with a sense of impotence before the rule of
injustice, stupidity and corruption….” (265) Turgenev went abroad to
live in Paris in 1847 where he wrote The
Hunting Sketches (published in 1852), a cycle of short stories portraying
the landowners and peasants he had observed while living on his parents’
estate. Turgenev’s skillful presentation of character evoked compassion for
the peasants among his aristocratic readers and gave impetus to the movement
pressuring the Tsar to emancipate the serfs. You can compare The Hunting Sketches with Harriet
Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
written at almost the same time, and observe the similar impact upon the
debate over slavery. When Turgenev
returned to Russia, he was arrested and confined for 18 months on his
parents’ estate in the country. During the 1850’s Turgenev
wrote a series of novels which explored a growing rift in the Russian
intelligentsia. After the defeat of the Tsar’s armies in the Crimean War
(1856), a new generation of activists arose who dismissed the liberal
aristocrats of Turgenev’s age as bourgeois, corrupt and weak. These new
revolutionaries no longer believed in compromise with the Tsar. They had no
faith in a policy of gradual, incremental social change. They were bent upon
a radical solution. Even the emancipation of the serfs, which finally took
place in 1861, did not satisfy these revolutionaries. They thought that the
serfs had merely been fitted with a new set of chains, economic instead of
legal. The new activists declared that the whole rotten system had to go;
terrorist organizations were formed, and a sharper key informed the political
rhetoric of the opposition. Fathers and Sons (1862) was Turgenev’s complicated response to these unsettling
developments. On the one hand, he was stunned by the brutality and contempt
of the younger generation’s assault on their liberal forbears. He was
frightened also by the revolutionaries’ utopian convictions. At the same time
he recognized that a new energy had seized the intelligentsia. This youthful
movement was confident, clear-eyed, and committed to action. Their ideology
was grounded in the firm belief that only the rational methods of natural
science could create a more just society. (and that
is a Western idea.) The nihilists believed that all abstraction, all dualism,
all that could not be established by observation and experiment was useless
romantic rubbish: literature, philosophy, art, nature, tradition, authority,
religion, intuition, all of it was abstract nonsense. What mattered was
reason alone- and having the strength, will-power, and intellectual courage
to live a life based solely on useful knowledge. Bazarov,
Turgenev’s hero in Fathers and Sons is
a nihilist, and this character shook Russia in the second half of the 19th
century. Fathers and
Sons (1862) by Ivan Turgenev Chapter One, pp. 1-6
Remember
the first image of the novel: “Russia in 1859”: the father, Kirsanov waits expectantly somewhere in the great Russian
hinterland (with an insolent valet dressed in high fashion who sports a
‘supercilious’ attitude) for the arrival of his son, newly graduated from the
university in St. Petersburg. How
does Turgenev characterize the generation of the ‘grandfathers’ as
exemplified by Nicholas
Petrovich Kirsanov’s
parents? How
has Kirsanov’s life fallen well short of his
parents’ expectations? Why
does Turgenev choose the year 1847 to end the idyllic phase of Kirsanov’s life? What
has Kirsanov done with his life since the death of
his wife? Chapter Two, pp. 7-9
Describe your first impressions of Evgeny
Vasilev Bazarov. Chapter Three, pp. 10-16
What problems with the peasants has Kirsanov
been experiencing on his estate? How
does Arcady respond to his father’s scandalous admission that Fenichka, his concubine, now openly lives with him in the
estate’s great house? Why is Kirsanov not only
embarrassed but slightly disappointed by Arcady’s reaction? Note
Turgenev’s allegorical purpose as well: how does this relationship aptly
characterize the relations between the upper class and the peasantry in
Russia? How
has the estate deteriorated since the time of Catherine the Great? (14) What
kind of reforms does Arkady think will be
necessary? What have the peasants named this farm? What
symbolic comment does Turgenev make as the acrid smoke of Bazarov’s
cheap cigar fills the carriage? Chapter Four, pp. 17-21
How does Turgenev
characterize Pavel Petrovich
Kirsanov? Why doesn’t he
offer his beautiful hand with its perfectly manicured fingernails to Bazarov? How does the servant carry Bazarov’s
coat? How does Arcady
behave at the dinner table? Is he ready to assume responsibility for the
farm? How
does Bazarov judge the Kirsanov
brothers? Chapter Five, pp. 22- 29
What
is implied by Bazarov’s observation that humans are
no different from frogs? Why do the peasants instinctively respect Bazarov even though he is rude to them? (22-23) How
is Acady’s broadminded magnanimity about Fenechka condescending to his father? What response would
have been preferable to Nikolai? What is Turgenev’s political point?
