I can't wait
Results 1 to 14 of 14
I finished reading Fathers and Sons a week ago, and really liked it (although it was certainly a step down from Anna Karenina), I was wondering if anyone else here had read it?
The book is about a nihilist called Bazarov and his fellow student friend called Arkady, I'm going to write a lengthy synopsis of the book in this thread in my next post.
I can't wait
“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.” - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"What forces can bring the national question to a successful conclusion? Only the working class can do so." - Ta Power
Keep your trashy one-liners in Chit-Chat please, thank you.
I'd really like to read your synopsis...I'm still looking for a copy of this novel.
I submit that (such) nations are amoral, anachronistic, and supremely mischievous, since they do not only make wars possible, but also prevent diplomacy and politics from playing the rule they should. -Edward Said
The more powerful and original a mind , the more incline the more incline towards the religion of solitude. -Aldous Huxley
veritas lux mea.
I've read it, I quite like Russian authors, particularly Turgenev.
One of its strengths, in my opinion, was the fact that it was not an open polemic, which would have made the book fairly tedious. The way that it was written meant that it was a good read and if you cared to think about what Bazarov (described as 'the first Bolshevik'
It's also quite interesting (and shocking) to see how the Russian artistocracy lived.
"In reality, the difference is, that the savage lives within himself while social man lives outside himself and can only live in the opinion of others, so that he seems to receive the feeling of his own existence only from the judgement of others concerning him."- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
"The emancipation of the working class must be the work of the workers themselves.”- Flora Tristan
"Both those on the East and those on the West should be clear with the fact that we are not moving away from our road that we beat the path for in '48. That is to say, that we have our own ways. We always bravely say what is right on this side and what is not, and what is right on the other side, and what is not. It should be clear to everyone that we cannot be an appendage to anybody's politics, that we have our own point of view and that we know the worth of what is right, and what is not right."- Josip Tito
Never!
“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.” - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"What forces can bring the national question to a successful conclusion? Only the working class can do so." - Ta Power
Depending on where you live I could pass my copy on to you, I've read it and it's just laying around now.
If you haven't read Anna Karenina already I highly recommend it, it was way better than Fathers and Sons.I've read it, I quite like Russian authors, particularly Turgenev.
One of its strengths, in my opinion, was the fact that it was not an open polemic, which would have made the book fairly tedious. The way that it was written meant that it was a good read and if you cared to think about what Bazarov (described as 'the first Bolshevik'
It's also quite interesting (and shocking) to see how the Russian artistocracy lived.
Here's my synopsis:
When I started reading the book I was expecting another story in the same writing style as Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, but instead I noticed Turgenev used a different writing style, which didn't really help the book. Turgenev instead of just "telling the story" also interfered in the story, giving his own opinion on what happened, and even addressing the reader at times. This resulted in the book having a moralistic undertone at times, an aspect of the book I certainly didn't appreciate.
The story starts with a father waiting for his son to arrive from St. Petersburg, where he attended the university. The father is named Nikolai, and the son Arkady. When Arkady arrives his father sees that he is accompanied by a friend, or rather, his personal teacher; Bazarov. The father represents the old conservative views of his times, but a conservative who has sinned himself, and is therefore willing to change his views. Arkady represents the rebellious youth of his times, looking for a guide in his life, his views on morals and what is right and wrong are not perfectly balanced out, he therefore needs help from his personal teacher (Bazarov) to know what is right and what is wrong, and throughout most of the story he turns to him for advice. Only at the end of the story is he able to make up his own mind about what is right and what is wrong, and they collide with what his teacher had taught him earlier.
The father, son and friend move to Nikolai's house in the country, where they meet Pavel, Nikolai's brother, Arkady's uncle. Pavel represents the old conservative views of his times and is not willing to change, as opposed to his brother Nikolai. Even though he is surrounded by "modern events", like his brother starting a relationship with a young girl --and having a child with her-- after his wife died, or himself also being in love with the same young girl.
Bazarov is a nihilist, friend, and personal teacher of Arkady, he became his personal teacher because he was older and more knowledgeable than him. He represents the new modern views; he doesn't care about morals, rejects religion, and is for complete equality between men and women. The central theme of the story is the collision between his views and Pavels' views, the old versus the new. This reaches extreme proportions when Pavel challenges Bazarov to an actual duel, the battle of thoughts then materializes into the physical.
At the end of the story Bazarov leaves a trace of modern views on every other character, especially on the ones who started out as conservative. I believe Turgenev's aim was to prove that the modern views were logical, but if taken to the extreme will not do good but harm.
