Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883)

The Russian title of this novel would be more accurately translated Fathers and Children, but the name by which it is usually called in English is good enough, since at the heart of the story are two sons. Arkady is the first introduced, but in the course of the plot plays the second lead, the friend and would-be disciple of Bazanov, a self-styled Nihilist. Turgenev is famously credited with inventing the term and is often regarded as a prophet of future developments in Russian history. That show more would reduce Bazanov to a type and do Turgenev the novelist a disservice. It’s also important to be clear that “nihilist” is not “anarchist,” nor is it “Bolshevist.” It is simply the refusal to believe in anything, whether expert or institution. Bazanov is suitably impatient with all abstract concepts, seemingly unaware of the contradiction of an allegiance to Nihilism, which, after all, is simply another “-ism.”

Turgenev creates in Bazanov a strong, complex character, while at the same time gently deflating his pretensions. Bazanov’s naive assumption that the Russian serf, on the cusp of emancipation as the book opens, embodies the true soul of Russia is lampooned. Arkady, his companion, is effete, and a further disciple, Sitnikov, is depicted as ridiculous, although one suspects he is just the kind of personality who will end up on top when the upheaval finally comes.

The final undoing of their nihilist stance is, unsurprisingly, the experience of love, something the two friends had dismissed as illusory until they met two remarkable women, the young widow Madame Odintsova, and her sister Katya.

In a final irony, Bazanov meets his untimely demise in a manner that reflects his contradictions. He had studied chemistry and medicine. Although he rejects the illusion of scientific progress, he is insatiably curious, spending much of his time dissecting frogs. When a person he is tending dies, Bazanov obtains permission to dissect the cadaver, but accidentally cuts himself and contracts typhus.

Until now, I’ve spoken only of the sons, and the final difficulty with the title of this book is that the fathers are set first, although the plot follows the sons more closely. In their case, too, it’s essential to be clear about what they are not. They are not reactionary Slavophiles, the kind of figures one would expect nihilists to despise. They are minor, mildly impoverished but well-connected landowners. They accept the imminent emancipation of the serfs and have already apportioned their land to theirs and placed them on a wage system, something that has failed to improve the lot of either landlord or tenant. They love their sons, even to the point of idolizing them, and the sons love the fathers yet scoff at their well-intentioned but ineffectual liberalism (if there is anything politically prophetic about this book, it is this).

Compared to the elephantine masterpieces of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, this book more closely accords with Western European ideals of a novel. Yet it is at heart a Russian novel, one that reflects the author’s lover’s quarrel with his native land and its people, yet, as with any good book, you don’t have to be Russian to read and enjoy. show less

„Ocevi i deca“ Ivana Turgenjeva zanosno je dobra knjiga od 200 strana koja objašnjava takoreci sve što treba da znate o porodici, ljubavi, patnji, religiji, duelima i instituciji kmetstva u Rusiji 19. veka, a da ne pominjemo savete za zavodenje mlade cerke vašeg kucepazitelja. Ukratko, ovo je rusko remek-delo, tolikoo istancano da cete nakon citanja biti potreseni i dirnuti.

Dva glavna junaka u romanu su Arkadije i Bazarov. Oni su „deca“ iz naslova koja se vracaju sa univerziteta u show more Sankt Peterburgu da posete svoje porodice u provinciji. Bazarov je neka vrsta nihilistickog hipstera ciji prijatelji diskutuju o temama poput „Da li je brak predrasuda ili zlocin?“. Arkadije je potpao pod Bazarovljev uticaj, ali je i dalje cvrsto vezan za svog dobrog, brižnog oca, malog i ne tako uspešnog zemljoposednika, koji jadikuje zbog sinovljeve urbanosti. „Ja sam zaostao, on je napredovao“, kaže otac, što bi mogao biti lament bilo kog osetljivog oca ciji se sin upravo vratio kuci posle prve godine studija u inostranstvu.

U meduvremenu, mladi ljudi rade ono što rade mladi ljudi. Cak i naizgled bezosecajni Bazarov koji se odrice svega sem naucnog napretka, uspeva da izgubi glavu za hladnom, ali veoma inteligentnom udovicom, Odincovom, dok Arkadije privlaci pažnju njene ljupke sestre, Katje. Kako bi rekao lik iz „Love and Death“ Vudija Alena: Katja voli Arkadija, Arkadije voli Bazarova, Bazarov voli Odincovu, Odincova voli Odincovu. Radnja se dogada u Rusiji 1860-ih, zemlji ciju lepotu narušava jeziva tradicija kmetstva. Ali teško da je ovo traktat o društvu. Ono što je tada razbesnelo kriticare ovog romana jeste to što Turgenjev nije podilazio ni konzervativcima ni naprednjacima. Možda je Bazarov covek buducnosti koji kaže da je viteštvo neka vrsta deformiteta i pokušava da se sprijatelji sa seljacima, ali u njihovim ocima on je samo lakrdijaš koji nikada nece moci da razume njihove muke.