(24-25) What
is a nihilist? What philosophical beliefs does a nihilist espouse? How does Bazarov’s intellectual practice differ from the liberal
practices of the Kirsanov brothers? (26-27) How
does the appearance of Fenechka at this moment fit
into Turgenev’s purpose? Chapter Six, pp. 30-33
Why
does a nihilist have no interest in poetry? Which poets do the fathers
admire? Who would Bazarov claim as his intellectual
forbears? How would he approach the challenges facing Russia? Why
does Bazarov hold people like Pavel
Petrovich in such contempt? Chapter Seven, pp. 34-40
How
is the sad life story of Pavel Petrovich
emblematic of his whole generation’s story? Unpack
Turgenev’s political point about the class of liberal aristocratic reformers
who flourished during the early years of Nicholas I’s reign as Tsar. When did
Pavel Petrovich’s life
effectively end? Despite
his liberal principles, what does Pavel Petrovich think of the serfs? Why
does Bazarov consider men who live for love
pathetic? (40) How
influential is the shaping force of history in Bazarov’s
philosophy of life? To what extent, according to Bazarov,
can people shape their own destinies? What obstacles prevent us from assuming
control of our lives? Chapter Eight, pp. 41-48
Look
around Fenechka’s room with Pavel
Petrovich. Why has he waited until this moment to
finally visit and met his nephew for the first time? How do the contents of
this room suggest a possible future for Fenechka’s
son Mitya and for Russia? Describe
how Nikolai and Fenechka came to be together. Is
there a natural way that these two representatives of Russian society to
overcome their shame and live together happily? Unpack
Turgenev’s political point. Chapter Nine, pp. 49- 52
What
is Bazarov’s first reaction to the discovery of
Nikolai’s scandalous secret? How does Mitya behave
when Bazarov takes him and examines his teeth?
Turgenev’s point? How
accurate is Bazarov’s assessment of the Kirsanov estate? Explain
the significance of Bazarov’s comment: “What’s
important is that twice two is four and all the rest’s nonsense.” (51) Chapter Ten, pp. 53- 66
What
is Turgenev’s impression of Bazarov’s taste in
reading? Would
he agree with Nikolai and defend Pushkin? How
does Pavel Petrovich use
liberal ideology to defend the existence of a class system? (57-58) How
does Bazarov rebut Pavel Petrovich’s argument that the aristocracy serves society
by providing examples of self-respect and dedication to duty? With
what would Bazarov replace “Aristocratism,
liberalism, progress and principles…” (59) ? With
whom would the Russian people agree, Pavel Petrovich or Bazarov? Who is
closer to the Russian people? Look
carefully at Bazarov’s harsh critique of liberal
reform (62) and at Pavel Petrovich’s
ridicule of the belief in force as a method of social change (63). Can both
critiques be accurate? Perhaps
Nikolai Petrovich’s comment is true: these two
arguments cannot be resolved because they are based on conflicting attitudes
between two different generations. Chapter 11, pp. 67- 71 What
is Turgenev’s response to the unresolved debate of the previous chapter? How
does he show us his answer in his depiction of Nikolai’s melancholy thoughts
as he tours the estate and responds to the beauty of the evening? Chapter 12, pp. 72- 77
Matthew
Ilich Kolyazin, the
government inspector sent to the town which Arkady
and Bazarov visit, is the son of the Kolyazin who had been the guardian of Nikolai and Petrov during their youthful days in St. Petersburg. (see
p.4) (Their ‘battleaxe’ of a mother had also been a Kolyazin.)
