Turgenev's Fathers and Sons - Chapter 19

100 Days of Charming Rotten Scoundrels tutorial - Goethe, Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev

100 Days of Charming Rotten Scoundrels tutorial - Goethe, Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev

February 20 - May 31, 2024

Turgenev's Fathers and Sons

Thursday, May 23, Chapter 19

Next reading assignments:

Friday, May 24, Chapter 20

Saturday, May 25, Chapter 21

Everyone needs a hug in the novel at this point… Even the foolish Sitnikov… What a miserably complex thing life is… And how catastrophically complicated human interactions… And how miraculous the depth of perception in all these deeply flawed humans like Turgenev who had the perseverance and sheer talent to convey our own complexity to us in such brilliant and devastating ways…

That dinner… No, thank you… I will skip… Not hungry…

“Bazarov was stubbornly and morosely silent.

Two or three times Odintsova glanced-directly, not stealthily—at his face, which was stern and irritable, his eyes downcast, signs of contemptuous resolution visible in every feature, and she thought,

"No... no... no ..."”

And the catastrophic resumption of the interrupted confession…

"You can't bring back the past, Anna Sergeevna... sooner or later this was bound to happen. Therefore, I must leave. I can imagine only one condition under which I could stay, but that condition can never be. Excuse my audacity, but you don't love me and never will, isn't that so?"

Anna is terrified of the passion she unleashed in Bazarov… She confessed to him that she was yearning for a heroic love, an all or nothing, a life for a life love - and was shocked how real it became and how much it required of her…

"I'm afraid of this man" flashed through her mind.

Poor Arkady… He wants to understand, but he is so young and so innocent…

“Arkady didn't understand and kept an eye on her as young people tend to do, that is, constantly wondering what it all meant.”

Thank goodness for the foolish Sitnikov!!!

“He'd decided, with his characteristic impudence, to set out for the country and visit a woman he hardly knew and who'd never invited him, but with whom, according to his various sources of information, many of his intelligent and intimate friends were staying. Still, he felt timid through and through; instead of using all the apologies and greetings he'd prepared in advance, he mumbled some nonsense to the effect that Evdoksiya, that is, Kukshina, had sent him to inquire about Anna Sergeevna's health and that Arkady Nikolaevich had always sung the highest praises of... At this point he hesitated and became so confused he sat on his hat.”

Does he exacerbate the situation?! Or save the day with his untimely disruption?! Everyone felt the tension lessen in the presence of this mediocrity…

“The appearance of mediocrity is sometimes a useful thing in life: it soothes strings that have been stretched too taut and it sobers emotions that have become too self-confident or forgetful, suggesting their own close proximity to the mediocre.”

The remedy for Sitnikov's presence is overeating and sleeping - body’s physical defense mechanisms kick in…

“With Sitnikov's arrival everything became somehow duller-and simpler; everyone even ate a heartier supper and toddled off to bed half an hour earlier than usual.”

And Arkady and Bazarov?!?!?! Both men are on the verge of tears…

“For some time now an artificially casual banter had been established between the two friends, a sure sign of secret dissatisfaction or unstated suspicion.”

The following passage is so deeply evocative of the complex psychological processes taking place in Arkady’s soul…

"How come he doesn't ask me why I'm leaving, and just as suddenly as he is?" wondered Arkady. "Come to think of it, why am I leaving and why is he?" he continued his reflections. He couldn't answer his own question satisfactorily, and his heart filled with bit-terness. He felt it would be hard for him to part from this life to which he'd grown so accustomed; but it would also be awkward for him to stay on alone. "Something's happened between them," he said to himself. "Why should I hang around here in her presence after he's gone? She'll get sick and tired of me once and for all; I'll lose what little remains." He began to think about Anna Sergeevna, but then someone else's features gradually eclipsed the image of the lovely young widow.

"I also feel sorry for Katya!"

Poor Arkady… He is young, he is confused, he is lonely, he has ever so much more figuring out ahead of him!!! First and foremost - how to relate to his tempestuous friend in these new circumstances…

“At first Bazarov stirred in his bed, then replied, "My boy, I can see you're still a fool. Sitnikovs are indispensable to us. Understand this:

I need dolts like him. Not God, but man makes pot and pan!"

