Classic Turgenev
Written: May 11 '04 (Updated May 11 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Captivating read.
Cons: Characters slightly less well developed than later novels.
The Bottom Line: You really should read it.
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| Bruguru's Full Review: Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev - Home of the Gentry |
I love Russian literature. It’s so, well, Russian. The more of it I read, the more of a feel I get for its quirky, idiosyncratic, often pessimistic and uniquely, well, Russian, nature. I know that argument is a bit syllogistic, but hey, chalk it up to poetic license.
Among all of that wonderful Russian literature, one author shines as my personal favorite. He’s not as well known as Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, but he’s every bit their equal in every sense. At least if you ask me. His name? Ivan Turgenev.
Turgenev’s second novel, Home of the Gentry, would be a proud accomplishment indeed for many other authors. It is not the author’s best work, but it’s a gem all the same-more the testament to his genius. It contains the usual Turgenev fatalism, tragedy, and romance. And it is as captivating as any of the author’s other novels.
Our protagonist, one Fyodor Lavretsky, has had a hard childhood, His father, a stern disciplinarian, has tried to mold the boy to his liking, with a stern hand and little affection. Young Fedya rebels at his earliest opportunity, and when he comes of age, love becomes his refuge: in the form of the beautiful Varvara Pavlovna.
Finally, Lavretsky is a happy man. That happiness is shattered, however, when Varvara is discovered to be having an affair. Crushed, he sends his wife away and bequeaths her an annual stipend, requesting to never see her again. Lavretsky’s illusions of love are destroyed, and his life becomes nothing more than going through the motions of daily existence.
Until he meets Liza, a girl more than a decade younger than he and one engaged to a man she does not love. At first, the two strike a friendship, a friendship that soon grows into love. And as it does, we slowly see life returning to our hero Lavretsky.
Will the two star-crossed lovers be able to overcome their difficulties? Will Liza be able to escape a cold and loveless marriage? Will the clearly wronged Lavretsky’s life be returned to him? The answers may surprise you in Home of the Gentry, as much a love story as a glimpse into Russian society of the mid 19th century.
Like most of the author’s works, Home of the Gentry is timeless. It entertains us and holds our interest on some levels, yet it deeply moves us and provokes serious thought on others. Above all, the author’s fatalistic views on love are readily apparent.
In Home of the Gentry, we also see some of Turgenev’s nihilist ideas peaking out, ideas that would ultimately come to fruition in the form of Bazarov in Fathers and Sons . The idea of the gentry as less than noble, as set forth in On the Eve , is here too.
Witness Lavretsky being confronted about his way of life:
You’re not a skeptic, not disillusioned, not a Voltairean, you’re a layabout, a vicious layabout, consciously a layabout, not the naïve type. Naïve layabouts lie on the stove and do nothing, because they don’t know how to do anything; and they don’t think, but you’re a thinking man-and yet you lie around; you could do something-and yet you do nothing…..this is how it must be, lying about like this, because no matter what people do, everything’s nonsense, it’s all a lot of rubbish leading to nothing.
Turgenev also isn’t above poking fun at his contemporaries. He makes light of the attraction to the French language the nobility held. In one passage, Varvara Pavlovna notes, “my heart has always been Russian”. To which another agrees and replies “La Patrie avant tout” (the motherland above all). The irony of expressing one’s Russian patriotism in the French language is delicious indeed.
If you’ve never read Turgenev, Home of the Gentry is a great introduction. It’s themes are as relevant today as they were a century and a half ago. At just over 200 pages, this is a fairly quick read. It’s one you’re sure to enjoy, too.
Recommended:
Yes
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