Fathers and Sons, by Ivan Turgenev, may be the first modern Russian novel (the other contender being Gogol's Dead Souls, also on my list for 2011). Published in 1862, Turgenev's work focuses on the conflict between the liberalism of the 1830s/1840s and the nihilism of the next generation. In Russian, the title is Fathers and Children, but was translated as Fathers and Sons because the translators thought it sounded more lyrical and titular.
The book follows two young men and their fathers, contrasting the ideals of the younger generation with those of their elders, but also contrasting one father/son relationship with the other. Intergenerational conflict was nothing new even then, as the two aging fathers drily observe that they once rolled their eyes at their own parents' backward ideas as well. However, the marked contrast between the attitudes of the two young men demonstrates that one doesn't have to reject relationships with friends and family who hold different philosophical ideals than one does. Bazarov drives his family and friends away because he finds their liberal bourgeois ideas inferior to nihilism. Arkady, on the other hand, treats his father and uncle with respect and affection, enjoying their companionship despite their philosophical differences. In the end, Arkady embraces life while Bazarov indifferently wastes away, although, because it wasn't clear to me to what extent Arkady modified his nihilistic beliefs, I can't say how much of his eventual fulfillment was due to his relationships and how much was due to his (possible) rejection of nihilism.
Turgenev definitely has a different style of writing than either Dostoevsky or Solzhenitsyn, the other two Russians I have read this year. Dostoevsky was a Slavophile and Turgenev was a Westernizer, so the two disagreed through most of their lifetimes but eventually reached reconciliation after Dostoevsky's Pushkin speech. Dosteovsky's style is much more psychological, while Turgenev is more socially oriented.
More fun facts: Turgenev and Tolstoy were close friends, and Turgenev also influenced writers of the next generation such as Henry James and Joseph Conrad. He is ranked among the top nineteenth century Russian prose writers, along with Tolstoy, Gogol, Chekov and Dostoevsky. Fathers and Sons was an interesting book, touching on important themes such as transgression and redemption through love. Although Turgenev was a Westernizer, advocating social reform, the abolition of serfdom and the integration of Enlightenment ideals into Russian culture, in this work he appears nearly Slavophilic in his portrayal of Arkady's fulfillment through returning to his father's way of life. I say nearly Slavophilic because he doesn't depict religion as an important element at all, whereas for Slavophiles it is a central part of the equation.
Stats:
Just because you're a nihilist, doesn't mean you have to be a jerk: Arkady
Or wait, maybe it does: Bazarov
Uncle, your cravat is stylish but your ideals are not: Pavel
Dad, seriously, you're embarrassing me in front of my friends: Nikolai
Eventually overcame class differences: Nikolai and Fenichka
Kind old fossils who deserved a better son: Vasily Bazarov and Arina Bazarova
Who invited him? Sitnikov
There was a lot of: discussing, disagreeing, traveling, condescending
This book makes you want to: take time to discuss things with friends. These guys were quite productive in their philosophical explorations. It probably helped that they didn't have cell phones, tvs or the internet to distract them.
This book makes you glad you don't have to: Stringently live according to your class' particular responsibility, travel long distances on a dirt road in a wagon with no shocks.
Showing posts with label nihilism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nihilism. Show all posts
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Crime and Punishment
Although I read this book last week (Feb 20-26), I postponed its blog entry because I wanted to first finish reading A Concise History of the Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes, as I will explain below.
Published in 1866, Crime and Punishment follows the St. Petersburg student Raskolnikov as he contemplates, commits, regrets and finally confesses a major crime. The novel is psychological in nature, following Raskolnikov's mental struggle, devolution and evolution. Dostoevsky wrote Crime and Punishment after his release from a labor camp in Siberia, where he had spent five years because of his liberal political ideas. While serving his sentence, his political and religious ideas underwent major changes as he became disillusioned with contemporary Western philosophical movements, and Crime and Punishment is written from his new perspective as a Slavophile and a devout Orthodox. Raskolnikov's dreadful actions are intended as an example of nihilism taken to its logical conclusion, yet the radical thinkers of Dostoevsky's day scorned the idea that Raskolnikov had anything in common with them. Russian nihilism (adhered to by Raskolnikov) encouraged the creation of an élite of superior individuals who are not subject to the morals or laws of society; in fact, they must rise above these restrictions in order to create a new and superior social order. Throughout the novel, Raskolnikov wonders if he, like Napoleon, is one of these so-called superior individuals. He tests his theory by committing a murder near the beginning of the novel, and the rest of the book chronicles his mental anguish and withdrawal from society. The nihilists and other radical thinkers of the day rejected this portrayal, saying that murder simply for the sake of murder was unrelated to their theories.
Unfortunately, Dostoevsky's foresight was proven true by the actions of the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution, specifically the Red Terror. The Bolsheviks, like the fictional Raskolnikov and his hero Napoleon, believed that they were superior individuals undertaking the creation of a new social order by whatever methods necessary. During the Red Terror, millions of innocent people were slaughtered. This was not capital punishment as a result of supposed (or even fabricated) crimes; it was death for the sake of death. Zinoviev, one of the top Soviet officials during the revolution, stated in September 1918, "We must carry with us [into the future] 90 million out of the 100 million of Soviet Russia's inhabitants. As for the rest, we have nothing to say to them. They must be annihilated." N.V. Krylenko, official of the Commissariat of Justice added, "We must execute not only the guilty. Execution of the innocent will impress the masses even more." During this time, mass executions were to be used as a tool to subjugate the unwilling masses while the Bolsheviks, who knew what was best for Russia and for the world, created their utopia. Well, Raskolnikov, I'll see your Napoleon and raise you a Lenin.
