Fathers and Sons

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully Written
Review: "Fathers and Sons" comes very close to perfection. At times, Turgenev's use of the language borders on poetry. The characters are intriguing and sympathetic. The novel deals beautifully with man's inability to live without holding something sacred, and its tragic "hero" goes to the grave realizing that he has been trying to fill that void with "straw" instead of something more meaningful--like faith, or family, or true love.

Some critics have said that Turgenev supported the "nihilists," the young men who scoffed at all things sacred. They say Bazarov is the hero of the novel, intended to be idolized. But I consider it impossible to read "Fathers and Sons" and not be moved by a deep need to hold something--anything--sacred.

Rating:
Summary: Fathers and Sons
Review: With Fathers and Sons, Turganev shocked the Russian literati with his portrayal of Bazarov, the self-described 'nihilist'. Rejecting everything and recognising no single authority, Bazarov was a kick in the teeth of the aristocracy's grand old men, a rebellion of the son against the father.

Evgeny Bazarov is a young man, with ideas that he believes are the only rational, reasonable way to live and behave. He is contemptuous of love, of sentimentality, of tradition and of the aristocracy. Yet he is intelligent and capable, and believes the way he does not through a sense of hostility and outrage, but because it seems right to him. His younger friend, Arkady, considers Bazarov his 'mentor', and though the two disagree with the depth of nihilism that is necessary for accurate living, they are for the most part in agreement.

Bazarov's nihilism is argued amongst the characters at several different stages of the novel. Turganev chose not to make the hero an unassailable target - both the negatives and the positives of such an outlook are admirably explained, discussed and dissected. The characters are intelligent in their own field or experiences, and all are willing to add to the argument. Obviously, the title should reveal to all that it is the father's of the two main characters, Arkady and Bazarov, who have problems with the younger generations ideas, though the 'fathers' of the story do try to understand Bazarov's thinking, rather than merely stamping him down with their experience and wisdom.

The characters are very well realised. Pavel Petrovich is the typical Russian aristocrat, unable to fully understand the scope of change that the emancipation of the serfs will bring. Arkady is the eager student, a man who wishes to embrace the concepts of nihilism, but who finds himself drawn into sentimentality towards his family, and who falls in love. Katya, Arkady's love, is one of the shallowest characters, but even she works on a level beyond being merely a foil to Arkady's belief. Anna Sergeevna, Katya's sister, is a tremendous character, being both passionate and intelligent, and able to duel equally - and sometimes better - against Bazarov's wit.

A word on the translation by Richard Freeborn. For the most part it is good, and the dialogue is very good, but there are moments that feel awkward or amateurish. An odd turn of phrase or - more common - an inexplicably placed colloquial term of slang phrase lessens the impact of a scene. Bazarov referring to his 'mates' in conversation tends to decrease the impact of the ideas set forth, and while would not have been so noticeable if the entire novel was constructed in such a matter, the rest of the writing is quite formal, and as it is, the narrative structure suffers somewhat. Regardless, Fathers and Sons is a very interesting examination of the conflict of ideas that parents and their children necessarily experience, and has the admirable quality of being fair and honest to both sides, with very little in the way of bias on either side, even considering that Bazarov is the main thrust of the narrative.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read
Review: This book by Ivan Turgenev was, all in all, a pretty good read. I myself favor Dostoevsky because I think that the other Russian others can't hit so true and honest a note than Dostoevsky can.

Anyway, the book centers around Evgeny Bazarov and Arkady Kirsanov. Arkady is the young disciple of Bazarov, a nihilist.

Bazarov lives a life of pride, insolence, and anger. He is abusive, harsh, and very critical. He has no idea what love really is, in fact he says " love is a contrived feeling, don't you think?" He is an empty individual with no real heart or soul. Unlike Raskolnikov of "Crime and Punishment", we really don't see that Bazarov has any redemptive qualities.

The book is good as a work of art. The language flows very beautifully, and Turgenev's descriptions of nature are exquisite. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Rating:
Summary: Class required readers beware.
Review: Whilst a valuable insight to the nature of Russia in those changing days, this book is hardly a treat to read. Historically, Russia is behind the times compared to the rest of Europe, and you can see that clearly portrayed.

However, my problem arises within the realm that without the proper framing and realisation of the proper bias that this book is coming from, this book stands to lose its impact.

