Book number 46 of 2024
Continuing my exploration of classic Russian literature (you can read my review of Tolstoy’s War and Peace here), I decided to check out Ivan Turgenev’s Fathers and Children (also known as Fathers and Sons). A couple of years ago, I read Joseph Frank’s biography of my favorite Russian author, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and, according to Frank, Dostoyevsky was friends with Turgenev and had spoken well of Fathers and Sons.
The novel opens with middle-aged widower Nikoloai Petrovitch Kirsanov anxiously awaiting the arrival of his son, Arkady, who has graduated from the university in Petersburg. When Arkady finally arrives at the depot, he introduces a new friend of his, Yevgeny Vassilyitch Bazarov, whom he has invited to stay at their estate.
As their carriages arrive at the Kirsanov estate, it’s clear things are not doing well. Turgenev paints a picture of poverty and decay – emaciated cows, serfs driving pell-mell to gin bars, decrepit and dilapidated buildings. At the house, they are greeted by Nikolai’s brother, Pavel Petrovitch, who is a bit of an aristocratic dandy. He is glad to see Arkady, but Bazarov immediately rubs him the wrong way. The next morning, Pavel Petrovitch is not pleased to learn that Bazarov is a “nihilist”:
Pavel Petrovitch pulled his moustaches. “Well, and what is Mr. Bazarov himself?” he asked, deliberately.
“What is Bazarov?” Arkady smiled. “Would you like me, uncle, to tell you what he really is?”
“If you will be so good, nephew.”
“He’s a nihilist.”
“Eh?” inquired Nikolai Petrovitch, while Pavel Petrovitch lilted a knife in the air with a small piece of butter on its tip, and remained motionless.
“He’s a nihilist,” repeated Arkady.
“A nihilist,” said Nikolai Petrovitch. “That’s from the Latin, nihil, nothing, as far as I can judge; the word must mean a man who … who accepts nothing?”
“Say, ‘who respects nothing,’ ” put in Pavel Petrovitch, and he set to work on the butter again.
“Who regards everything from the critical point of view,” observed Arkady.
“Isn’t that just the same thing?” inquired Pavel Petrovitch.
“No, it’s not the same thing. A nihilist is a man who does not bow down before any authority, who does not take any principle on faith, whatever reverence that principle may be enshrined in.”
“Well, and is that good?” interrupted Pavel Petrovitch.
“That depends, uncle. Some people it will do good to, but some people will suffer for it.”
“Indeed. Well, I see it’s not in our line. We are old-fashioned people; we imagine that without principles, taken as you say on faith, there’s no taking a step, no breathing. Vous avez changé tout cela. [You have changed all that.] God give you good health and the rank of a general, while we will be content to look on and admire, worthy … what was it?”
“Nihilists,” Arkady said, speaking very distinctly.
“Yes. There used to be Hegelists, and now there are nihilists. We shall see how you will exist in void, in vacuum; and now ring, please, brother Nikolai Petrovitch; it’s time I had my cocoa.”
Ivan Turgenev. Fathers and Children (Kindle Locations 469-485). Standard Ebooks. Kindle Edition.
There is also another family complication – Nikolai has brought a young woman, Fenitchka, into the house and she has borne him a son. Arkady, quite proud of his fashionable and up-to-date morals, assures his father that he thinks it is all perfectly wonderful.
One thing I appreciate about Turgenev is his dry sense of humor. Here he is describing a government official, Matvy Illyitch Kolyazin:
Matvy Ilyitch received Arkady with the good-nature, we might even call it playfulness, characteristic of the enlightened higher official. He was astonished, however, when he heard that the cousins he had invited had remained at home in the country. “Your father was always a queer fellow,” he remarked, playing with the tassels of his magnificent velvet dressing-gown, and suddenly turning to a young official in a discreetly buttoned-up uniform, he cried, with an air of concentrated attention, “What?” The young man, whose lips were glued together from prolonged silence, got up and looked in perplexity at his chief. But, having nonplussed his subordinate, Matvy Ilyitch paid him no further attention. Our higher officials are fond as a rule of nonplussing their subordinates; the methods to which they have recourse to attain that end are rather various.
Ivan Turgenev. Fathers and Children (Kindle Locations 1076-1081). Standard Ebooks. Kindle Edition.