Thanks alot...I'm sure I'll find one..
I like russian literature in general, but I prefer Pushkin, Lermantov and Dostoevsky.
So it was mainly about the clash of old\new thoughts, and how the society rejects the new ideas and its holding on to the old... Or even the clash of generations.
Bazarov is the first nihilist literary character...I think, right??
Anyway...good work... keep it up...
^_^
I submit that (such) nations are amoral, anachronistic, and supremely mischievous, since they do not only make wars possible, but also prevent diplomacy and politics from playing the rule they should. -Edward Said
The more powerful and original a mind , the more incline the more incline towards the religion of solitude. -Aldous Huxley
veritas lux mea.
Exactly.
I think so, don't know for sure.
Glad you liked it.
I didn't much like it. I couldn't really care about any of the characters - they all seemed pretentious. Especially when they were speaking French.
A couple Russian novels I did really like: Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky and Dead Souls by Gogol.
Concerning Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, it is said that he based the character of Bazarov on a young Russian doctor that Turgenev had met in London. On the other hand, when Bazarov spouts off his views on philosophy, religion, morals, politics etc., most of what he says was taken by Turgenev from the writings of his sometime friend, Nikolai Chernyshevsky, who was a major Russian radical thinker of the mid-19th century, a father of revolutionary socialism in Russia, who ultimately suffered years of imprisonment and internal exile under the czarist regime. In fact Chernyshevsky's own novel What is to be done?, while hardly comparable, in terms of literary merits, to the novels of Turgenev, Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy, was very widely read in the 19th century, providing inspiration to several generations of Russian revolutionaries, including the young Lenin. It inspired in reaction to several novels by the great Russian masters. Some of Dostoyevsky's own novels including Crime and Punishment, Notes from the Underground, and The Possessed, were all written in reaction against Chernyshevsky's novel as well as against the broader Nihilist movement, which both fascinated and appalled Dostoyevsky.
Fathers and Sons inspired much controversy in its day. Many of the young radicals were dismayed by the novel, viewing it as a slander on the younger generation. Many conservatives praised it precisely because they read it much the same way. On the other hand, Pisarev, who was one of the leading Nihilist writers, praised the novel. Much of the controversy I think came because Turgenev saw himself as an an English-style liberal who quite consciously attempted to position himself midway between the conservative and revolutionary camps, while attempting to keep good relations with both sides. He sought to move Russia towards a consitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government and Western style legal institutions. He, of course, supported the abolition of serfdom, and dreamed of industrializing Russia. Turgenev, at least partially shared some of the philosophical views attributed to Bazarov. Like his fictional character, Turgenev was an atheist and a phillosophical materialist. Unlike him though, Turgenev was more inclined to take a benign view of religion, while remaining a disbeliever. So for him, someone like Bazarov would be seen as having sound ideals but as having a propensity to push things too far and too fast for Russia, which in Turgenev's view could only be expected to change slowly. Given the nature of Turgenev's politics, it is not surprising that he, at times, experienced distrust from one side or the other, and a reading of his letters that he wrote to various correspondents, especially after the outbreak of controversy over Fathers and Sons, suggests that he was quite capable of talking out of both sides of his mouth. Thus when writing to conservatives, he was likely to play up the criticisms of Bazarov, while writing to radicals, Turgenev would express his admiration for the character, and would say that he regarded him as a hero.
Concerning Chernyshevsky, I am sure many people here will perceive that the title of his novel, What is to be done? bears the same name as a famous tract that Lenin wrote. That, of course, was no accident, since Lenin was a great admirer of Chernsyshevsky. And it should be noted, that earlier on, Karl Marx had expressed admiration for Chernyshevsky, with whom he had corresponded with.
read it, along with dead souls. It's okay. It offers a glimpse into the contempt that the next generation had for the decembrists for "giving up," and possibly illuminates some of the circumstances that led up to the Bolshevik coup. I liked it more than dead souls, but it isn't something I'd read again without a specific purpose in mind.
<span style=\'color:red\'>The man who has got everything he wants is all in favor of peace and order.</span> - Jawaharlal Nehru
<span style=\'color:red\'>The distinguishing sign of slavery is to have a price, and to be bought for it.</span> - John Ruskin
-----------------------------------------------------
Red Apollo -- Anti-establishment, anti-authoritarian arts and projects <span style=\'color:red\'>New and improved! :P</span>
The Red Wiki
Mutiny At Sector Five -- revolutionary politics and adventure game
Make your own Commie Comic!