I felt Bazarov was a hypocritical, self-destructive prick, and throughout felt him abrasive and abusive on a whim. He's the supposed hero, but his end is that of anything but a matryr, leaving me wonder as to "why bother?"

My sympathy went much more to the uncle with the European tendencies, Pavel, and I found myself vindicated in his survival and ability to return, in the end, to Europe where he felt at home and could be happy. If he was meant to the be the anti-hero, why bother letting him win, and the actual hero die such a foolish death? Arkady is a character that's enjoyable in a passive way, who, though he affiliates with Bazarov and considers him a friend, is parted and goes on to live a life seemingly contrary to what Bazarov was extolling. His is not a happy ending, per se, but a bittersweet one.

This is a fair enough novel-- it's readable and crafted enough to not be accidentally good-- but if Turgenev wanted to weigh in on the state of current Russia, he should have written a non-fiction book and published that. It wouldn't have mattered-- in his time, authors of fictional works were as prosecuted as much as the non-fiction under the Tsar. Why frame the opinion in a story that leaves for more reader interpretation that goes beyond authorial intention?

If this is a textbook for a class, beware the intentions of the author. Modern literary interpretation may lead you astray on this book, and away from what the professor is expecting; IE, the fictionalisation of Turgenev's Russia.

Rating:
Summary: There are feelings. Everything depends on them.
Review: This is such a wonderful novel about two young men returning home from University - Arkady Kirsanov and his friend, Yevgeny who is known mostly as Basarov. Firstly they stop at Arkady's father's poor farm - but he is a landowner. Arkady's father's name is Nikolai and living with him is his brother Pavel. What contrasts we immediately meet - Nikolai whose wife has died (Arkady's mother) but who is living with one of the local peasant women (Fenitchka) and has a son by her, and Pavel whose playboy life collapsed when the princess he hoped to marry rejected him.

So here we have two young men with all the potential of their living beings contrasted with Nikolai and Pavel and their strange life outcomes. What complicates the matter is that Basarov is a nihilist - someone called him the first 'angry young man'. He is cynical and argumentative - prepared to accept Nikolai's simple innocence and honesty in living, unprepared to tolerate Pavel's Anglophile airs and graces.

The young men move on to Basarov's parent's place (simple folk living a traditional old age) but on the way meet Madame Odintsova - quickly called Odintsov (presumably because she is widowed). They spend some time with Odintsov and we learn her name is Anna Sergyevna. Anna lives with her younger sister Katya and and older aunt. The contrasts are once again evident. Anna has no feeling for Arkady at all and quickly Arkady and Katya become friends as Anna and Basarov fascinate each other. But Basarov is appalled at his romantic feelings - not what he expects a nihilist should experience! And when Odintsov's flirting causes him to express that love he has to flee to his parent's place horrified by what he has felt.

But he is no more at home with his parents whose love and affection overwhelms him, so the young men return to the Kirsanov's farm, stopping briefly at Odintsov's country residence where they are not really welcomed. However Arkady, home again, is ill at ease and has to return to Odintsov, leaving Basarov behind. What happens at Odintsov's residence is perhaps not unexpected, what happens at the Kirsanov's farm - with Fenitchka and Pavel is remarkable. Eventually Basarov joins Arkady at Madame Odintsov's before returning home. The outcomes I will leave to Turgenev.

As a mid-fifties person myself I can readily identify with Nikolai and Pavel who see themselves as old, although they too are only fiftyish. But we all have memories and I can see myself as Basarov and Arkady - in some ways each of them, but in no ways entirely either of them. While, as a young man, I too had ideals (anarchist rather than nihilist) that I used to obscure other things in my life, subsequent experiences in my life have lead me to regret that path my life took for a while. Turgenev's outcome for Basarov is entirely in accord with my view. But what then of Pavel?

Perhaps the most extraordinary thing for me about this beautiful novel is that at the end - but not during the novel - I loved each and every one of the characters. The title of this review is a quote (p203 Konemann edition) and it is my feelings that are immensely positive from reading this book.

