Fathers and Children

Lauren has already reviewed this book by Turgenev , often published under the title Fathers and Sons, providing a nice summary of its depiction of two generations of Russians, the idealists of the 1840's (the Fathers) and the nihilists of the 1860's (the Children).

Turgenev's portrait of the self-proclaimed nihilist Bazarov provoked huge controversy: opponents of the utilitarian nihilists reviled Turgenev, denouncing Bazarov as a villain.  Most nihilists dismissed the portrait as a laughable caricature, though a few actually praised him as a "new man" of the type who would rejuvenate Russia.

 "Your sort, you gentry," Bazarov tells Arkady, when the two friends come to the parting of the ways, "can never get beyond refined submission or refined indignation, and that's a mere trifle.  You won't fight.....but we mean to fight.....we want to smash other people!"

Interestingly, one of the few people in Russia who seemed to accurately understand Turgenev's portrayal was Dostoevsky, who saw Bazarov as a tragic character, doomed to unhappiness by the contradiction between his sterile and brutal intellectual beliefs and his human needs and longings. Dostoevsky's praise and understanding helped forge a strong but brief friendship with Turgenev, which, however, was quickly dashed to pieces by their widely divergent views on religion and whether Russia's future lay in adopting western ideas (Turgenev) or seeking guidance from the true Russian character, which, in Dostoevsky's view, derived from a deep faith in Christ.

I really enjoyed the book, which is lyrically written, with great sensitivity to human love and loneliness. Though Bazarov is infuriating in his brutality, he is captivating in his passions and deep emotions.

Notes from Underground

In the 1840's, Dostoevsky was part of an intellectual movement in Russia that was heavily influenced by European thought.  This movement, spearheaded by Belinsky and Herzen, originally endorsed Christian Socialism, but later advocated a very rational and idealistic socialism that denied and denounced religion.  Dostoevsky identified with these intellectuals because of a common commitment to social reform, particularly to liberation of the serfs. He participated in a semi-revolutionary group that aimed for reform, perhaps even via overthrow of Tsarist rule, and in 1849 was arrested, sent before a sham firing squad and then exiled to Siberia for four years in a prison camp, four more in exile in Siberia as a petty military officer, and finally allowed to return to St. Petersburg only after two more years of banishment from that city.  The prison experience had profound effects on him, intensifying his own Christian faith and strengthening his belief in the deep wisdom of the Russian people - which he saw as a direct result of their belief in Christ.  Further, the extremes of behavior of other prisoners that he witnessed during his years in Siberia convinced Dostoevsky that the human need for self-expression, for free will, is stronger than any other human force or need.  Accordingly, he became increasingly distrustful and scornful toward those intellectuals who, in his view, were tainted by Western philosophy, especially when based in atheism and motivated by a belief in determinism.

Dostoevsky came to believe that the westernized, misguided idealism of the 40's, which he had originally shared, led directly to these utilitarian, mechanistic views of radical leaders in the 60's,  Notes from Underground is a powerful attack on the intellectual ideas of the 40's and 50's, forcefully depicted through the complaints and experiences of the Underground Man - but depicted through sharp satire and parody, which were misunderstood by the vast majority of readers.  Such misunderstandings were abetted by changes demanded by the censors that disrupted some of the logic of the presentation. Not a pleasant read, though occasionally punctuated by sharp humor.  Nevertheless, a powerful depiction of how social philosophy can distort character.