VBY MAURICE BARING
Turgenev did for Russian literature what Byron did for Englishliterature; he led the genius of Russia on a pilgrimage throughout allEurope. And in Europe his work reaped a glorious harvest of praise.Flaubert was astounded by him, George Sand looked up to him as to amaster, Taine spoke of his work as being the finest artistic productionsince Sophocles. In Turgenev's work, Europe not only discoveredTurgenev, but it discovered Russia, the simplicity and the naturalnessof the Russian character; and this came as a revelation. For the firsttime Europe came across the Russian woman whom Pushkin was the first topaint; for the first time Europe came into contact with the Russiansoul; and it was the sharpness of this revelation which accounts forthe fact of Turgenev having received in the west an even greater meedof praise than he was perhaps entitled to.
In Russia Turgenev attained almost instant popularity. His "Sportsman'sSketches" and his "Nest of Gentlefolk" made him not only famous butuniversally popular. In 1862 the publication of his masterpiece"Fathers and Children" dealt his reputation a blow. The revolutionaryelements in Russia regarded his hero, Bazarov, as a calumny and alibel; whereas the reactionary elements in Russia looked upon "Fathersand Children" as a glorification of Nihilism. Thus he satisfied nobody.He fell between two stools. This, perhaps, could only happen in Russiato this extent; and for that same reason as that which made Russiancriticism didactic. The conflicting elements of Russian society were soterribly in earnest in fighting their cause, that anyone whom they didnot regard as definitely for them was at once considered an enemy, andan impartial delineation of any character concerned in the politicalstruggle was bound to displease both parties. If a novelist drew aNihilist, he must be one or the other, a hero or a scoundrel, if eitherthe revolutionaries or the reactionaries were to be pleased. If inEngland the militant suffragists suddenly had a huge mass of educatedopinion behind them and a still larger mass of educated public opinionagainst them, and some one were to draw in a novel an impartial pictureof a suffragette, the same thing would happen. On a small scale, as faras the suffragettes are concerned, it has happened in the case of Mr.Wells. But if Turgenev's popularity suffered a shock in Russia fromwhich it with difficulty recovered, in western Europe it went onincreasing. Especially in England, Turgenev became the idol of all thatwas eclectic, and admiration for Turgenev a hallmark of good taste....
"Fathers and Children" is as beautifully constructed as a drama ofSophocles; the events move inevitably to a tragic close. There is not atouch of banality from beginning to end, and not an unnecessary word;the portraits of the old father and mother, the young Kirsanov, and allthe minor characters are perfect; and amidst the trivial crowd Bazarovstands out like Lucifer, the strongest--the only strong character--thatTurgenev created, the first Nihilist--for if Turgenev was not the firstto invent the word, he was the first to apply it in this sense.
Bazarov is the incarnation of the Lucifer type that recurs again andagain in Russian history and fiction, in sharp contrast to the meek,humble type of Ivan Durak. Lermontov's Pechorin was in some respects ananticipation of Bazarov; so were the many Russian rebels. He is the manwho denies, to whom art is a silly toy, who detests abstractions,knowledge, and the love of Nature; he believes in nothing; he bows tonothing; he can break, but he cannot bend; he does break, and that isthe tragedy, but, breaking, he retains his invincible pride, and
"not cowardly puts off his helmet,"
and he dies "valiantly vanquished."
In the pages which describe his death Turgenev reaches the high-watermark of his art, his moving quality, his power, his reserve. For manlypathos they rank among the greatest scenes in literature, stronger thanthe death of Colonel Newcome and the best of Thackeray. Among Englishnovelists it is, perhaps, only Meredith who has struck such strong,piercing chords, nobler than anything in Daudet or Maupassant, morereserved than anything in Victor Hugo, and worthy of the great poets,of the tragic pathos of Goethe and Dante. The character of Bazarov, ashas been said, created a sensation and endless controversy. Therevolutionaries thought him a caricature and a libel, the reactionariesa scandalous glorification of the Devil; and impartial men such asDostoevsky, who knew the revolutionaries at first hand, thought thetype unreal. It is impossible that Bazarov was not like the Nihilistsof the sixties; but in any case as a figure in fiction, whatever thefact may be, he lives and will continue to live....--From "An Outlineof Russian Literature" (1914).