Na kraju, Turgenjevljev dar je njegovo ogromno saosecanje. U „Ocevima i deci“ niko nije u pravu i niko nije u krivu. Naravno, neki ljudi su smešni, ali Turgenjevljev psihološki domet je toliko veliki da nikada ne osecamo podsmeh ni prema kome. Bazarov se možda mršti na instituciju porodice, ali njegov dolazak kuci i jednostavna, nepokolebljiva, komicno nevešta ljubav njegovih roditelja, predstavljaju neke od najtoplijih scena u ruskoj književnosti. Kada Bazarov na kraju izgubi život (necu otkriti kako), tuga koju osecaju njegovi roditelji toliko je jaka da ce nekoga možda naterati da zatvori knjigu pre nego što je procita do kraja. Ako u „Ocevima i deci“ postoji pravi zlikovac, to nije carska vlada ili gomila pomodnih pozera sa njihovim pametnim idejama, vec sam život u svoj svojoj okrutnosti, nasumicnosti, indiferentnosti i, više od svega, kratkotrajnosti.
Tvorac ruskog modernog romana

Vi plemici niste u stanju dopreti dalje od blagorodne smernosti i blagorodnog gneva, a to su ludorije. Vi, na primer, mislite da ste postigli vrhunac ljudskog savršenstva kada ne bijete svoju celjad; ali mi baš hocemo da se bijemo i bijemo.

Prvi roman Ivana Turgenjeva Rudin (1856) kao i njegov najvažniji i najpoznatiji roman Ocevi i deca (1862) uverljivo prikazuju tadašnje rusko seljaštvo i mladu inteligenciju koja želi da zemlju uvede u novo doba.

Glavni junak istoimenog romana, Rudin je elokventan mladic pun novih ideja koji po dolasku u rusku provinciju postaje predmet divljenja. Kada se sazna da nije u stanju da uskladi reci i dela, on ce morati da ode. Iskljupljenje ce pronaci na pariskim barikadama 1848, postavši tako prvi junak revolucionar u istoriji ruske proze.

Jevgenij Bazarov, protagonista romana Ocevi i deca, darovit je, nestrpljiv i zajedljiv mladic koji ne priznaje autoritete. Prvi nihilista u svetskoj književnosti i najupecatljiviji lik velikog ruskog pisca, Bazarov ce postati simbol mladalackog radikalizma i promena koje ce uslediti.

Ivan Turgenjev je bio jedan od vodecih pisaca XIX veka, ali i jedan od najzaslužnijih ruskih pisaca za širenje ruske književnosti ka Zapadu, zavredivši priznanje savremenika poput Flobera, Mopasana i Henrija Džejmsa. show less

La mejor novela de Iván Turguéniev (o al menos, la mejor que he leído hasta el momento). Una historia sobre las dificultades para salvar las diferencias morales e ideológicas que representa la brecha generacional entre padres e hijos, pero también una metáfora del choque entre la aristocracia y las ideas que eventualmente llevarían a la Revolución y, por consiguiente, al pensamiento actual. Magistralmente escrita, es una obra que merece un lugar destacado en el panteón ruso, ahí show more justo al lado de Tolstoi y Dostoievski. show less

This short novel packs quite a punch. Dimitry Sanin is a young Russian man travelling back from Italy to his homeland via Frankfort in Germany when by chance he saves a young man's life and falls for the man's beautiful sister Gemma Roselli. She is engaged to a German man Herr Klüber, but feels an increasing attraction between them. At a dinner, Gemma receives an unwelcome advance from another man von Dönhof, but it is Sanin who challenges his behaviour, not her own fiancé. Sanin and von show more Dönhof fight a duel at the latter's insistence, but agree there is no case to answer and shake hands. Gemma splits with her fiancé and the relationship develops with Sanin, who gets on very well with the whole family, in particular Emil, the prospective brother in law whose life he had saved.
Up to this point, the novel has felt quite light-hearted and enjoyable, but fairly inconsequential; I was questioning why this appears in lists of 1001 books you should read before you die. But then the novel takes a darker and more dramatic tone. Sanin by chance meets an old school friend Ippolit Polozov, who appears to be under the control of his wife Maria. Sanin negotiates with Maria for the Polozovs to buy his estate, so he can emigrate to be with Gemma. However, Sanin falls increasingly under the spell of Maria, who contrives to spend more and more time with him, and he starts to feel more emotionally distant from Gemma, against his better judgement. By the end he is almost a slave to her and her husband and has written to Gemma breaking off their impending marriage. The whole story takes place within a framework narrative in which Sanin is looking back in later life, having lost the woman he loves and also (how is not clear) broken free of Maria. The story might have ended there but Sanin tracks Gemma down to New York, where she has married and had children, he writes to her and they are reconciled as friends. This denouement perhaps reduces the punch of the novel a bit, but this is a powerful novel about love and obsession. show less