"Oho!" Arkady thought; it was then and only for a moment that the broad expanse of Bazarov's conceit was revealed to him. "Are you and I gods, then? That is, if you're a god, I must be a dolt?"

And poor foolish uninvited Sitnikov - with all that luggage packed for a long stay - obliged to leave the next day…

The tension of the situation is so great, even Arkady snaps and becomes sarcastic - and Sitnikov is so confused, he doesn’t even bother to get offended - or laugh…

"”Tax farming?"

asked Arkady, rather too contemptuously.

But Sitnikov was so desperate he didn't even laugh as usual.”

For Arkady the choice is easy after all - compared to Sitnikov, Bazarov is a treasure of a friend!!! And they are off to the next set of “fathers”!!!

"Evgeny, take me with you; I want to visit your house."

"Get in," Bazarov replied through his teeth.

Sitnikov, who'd been walking around whistling boldly near the wheels of his carriage, merely gaped in surprise when he heard these last words.”

These two have been through so much - they need a hug… Life is so complicated when you are 20-something… So much to figure out… So much to process… And so much to let go…

“Sitting next to Bazarov in the coach, Arkady squeezed his hand warmly and for a long time said nothing. Bazarov seemed to understand and appreciate both the gesture and the silence. He hadn't slept at all the previous night, hadn't smoked, and had hardly eaten anything for the last few days. His spare profile stood out glumly and sharply from under the cap pulled way down on his head.”

Off to mother’s house - a RUSSIAN mother’s house - with FOOD - AND MORE FOOD!!! To repair Bazarov’s failing human mechanism…

“The machine's falling apart.

"You've really changed of late," observed Arkady.

"Never mind! We'll recover. One thing's a nuisance-my mother's so tenderhearted: if your belly doesn't swell and you don't eat ten times a day, she gets very upset. But my father's all right; he's been around, had his ups and downs.”

The two men are gaining each other’s understanding again - and Bazarov is once again dispensing hard won wisdom for his young friend…

"Yes, yes," said Bazarov, "let it be a lesson to you, my young friend, an instructive example. The devil only knows what sort of nonsense it all is! Every man hangs by a thread, an abyss can open up beneath him at any moment, he can create all sorts of unpleasantness for him-self, spoil his whole life."

A recovery is in order, a realignment, a reassessment, and a letting go…

"I'm not hinting at anything. I'm saying plainly that you and I behaved very foolishly. What's to explain? But as I've already observed in the hospital, a person who gets angry at his own illness is sure to overcome it."

And Bazarov’s bitterness is overwhelming…

"Since you don't quite understand me, let me inform you of the following: in my opinion, it's better to break rocks on a roadway than to let a woman gain control of even the tip of one's little finger. That's all..." Bazarov almost uttered his favorite word romanticism, but restrained himself and said, "nonsense." "You won't believe me now, but let me say this: you and I fell into the society of women and found it very pleasant; forsaking society of that sort is just like splashing yourself with cold water on a hot day. Men have no time to waste on such trifles. A man must be fierce, says a splendid Spanish proverb.”

The gulf between the lives and habits of the peasants and masters is unbridgeable - do you recall Tatyana’s nanny who is bewildered by such a thing as love? The peasants still live by archaic patriarchal rules - and the bitter and cynical Bazarov regrets being beaten by a woman…

"You hear, Arkady Nikolaevich? You and I were given a beating ... that's what it means to be educated men."

Ah, but we are immediately introduced to the superbly hilarious conversation of the Bazarov estate peasants:

"You're a big pig," one said to the other, "worse than a little piglet." "And your wife's a witch," the other retorted.”

From this exchange Bazarov immediately knows he is home!!!

"From the lack of restraint in their mode of address," Bazarov observed to Arkady, "and by the playfulness of their expressions, you can tell my father's peasants aren't overly oppressed.”

Stanislav Zhukovsky (1873-1944), Sleepless Night. Dawn. (1903). Astonishing painting!!! A new artist for me - love his work!!! He was the student of Isaac Levitan!!! Painting on display at the Tver Regional Painting Gallery, Russia.