Other recommended reading:

For a non-Russian view of Russian people read 'Under Western Eyes' by Joseph Conrad

Rating:
Summary: My favorite Russian work!
Review: Bless him for keeping this one short, unlike his contemporaries in Russian literature. Unfortunately, the fact that this book is 200 pages is the best thing I can say about it. This is so clearly the case of an author who had a political statement to make and decided, unwisely, to couch it in a fictional as opposed to non-fictional format. This would have made for a great political or sociological treatise, but it is not good literature. The characters and plot are so obviously secondary to the message. The characters are one-dimensional, predictable, and transparent. The plot is forgettable and really almost seems to have been an afterthought. The only real merit of this book is that it captures the birth of an important social and political movement, at a very pivotal time in Russian history.

Rating:
Summary: Imaginatively dynamic and intellectual reading
Review: Of what I call the "Russian Inklings" Turgenev is by far the most accessible, this book being the apogee of his career, much like B&K with Dostoyevsky, and W&P with Tolstoy.

Fathers and Sons not only is a shorter read than the two masterpieces mentioned above, it is subsequently faster paced and less of a cerebral and psychological labyrinth.

There seems to be two protagonists, something that Russian writers did fairly often in contrast to western literature which usually has only one hero, or protagonist. Turgenev's usage of two protagonists conveys two invaluable view to every circumstance, character, and event that transpires in this books 350 pages.

The novel takes place during the "scientific enlightenment," of Russia where romanticism currently, or perhaps already has been dethroned by the resident naturalistic sciences and breeds secular agnosticism, or Deductionary Atheism.

**The book was received hilariously by critics. Many radical naturalistic atheists both loved and hated it. The critics that loved the book (in the late 1880's) were enamored with Turgenevs scientific objectivity, and humored pokes at both radical romanticism and radical nihilism. The critics who despised the book felt that their intellectual camp had been fraudulated, and required reconciliation.

**I want to point out that many themes spoken of by these Russian authors, and explicitly Turgenev, are issues that are still at the forefront of political and philosophical debate. Nihilism is really the anthem of Hume's deductionary logical philosophy of indeterminism. It is the purest form of naturalistic sciences and often times is confused with empiricism. I wish to point out that governmental forms like socialism, that wish to divide any personal belief with public display, (similar to Socialist France) are displaying the very same traits and political referendums fought for by the youth in this book.

**The youth of today, I would say as a majority (and being one of them), are not sympathetic towards selfish conservatism, which is represented in this book by Arkady's uncle, (Arkady being the Romantic protagonist). The emotional turmoil and intellectual struggle that the characters go through in the throngs of political debate are incredible.

***MOST IMPORTANTLY: *** Bazarov (the 2nd of the two protagonists) represents the theoretical Jesus of nihilism. Turgenev constructs him faithfully and without bias, and allows the man to live and breathe and think so perfectly throughout the enirity of the work. For that reason alone the book is worth reading.

**Bazarov may be my favorite character in any novel, only short of Alyosha in B.K. I say this because Bazarov represents the secular humanist who is self gratified in his scientific altruism, but (not to spoil anything) rounds with an ironic existence.

Five stars, awesome, objective russian literature, that like most, is dynamically applicable to the modern political melting pot.

Rating:
Summary: "Revolting" Stuff
Review: This is an eminently readable book - really a novella at only a couple of hundred pages. Arkady, a student, brings his nihilistic friend Bazarov home to meet his father and uncle. The latter, Pavel Petrovich, is an embittered traditionalist who becomes the natural butt of Bazarov's disrespectfulness and intellectual superiority. A medical student, Bazarov's politics are revolutionary but his main way of putting himself across to his elders is merely to yawn discontentedly. Petrovich abhors and fears the potential consequences of Bazarov's sceptism for people, institutions, ideas, all the marks of "civilisation".

Nihilism, which spawned the Russian revolution, was an intellectual movement in Russia in the mid-nineteenth century. It supported the end of serfdom for the workers on estates. Its growth and influence, plus its effect on people of all shades of belief, has recently been brilliantly dramatised, with Turgenev himself as a character, in a trilogy of plays by Tom Stoppard (who wrote the screenplay of _Shakespeare in Love_): _The Coast of Utopia_ ,well worth seeing and reading.

Turgenev's novel, drawn from his own contacts and experiences, was profoundly disturbing in its day and still rings uncomfortably true. Apart from the politics, the characterisation is adept and the descriptions, though scarce, poetic. Lack of a plot is not serious here; I found the book to be a real page-turner because the ideological conflicts drive it.