Dostoevsky writes as a third-person omnisicient narrator in this novel, which was innovative at the time. His penetrating psychological analysis and character development also set him apart as a novelist. I considered following Crime and Punishment with The Brothers Karamazov, but the latter is much longer and I have a few library books to finish this week as well. That said, The Brothers Karamazov will be making an appearance on this blog within the next month or so.
Stats:
Tortured idealist student with no life experience (Lenin, I'm looking at you!): Raskolnikov
Best friend you don't deserve: Razumikhin
Moron: Luzhin
Mary Magdalene without the insanity: Sonya
Strong-willed sister:Dunya
Quotable quote: People are happy who have no need of locks. (Raskolnikov)
Okay, one more: If you weren't a fool, a common fool...if you were an original instead of a translation...you'd come round to meet me instead of wearing out your boots in the street. (Razumikhin)
There was a lot of: mental anguish, fever, poverty-filled streets, illness, thinking, failed attempts at thinking
There should have been more: I don't know, flowers and butterflies? It's called Crime and Punishment, for crying out loud.
This book makes you glad you don't have to: answer all the world's big questions
This book makes you want to: answer all the world's big questions (See, you can drive yourself insane without even killing anybody first)
Published in 1866, Crime and Punishment follows the St. Petersburg student Raskolnikov as he contemplates, commits, regrets and finally confesses a major crime. The novel is psychological in nature, following Raskolnikov's mental struggle, devolution and evolution. Dostoevsky wrote Crime and Punishment after his release from a labor camp in Siberia, where he had spent five years because of his liberal political ideas. While serving his sentence, his political and religious ideas underwent major changes as he became disillusioned with contemporary Western philosophical movements, and Crime and Punishment is written from his new perspective as a Slavophile and a devout Orthodox. Raskolnikov's dreadful actions are intended as an example of nihilism taken to its logical conclusion, yet the radical thinkers of Dostoevsky's day scorned the idea that Raskolnikov had anything in common with them. Russian nihilism (adhered to by Raskolnikov) encouraged the creation of an élite of superior individuals who are not subject to the morals or laws of society; in fact, they must rise above these restrictions in order to create a new and superior social order. Throughout the novel, Raskolnikov wonders if he, like Napoleon, is one of these so-called superior individuals. He tests his theory by committing a murder near the beginning of the novel, and the rest of the book chronicles his mental anguish and withdrawal from society. The nihilists and other radical thinkers of the day rejected this portrayal, saying that murder simply for the sake of murder was unrelated to their theories.
Unfortunately, Dostoevsky's foresight was proven true by the actions of the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution, specifically the Red Terror. The Bolsheviks, like the fictional Raskolnikov and his hero Napoleon, believed that they were superior individuals undertaking the creation of a new social order by whatever methods necessary. During the Red Terror, millions of innocent people were slaughtered. This was not capital punishment as a result of supposed (or even fabricated) crimes; it was death for the sake of death. Zinoviev, one of the top Soviet officials during the revolution, stated in September 1918, "We must carry with us [into the future] 90 million out of the 100 million of Soviet Russia's inhabitants. As for the rest, we have nothing to say to them. They must be annihilated." N.V. Krylenko, official of the Commissariat of Justice added, "We must execute not only the guilty. Execution of the innocent will impress the masses even more." During this time, mass executions were to be used as a tool to subjugate the unwilling masses while the Bolsheviks, who knew what was best for Russia and for the world, created their utopia. Well, Raskolnikov, I'll see your Napoleon and raise you a Lenin.
Dostoevsky writes as a third-person omnisicient narrator in this novel, which was innovative at the time. His penetrating psychological analysis and character development also set him apart as a novelist. I considered following Crime and Punishment with The Brothers Karamazov, but the latter is much longer and I have a few library books to finish this week as well. That said, The Brothers Karamazov will be making an appearance on this blog within the next month or so.
Stats:
Tortured idealist student with no life experience (Lenin, I'm looking at you!): Raskolnikov
Best friend you don't deserve: Razumikhin
Moron: Luzhin
Mary Magdalene without the insanity: Sonya
Strong-willed sister:Dunya
Quotable quote: People are happy who have no need of locks. (Raskolnikov)
Okay, one more: If you weren't a fool, a common fool...if you were an original instead of a translation...you'd come round to meet me instead of wearing out your boots in the street. (Razumikhin)
There was a lot of: mental anguish, fever, poverty-filled streets, illness, thinking, failed attempts at thinking
There should have been more: I don't know, flowers and butterflies? It's called Crime and Punishment, for crying out loud.
This book makes you glad you don't have to: answer all the world's big questions
This book makes you want to: answer all the world's big questions (See, you can drive yourself insane without even killing anybody first)
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