We enjoyed a fine Summer evening meal and book club discussion at Tim's tonight. Against a backdrop of the sounds of the County Fair, we talked about Turgenev's Fathers and Sons. I love 19th Century Russian novels. Give me the strife of the peasants against the opulence of the aristocracy and the looming revolution any day of the week. I love old Russian novels. Some of us loved it, some of us did not love it, but there was a general consensus that this was a great work. Turgenev popularized the term nihilism in this novel and sets the stage for the oncoming social revolution in Russia. He wrote:A nihilist is a man who does not bow to any authorities, who does not take any principle on trust, no matter with what respect that principle is surrounded.
We agreed that Bazarov was a great character-his youthful arrogance, his wavering commitment to his cause when he felt love, and his dramatic death. The novel was important because it was set during the six years between Russia's defeat in the Crimean war and the emancipation of the serfs. Turgenev's novel was not well received in his country prompted him to leave the country after Fathers and Sons was published. He had a tense relationship with Tolstoy in 1862. So it is really something when in 2013 Chrysanne says, "I think Fathers and Sons was way better than War and Peace!"
Next Book is the Flame Throwers by Rachel Kushner and we are back at Mindy's on September 30th.