At a ball, Arkady and Bazarov are introduced to a local young woman who is a wealthy widow, Anna Sergyevna Odintsov. They have an extended stay at her estate, where she lives with her younger sister, Katya, and their irascible aunt, a pompous old princess. Arkady fancies himself in love with Anna, but he is too young and naïve for her to really notice him. She is much more interested in Bazarov, and what makes him tick. He doesn’t derive any enjoyment from any art, whether it’s music, paintings, or novels. For his part, Bazarov finds Anna Sergyevna fascinating – she is an independent woman who competently runs an extensive estate. She is well educated and interested in learning more about botany, chemistry, and other physical sciences. She is always entirely placid and serene; nothing disturbs her equanimity.
Late one evening, Bazarov and Anna are conversing in her room. She tries to pierce his armor of indifference and rationalism, while he struggles to not express his feelings for her. He finally gives in and says he loves her, but he is like a cornered, furious animal, and Anna realizes she has pushed him too far and immediately regrets it.
Bazarov plans to leave to go to his family farm, and Arkady impulsively decides to join him. The Bazarovs are a lot of fun – his father, Vassily, is a retired doctor who struts around in his shabby old military uniform. His mother, Arina, is a devout and devoted mother who showers an embarrassed Yevgeny with affection. After just three days, he’s had enough and makes plans to return to Arkady’s family estate. At this point, Turgenev gives us a beautiful piece of writing that captures the heartbreak parents feel when they realize their children have outgrown them:
Vassily Ivanovitch, after a few more moments of hearty waving of his handkerchief on the steps, sank into a chair, and his head dropped on to his breast. “He has cast us off; he has forsaken us,” he faltered; “forsaken us; he was dull with us. Alone, alone!” he repeated several times. Then Arina Vlasyevna went up to him, and, leaning her grey head against his grey head, said, “There’s no help for it, Vasya! A son is a separate piece cut off. He’s like the falcon that flies home and flies away at his pleasure; while you and I are like funguses in the hollow of a tree, we sit side by side, and don’t move from our place. Only I am left you unchanged forever, as you for me.”
Vassily Ivanovitch took his hands from his face and clasped his wife, his friend, as warmly as he had never clasped in youth; she comforted him in his grief.
Ivan Turgenev. Fathers and Children (Kindle Locations 2301-2307). Standard Ebooks. Kindle Edition.
As time goes on, the friendship between Arkady and Bazarov cools, and the friction between Arkady’s uncle Pavel and Bazarov comes to a head. Bazarov knows he has no one to confide in, nowhere to go where he would be comfortable. He is in thrall to his nihilism, but it is a dead end. Arkady moves on, falling in love with Anna Sergyevna’s younger sister, Katya.
Fathers and Children is one of the most beautifully written novels I’ve ever read. It’s also nice that it’s relatively short: 255 pages, which is nothing compared to most Russian literature! Turgenev is, to my ears, like Hemingway in the way he strips down his prose to the bare essentials. With a few descriptive phrases, Turgenev conveys the atmosphere of a scene completely. For example, here’s the scene he paints of Bazarov when he finally returns to his home:
Bazarov leaned out of the coach, while Arkady thrust his head out behind his companion’s back, and caught sight on the steps of the little manor-house of a tall, thinnish man with dishevelled hair, and a thin hawk nose, dressed in an old military coat not buttoned up. He was standing, his legs wide apart, smoking a long pipe and screwing up his eyes to keep the sun out of them.
The horses stopped.
“Arrived at last,” said Bazarov’s father, still going on smoking though the pipe was fairly dancing up and down between his fingers. “Come, get out; get out; let me hug you.”
He began embracing his son … “Enyusha, Enyusha,” was heard a trembling woman’s voice. The door was flung open, and in the doorway was seen a plump, short, little old woman in a white cap and a short striped jacket. She moaned, staggered, and would certainly have fallen, had not Bazarov supported her. Her plump little hands were instantly twined round his neck, her head was pressed to his breast, and there was a complete hush. The only sound heard was her broken sobs.Ivan Turgenev. Fathers and Children (Kindle Locations 1889-1896). Standard Ebooks. Kindle Edition
The overarching theme of Fathers and Children is the inability of different generations to understand each other. Arkady’s father is “progressive”, in that he has emancipated his peasants, but he doesn’t understand the nihilism of Arkady and Bazarov. Bazarov has no patience with his parents, and he can’t wait to leave home as soon as he arrives there. Even though these are characters from mid-nineteenth century Russia, we in 21st century America must deal with the same issues. How can the older generation pass on its values to the next, while still allowing its eagerly rebellious children to make mistakes, learn from them, and grow? It’s an eternal question with no easy answer.
The ebook version of Fathers and Children that I read is available for free at Standard Ebooks. You can download it here.
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