Turgenev is a famous writer of Russia. His novels Sons and daughters , On the eve are very powerful in firing the imagination of the young readers under the spell of classical Russian novel.
The first novel has infused the
young to rebel against patriarchal family and this quality is quite pervasive
in those who read humanistic novels of Russia. A society steeped in feudalism
has risen from sleep and began questioning the status quo. Russian novels have
roused the sleeping conscience of the readers and put them on a path of
struggle. Although the struggles petered
out in the course of time, the impact has not vanished. The modern world
rapidly running towards the valley of death needs to be given a dose of this
great literature to protect it from final extinction which comes through
planned wars and unexpected
catastrophes.
The present review is concerned
with Turgenev’ stories which touch a sensitive chord in the hearts of the
readers. There are interesting stories such as Three Encounters, The inn,
Faust , Asya, First Love, A steppe land King Lear, Clara Milich or After
Death .
In all these stories , one comes
across love in its pure form in confrontation with the world that contaminates
it. The external world simply drives away the chariot of life wither astray
or towards death.
The first story is titled, Three
Encounters. In this story, the narrator goes to a village called Glinnoye .
There he listens to the beautiful song
by a girl and becomes curious to know about her but she eludes him. The
narrator approaches the watchman of the estate on the hilltop where this girl is supposed to live but gets
little information from the watchman
called Lukyanich. He persists and finds out that two sisters live in the
mansion on the hilltop. He is surprised to listen to the same song he heard earlier , that is two years back In Sorrento ,
Italy. Having failed to learn much from the old man, he enquires
in the village and informs himself that
the state was owned by a Major’s widow called Ann Fyodorovna
Shlykova and her spinster
sister Pelageya Fyodorovna Badayeva. He had a fleeting glimpse of the lady and later visits
their eerie house in their absence and later comes to know that they had gone
to Moscow and Lukyanich hanged himself to death. Later after three years , he
happens to meet both the sisters in Moscow and listen to the song of Pelagea.
Then a third time he finds the unknown singer in a masked ball and recognises
the beautiful stranger and she admits that she has gone to the eatate house of
her friend Anna Mikhailovskoye where the narrator saw her and her love. She
also says that her love has deserted her . But the narrator comes across the her
former love with another lady. The beautiful stranger dashes to the exit and
the narrator finds out about the strange foreigner but does not wan to now
about his beautiful stranger. Turgenev ends the story, As I have said , tis woman appeared to me as
aviso in, and as a vision she passed and vanished forever.” In the story , we find Turgenev’s lyricism.
“For a sound. It was for the sound of living
voice this sensitive silence waited, but all was quiet. The nightingales had
stopped singing…and the sudden buzz of a
passing beetle, the smacking sounds made by the
small fish in the breeding pond
behind the limes at the end of the garden, the sleepy whistle of a startled
bird , a faraway cry -so faraway that one could not tell whether it came from a
man, a beast or a bird, a brief sound of stamping on the road -all those faint
sounds, all those rustlings only enhanced the silence…My heart ached strangely
and nostalgically with an anticipation or perhaps with
A remembrance of happiness; I
dare not stir , I stood motionless before the motionless garden drenched with
moonlight and dew, and myself not knowing why stared fixedly at the two windows
glowing faintly red in soft shadows, when suddenly a piano chord was struck in the house , a
reverberating sound..” (24 )
Not only nature but Turgenev surpasses in the description of beauty of woman seen by the narrator.
“How lovely she was! How
charming was her slender silhouette
against the emerald- green of the foliage! Soft shadows and muted shafts of
sunlight slid over her- over her long grey dress , her slender neck,
her pale -pink face , her glossy black hair flowing luxuriantly from under her
small hat. But how render in words the look of consummate, passionate bliss on
her face , passionate to the point of speechlessness! Her head seemed to droop
from the burden of this insupportable bliss; her eyes were half-closed , but I
could see them sparkling with moist, golden sparks; they were not looking at
any thing, these happy eyes under the fine-drawn eyebrows. A vague, childish
smile -a smile of profound joy hovered over her lips. It seemed that such an
excess of happiness tired her and was breaking her a little, just as a flower
bursting into full bloom sometime breaks its own stem.“ (34)
This kind of description fills
the hearts of the readers with delight and recreate a sense of mystery, beauty
, feelings of haplessness when beauty is
found false beneath appearance. They are left with a sense of understanding as well as lingering
dissatisfaction like Turgenev’s characters in the story.
Another
story is “The inn” in which we find three important characters called Akim Semyonich
, Naum Ivanich and Dunyasha. Akim , the
hardworking carrier turned inn keeper, Naum , the young man who is smart, gull
and cunning in attracting Dunyasha the house keeper whom Akim married at late
age. Naum cheats Dunyasha and Akim of their inn by purchasing it secretly with
the money given by Dunyasha ensnared by him from Liza
, the landlady on whose land Akim ran his inn. In the end Akim attempts to burn
the inn of Naum, gets caught red handed and
escapes punishment due to intervention by Akim’s friend Yefrem and becomes a spiritual wanderer whereas
Dunyasha reverts to her old position of domestic maid Of Liza.
