Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Words, all words. There were no deeds!, July 31, 2005
Thus complains Rudin, apparently modelled after the Russian anarchist Bakunin whom Turgenev knew personally. Strangely my own reading of the two great Russian anarchists, Bakunin and Kropotkin, it was Bakunin who seemed to be the man of action, Kropotkin who was the great writer.
I took this book with me on a short working trip to Tanzania, a place I had never been to before; knew little of. What greater contrast could there be than Turgenev's Russians and other East Europeans compared to the open, uncomplicated welcome of the Tanzanian people. Rarely have I felt so absorbed and integrated into another society, and so quickly. I enjoy Turgenev's writing and have been reading him for some time now. The struggles he documents - Rudin and Natalya, Insarov and Yelena - are, for me, however, very remote. (Of course, I do realise Tanzanians probably have levels of complexity in their lives that were completely obscure to me in my short visit.)
Take Yelena in 'On the Eve' for example and her admirable love of the Bulgarian Insarov. She draws love from him just as he is trying to leave her, to withdraw from her, because he sees he is so unworthy - an entirely characteristic feeling expressed by many Turgenev characters. Yelena leaves everything behind for Insarov - family, friends, entirely satisfactory suitors, and, most of all, Russia itself. But what does she get? As if to justify Insarov's view (he is a revolutionary just like Rudin in the first of these two stories) Turgenev plunges Insarov into critical illness so that, when he and Yelena leave Yelena's homeland together - having confronted awful partings - Yelena is also leaving behind health and vitality. The price is too great! But, of course, we all do have to make decisions in our lives.
I recommend these stories as well worth reading - they are very rich experiences. On the other hand I can't help but think 'Thank God for the Tanzanians!'
other recommendations:
'Virgin Soil' - Ivan Turgenev
'Fathers and Sons' - Ivan Turgenev
'Under Western Eyes' - Joseph Conrad
'Dark Star Safari' - Paul Theroux (for some travels in Tanzania)
|
|
|
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4 stars for 'Rudin,' 5 for OTE, September 2, 2004
Turgenev is my fourth-favourite writer, though I don't know if I'd have placed him so highly on my list of favourite writers if I'd been introduced to him through his novels (of which he wrote only six) instead of his short stories. His books are as good as his stories, make no mistake, but he's more of an idea novelist than an action novelist. The plots aren't full of unexpected edge-of-your seat twists and turns and suspense; he's not the man to go to if you like your novels full of page-turning excitement and events that happen quickly. His characters seem to be more important than the plots; the characters are the ones who espouse and convey Turgenev's ideas and philosophies.
'Rudin,' the first of the two novels contained in this small volume and Turgenev's first book, I found rather unmemorable. (In fact, I found the debut novel of Hermann Hesse, my next-fave writer, 'Peter Camenzind,' to be more interesting and memorable, and overall PC isn't even one of his most memorable books!) Maybe it's because it was a first novel, though. Not much really happens; there are some nice descriptive pieces, but overall it's just a bunch of characters espousing ideas and explaining why they believe what they believe. I also had a hard time keeping track of which character was which, it was that non-character-driven.
The second of the two books, 'On the Eve,' is brilliant by comparison. It's much more memorable, and much easier to remember which character is which, since they do more than just sit around philosophising. It also gets bonus points from me because the male protagonist is Bulgarian, since I love Bulgaria and Bulgarians. I was surprised that Yelena and Insarov actually managed to get married, given that nearly all of the love stories in Turgenev's writing end sadly, but the end is typically Turgenev. (My third-fave writer, Chekhov, also overwhelmingly has sad or pessimistic endings, but they wouldn't be who they were if their stories had happy endings!) I also like how Turgenev has an epilogue in his books (or in this case, a conclusion which may not be labelled as an epilogue but still serves the same purpose) to let the reader know what has happened to the characters since the main story wrapped up. Instead of just ending when the plot reaches its conclusion, he lets us know what has happened to the characters we've gotten to know and love.
|
|
|
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Takes a while to get going..., December 7, 2002
This is a short portrait of bourgeois Russian society just before the Crimean war, mainly, and its loves and hates.The most memorable character is a young Bulgarian, who moved to Russia as a child, and decides to go back and drive out the Turks. The reader gets something of the feel of the pan-Slavic movement of the time, which drove Europe to one of its major continental wars (which led almost inevitably to WWI and II). The most memorable scenes are in Venice towards the end - I won't give too much of the plot away. This isn't Turgenev's best work, but is worth a look, if you have enjoyed his other books.
|
|
|
|