How does this deliberate genealogical connection fit Turgenev’s purpose in
the novel? What
makes Kolyazin typical of the generation of
‘liberal’ fathers who came of age in the years after the Decembrist revolt in
1825? What are his great accomplishments? Turgenev’s point? Leaving
their audience with the distracted town governor, Arkady
and Bazarov encounter another of Bazarov’s disciples, the foppish ‘Slovophile’
Sitnikov. (He carries a French business card and
loves champagne.) What does Sitnikov’s father do
for a living? Turgenev’s point? Chapter 13, pp. 78-84
How
does Avdotya Nikitishna Kukshina represent another example of Turgenev’s opinion
of the fashionable liberal aristocrats of Russian society? Who has she been
reading recently? What has she invented? How
does this devastating attack on the supposedly emancipated westernizing reformers
of Russian culture square with Turgenev’s own liberalism? What
does Bazarov think of these left leaning
aristocrats? Might they become his allies? Chapter 14, pp. 85-90
Contrast
Arkady and Bazarov’s
reactions to meeting Anna Sergeevna Odintsova, the province’s great beauty, at the governor’s
ball. Chapter 15, pp. 91-95
What
is Bazarov’s attitude towards women and love? How
are these radical ideas immediately tested by his encounter with Odintsova? How does her life story demonstrate strength of
character? Chapter 16, pp. 96-107
What
sort of westernizing influence do the décor and
architecture of Nikolskoe, Odintsova’s
manor, suggest. Consider
Turgenev’s method in this chapter. Here Bazarov,
the nihilist, truly meets his match. Notice Turgenev’s charming
characterization of Odintsova’s unpretentious, yet
decidedly upper class home and family. How does this characterization
challenge Bazarov’s radically materialist ideas
about human nature? If
Bazarov were describing this scene, how would he word
it? Look
at Turgenev’s description of Odintsova (p. 105).
What does she want from life? How has she grown past the romantic and
idealistic expectations of youth? Explain why she prizes ‘tidiness’ in
everything. What
about Bazarov interests her? Chapter 17, pp. 108-119
Contrast
the developing relationship between Arkady and Katya with that of Bazarov and Odintsova. What
is Turgenev’s point? Look
carefully at Turgenev’s depiction of Bazarov
struggle with love (pp. 110-111). How does ‘love’ contradict Bazarov’s radical materialist philosophy? In Turgenev’s
understanding of human nature, love challenges the individual to surrender
control and open the self to metamorphosis into a new form. Why does Bazarov resist this experience so strongly? Look
carefully at the way Turgenev dramatizes the ‘love scene’ between Bazarov and Odintsova (pp.
113-119). Notice the marvelous natural touches (Bazarov
opening and closing windows). What is unspoken in this dialogue? Why do they
fail to connect? Chapter 18, pp. 120-125
What
kind of professional career does Odintsova hope Bazarov will pursue? What
is humiliating for Bazarov about his declaration of
love? Why
does Odintsova reject him? Does she love him? This
is a very strange love scene! What conventions of the typical romantic novel
is Turgenev deliberately flouting? Chapter 19, pp. 126-134
Will
Bazarov be able to regain his previous rigorous
objectivity after his experience with Odintsova? How will Bazarov’s
reunion with his parents continue Turgenev’s critique of nihilism? Chapter 20 (135-146) Describe
Bazarov’s reunion with his parents. How does
Turgenev’s characterization of Vasily Ivanovich and Anna Vlasneva
contribute to his overall purpose, judging the pros and cons of Bazarov’s
radical political and philosophical
stance. Describe
Vasily Ivanovich’s
estate. What problems similar to those at Marino has he been experiencing as
the landowners adjust to the coming liberation of the serfs. Chapter 21 (147-165) Why
does Vasily Ivanovich
work his own garden? Despite his rationalist discipline, how does Vasily Ivanovich respond to the
Arkady’s praise of his son? Carefully read the episode when Arkady
and Bazarov are relaxing at mid-day by the
haystack. What
do they argue about? How are Bazarov’s points
shaped by his feelings? Does
he realize how subjective his argument really is? How
do Bazarov’s parents respond to the news that their
son has abruptly decided to leave? Not Turgenev’s loving
presentation of the couple as they cope with their grief. (164-65) Chapter 22 (166-172) What is the point of Arkady
and Bazarov’s flying visit to Nikolskoe? What
has happened to the farm at Marino in their absence? Why is Nikolai
experiencing such difficulty getting his farm into efficient working order? To
whom is Arkady running when he impulsively escapes
one afternoon? Chapter 23 (173-180) What
does Bazarov commit all his time to accomplishing? Describe
the kiss that Bazarov and Fenechka
exchange. Who overhears their conversation and witnesses the illicit kiss? What
is Turgenev’s political purpose in including this romantic story line in his
story? Chapter 24 (181-199) What
is Bazarov’s response when he is challenged to the
duel? How
does Turgenev characterize the formal fight? Does
he intend to cast Bazarov’s actions as heroic? |