Turgenev powers of description of
the inn and characters reveal their nature and their consequent actions . Turgenev’s description of
Naum who is known as the lucky man who was seen as born lucky and a busy
business man who traded in orses, rented land, kept vegetable fields, bought up
orchards and in engaged in sundry deals,
is described as follows :
He was of the medium-
height, fat , broad-shouldered and slightly stooped; his head was big and round,
his hair was wavy and already grey , although he did not look more than forty;
his face was full and fresh, the forehead was low but white and unlined, his
eyes were small and blue, and he had a peculiar way of looking ; sullenly , yet
brazenly , a rather rare combination. He always kept his head lowered and
turned it with reluctance , probably because his neck was so very short; he had
a brisk walk instead of swinging his arms he spread them out, with the fists
clenched. While he smiled , he did not laugh but often smiled as if to himself -his
big lips parted unpleasantly to show a row of close-set, gleaming teeth. His speech
was brusque and there was glum note in his voice. (54)
In contrast Akim who was originally a serf of Lizaveta
Prokhorovna Kuntze, the land lady and widow of aa staff-officer, did carrier
trade, vexed with nomadic life, had aa
wife who died early , bought some land and built an inn there . he was experienced,
pleasing personality and was amiable with customers in contrast with Naum was
reticent, calculated . Akim who was the original owner of the inn was
described by the writer Turgenev as follows
:
He was tall,
rather thin, and had a handsome carriage even in the middle age ; his face was
long and well-proportioned, he had a tall, open forehead , straight nose and a fine, small-lipped mouth . his full
brown eyes shone with a friendly gentleness, his thin soft hair curled in the
ringlets at the back of his neck, although there was little left of it on the top of his head. The sound of his voice
was very pleasant but weak; in his young days he was quite a singer, but long
exposure to the cold in the winter did
harm to his chest and throat. His speaking manner was mellifluent, and when he
laughed , little wrinkles radiated from the corners of his eyes -it is paly
kind people who have such sweet-looking wrinkles. His movements were mostly slow
, and there was in them the confidence and dignified civility of a man who has
seen much in his life.
This contrast in their physical appearance and
behaviour with others gives a clue to the discerning reader. Here the dictum, ‘character is destiny’ applies
well and gives an inkling of what is going to happen.
The landlady Lizaveta was also a profiteering
and highly calculated woman , maintains
a number of servants, indulges in and encourages gossip. This makes her sell
her land to Naum in a dubious manner, employ her head maid and unscrupulous Kirillovna to finalise her deal with Naum for
two thousand roubles, to meet the distressed
Akim when he comes to meet Liza over injustice done to him but only grace we
find in her is to get Dunyasha or Avdotya Arefyevna married to Akim and in the
end giving her shelter in her miserable state after being abandoned by Akim .
Dunyasha, the young and second wife of Akim Semyonich , the
original owner of inn, suffers from laziness and frustration, gets
attracted to Naum Ivanich, the cunning young man , falls
in love with him , gives even money of her husband to her love who buys land
and inn secretly and expels Akim and her . Her misery is self-made, the advantage of her city upbringing vanishes
and her husband refuses to punish her and deserts her forever to become a religious
wanderer. Naum who has turned into a prosperous businessman also sells the inn
and leaves for another gubernia after fifteen
years and on the same day the inn perishes in fire.
In the very description of the
Inn run first by Akim and later by Naum ,
we find a difference.
Akim’s inn was rather more traditional, it was warm but not too
clean; there might be chaff in his oats or a spot of damp; the food was only
just eatable, and sometimes the dishes he served should have never come out of the
oven at all, and it wasn’t he was
niggardly with the victuals, it was simply the negligence of the woman who did
the cooking. (55)
Whereas Naum managed it
differently. It was opulent in appearance, provided with good water, spacious yard, a plentiful store of good oats, a warm
main room , two clean enough rooms , painted wooden sofas and chairs to match,
potted geraniums but dusty window panes.
A good meal could be had there by the grace of
the fat, apple-cheeked cook who made rich, tasty food and was not niggardly
with second helpings; the nearest pub was only a half verst away; the snuff
kept in store by the inn-keeper was extremely strong , for all that it was
mixed with cinders, and tickled the nose
very nicely. (53)
Another interesting character in
the story is Yefrem, the parish reader who comforts Akim in distress, gives shelter
in his home, boasts vainly of control of
his wife and rescues Akim from certain punishment when the latter was caught in
attempting to burn down the inn out of
desperation.
In the entire story runs a sense of tragedy, irony between hope and
reality, the contrast in human nature in kindness and in its perversion due to laziness and profiteering. The writer Turgenev does not
make nay comment on characters but describes them and leaves the readers to
experience pity, horror and a sense of reconciliation in human life and leaves
a deep impression on the mind of the readers.
