Bazarov annoyed me in the beginning/middle. I liked the way Turgenev wrote him, into the position of seeming not to notice the hypocrisy of his beliefs until the Odintsova sequence played itself out.
Some of it made me curious. Ie: when Bazarov comments that a botanist wouldn't study every birch tree, so why should one study every human to find the inevitably absent differences -- is Turgenev truly behind the idea that a scientist can learn all he knows about birch from one tree? Because that's not at all accurate, and I found myself trusting that the author knew that a scientist would indeed study multiple examples of the same tree to learn. It gave me an interesting perspective on Bazarov, at any rate. That type of thing happened to me several times, and another example is the "enigmatic eye" story, and Bazarov's assertion that that was simply romanticism and rot (referencing the anatomy of the eyeball). I have to admit that I enjoyed his uncomfortable evolution during the times with Odintsova. Particularly the section where he thinks about her "proud lips," "intelligent eyes," and wanting her to "look upon him with tenderness." Nice.
Odintsova also bothered me. I tend to want to give her the benefit of the doubt (seems she was preconditioned in her opinion of men, which makes sense, given her age/experience), but I dislike women who trap men. I think my benefit of the doubt is due to not being able to decide whether she knew what she actually felt. Maybe her own revelation was something like Bazarov's - she didn't see it coming, because she'd previously cared about nothing and "was going nowhere." She does later mention that talking/being with him is like walking the edge of a precipice, so maybe that comment is meant to be more about her having no idea how to deal with her own feelings than about Bazarov's personality.
I liked the resolution, though I'm not glad B killed himself. I was not surprised, but it seemed a little too... easy. I was annoyed that because his stance came up against a wall, he decided to leave. Or, well, if it is correct that his end was his choice. Seemed so, to me. At any rate, jumping into the autopsy was a rash decision.
Edit: eh, that sounds too much like I never gained any respect for Bazarov, which is not the case. I felt physical anger when O denied him. I enjoyed reading his change/growing towards the end, post duel and all. We get to see him experience and struggle with emotion, and it all means more after we've seen the scene with O.
Some of it made me curious. Ie: when Bazarov comments that a botanist wouldn't study every birch tree, so why should one study every human to find the inevitably absent differences -- is Turgenev truly behind the idea that a scientist can learn all he knows about birch from one tree? Because that's not at all accurate, and I found myself trusting that the author knew that a scientist would indeed study multiple examples of the same tree to learn. It gave me an interesting perspective on Bazarov, at any rate. That type of thing happened to me several times, and another example is the "enigmatic eye" story, and Bazarov's assertion that that was simply romanticism and rot (referencing the anatomy of the eyeball). I have to admit that I enjoyed his uncomfortable evolution during the times with Odintsova. Particularly the section where he thinks about her "proud lips," "intelligent eyes," and wanting her to "look upon him with tenderness." Nice.
Odintsova also bothered me. I tend to want to give her the benefit of the doubt (seems she was preconditioned in her opinion of men, which makes sense, given her age/experience), but I dislike women who trap men. I think my benefit of the doubt is due to not being able to decide whether she knew what she actually felt. Maybe her own revelation was something like Bazarov's - she didn't see it coming, because she'd previously cared about nothing and "was going nowhere." She does later mention that talking/being with him is like walking the edge of a precipice, so maybe that comment is meant to be more about her having no idea how to deal with her own feelings than about Bazarov's personality.
I liked the resolution, though I'm not glad B killed himself. I was not surprised, but it seemed a little too... easy. I was annoyed that because his stance came up against a wall, he decided to leave. Or, well, if it is correct that his end was his choice. Seemed so, to me. At any rate, jumping into the autopsy was a rash decision.
Edit: eh, that sounds too much like I never gained any respect for Bazarov, which is not the case. I felt physical anger when O denied him. I enjoyed reading his change/growing towards the end, post duel and all. We get to see him experience and struggle with emotion, and it all means more after we've seen the scene with O.
This message last edited by nossy on 17/10/2010 at 07:09:05 PM
Russian Book Club: Fathers and Sons by Turgenev.
17/10/2010 01:39:16 AM
- 869 Views
Bazarov
17/10/2010 02:12:03 PM
- 687 Views
oh, and
17/10/2010 06:42:38 PM
- 577 Views
Re: oh, and
18/10/2010 12:09:10 AM
- 557 Views
Arkady
17/10/2010 02:15:54 PM
- 545 Views
Well, that makes sense
17/10/2010 05:12:09 PM
- 551 Views
Re: Well, that makes sense
18/10/2010 12:04:05 AM
- 572 Views
See, I liked Arkady
17/10/2010 06:08:57 PM
- 508 Views
Oh...Rebekah, I was going to mention that I saw your post only much later because I was very drunk.
17/10/2010 05:13:41 PM
- 576 Views
Good book.
17/10/2010 06:37:16 PM
- 591 Views
I loved it. Great book.
18/10/2010 10:49:27 PM
- 528 Views
I think it's very relevant. It's also unusually un-Russian.
18/10/2010 11:54:03 PM
- 501 Views
Yeah... the Russian nobility at the time seems to have been kind of un-Russian, really.
20/10/2010 04:03:34 PM
- 555 Views
It felt very Russian to me as well
20/10/2010 04:12:50 PM
- 517 Views
There was little of the usual ... histrionics that happen in Russian novels.
22/10/2010 07:02:12 PM
- 563 Views
I really wish I'd bought a properly annotated version.
22/10/2010 07:07:16 PM
- 581 Views
The answer to that is to just read a great book on Nineteenth Century Russian history.
22/10/2010 10:55:06 PM
- 581 Views
Not just Russian, though, there's a lot of mentions of other European history.
22/10/2010 11:19:28 PM
- 525 Views
Nikolai and Pavel - I love them.
22/10/2010 07:14:11 PM
- 663 Views
Perhaps it's Pavel's "The Chap"-ish nature that makes the novel seem less Russian to me.
22/10/2010 10:53:56 PM
- 651 Views