Lectures on Russian literature

by Vladimir Nabokov

  With Bazarov and Arkadi we now visit Anna's charming country seat. They will spend a fortnight there. The estate, Nikolskoe, is situated a few miles from the city, and from there Bazarov intends to travel on to his father's country place. It will be noted that he has left his microscope and other belongings at the Kirsanov place, Maryino, a little trick carefully prepared by Turgenev in order to get Bazarov back to the Kirsanovs so as to complete the Uncle Pavel-Fenichka-Bazarov theme.

  There are some splendid little scenes in these Nikolskoe chapters, such as the appearance of Katya, and the greyhound:

  "A beautiful greyhound bitch with a blue collar on ran into the drawing room, tapping on the floor with her nails, immediately followed by a girl of eighteen, black-haired and swarthy, with a somewhat round but pleasing face and small dark eyes. She was carrying a basket filled with flowers.

  ' 'And here's my Katya,' said Anna, indicating her with a motion of her head. Katya made a slight curtsy, settled down beside her sister, and began sorting the flowers. . . .

  "When Katya spoke, she had a very endearing smile, timid

  and candid, and looked up from under her eyebrows with a

  sort of humorous severity. Everything about her still had

  the greenness of youth : her voice and the bloom on her

  whole face, and her rosy hands with the whitish circles on

  the palms, and her shoulders just the least bit narrow. She

  was constantly blushing and breathing rapidly."

  We now expect from Bazarov and Anna a few good

  conversations, and indeed we get them: conversation

  number one in chapter 16 ("Yes. That seems to surprise

  you—why?"—that kind of thing), conversation number two

  in the next chapter, and number three in chapter 18. In

  conversation number one Bazarov expresses the stock

  ideas of progressive young men of the time, and Anna is

  calm and elegant and languid. Notice the charming

  description of her aunt:

  "Princess Kh., a wizened little woman with a pinched-up

  face that looked like a small clenched fist, and staring

  malicious eyes under a gray scratch wig, came in, and

  scarcely bowing to the guests, she sank into a roomy

  velvet-covered armchair upon which none but she had the

  right to sit. Katya put a footstool under her feet; the old

  A page from Nabokov's lecture on Fathers and Sons with his

  woman did not thank her, did not even glance at her, her

  map of Bazarov's travels.

  hands merely stirred under the yellow shawl, which

  practically covered her whole wizened body. The Princess

  was fond of yellow; her cap, too, had bright yellow ribbons."

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  We had Schubert played by Arkadi's father. Now Katya plays Mozart's Fantasia in C minor: Turgenev's detailed references to music were one of the things that irritated so dreadfully his enemy Dostoevski. Later they go botanizing and then we pause again for some additional characterization of Anna. That doctor is a strange man, she reflects.

  Shortly Bazarov is horribly in love: "His blood was on fire directly if he merely thought of her; he could easily have mastered his blood, but something else had gotten into him, something he had never admitted, at which he had always jeered, at which all his pride revolted. . . . Suddenly he would imagine that those chaste arms would one day twine about his neck, that those proud lips would respond to his kisses, those clever eyes would dwell with tenderness—yes, with tenderness—

  on his, and his head would start spinning, and for an instant he would forget himself, until indignation flared up in him again. He caught himself in all sorts of 'shameful' thoughts, as though some fiend were mocking him. Sometimes it seemed to him that a change was taking place in Anna as well; that a certain something was emerging in the expression of her face; that perhaps—But at that very point he would stamp his foot or gnash his teeth and shake his fist in his own face." (I have never cared much for that gnashing and fist-shaking.) He decides to leave, and "she paled."

  A pathetic note is introduced with the appearance of the Bazarovs' old steward whom they have sent to see if Eugene is coming at last. This is the beginning of the Bazarov family theme, which is the most successful one in the whole novel.

  We are now ready for conversation number two. The summer night scene is indoors, with a window playing a well-known romanticist role:

  " 'Why leave?' asked Anna, dropping her voice.

  "He glanced at her. She had thrown back her head on the back of her easy chair, and had crossed her arms, bare to the elbows, on her breast. She seemed paler in the light of the single lamp covered with a perforated paper shade. An ample white gown hid her completely in its soft folds; the tips of her feet, also crossed, were hardly visible.

  " 'And why stay?' Bazarov countered.

  "Anna turned her head slightly.

  " 'You ask why? Haven't you enjoyed yourself here? Or do you think you won't be missed?'

  " 'I'm sure of it.'

  "Anna was silent a while. 'You're wrong in thinking so. However, I don't believe you. You couldn't have said that seriously.'

  Bazarov still sat immovable. 'Eugene Vasilyich, why don't you say something?'

  'Why, what am I to say to you? It isn't worth while missing people, as a general thing—and surely not me.'

  ..." 'Open that window—I feel half stifled somehow.'

  "Bazarov got up and gave the window a push. It flew open noisily and suddenly. He had not expected it to open so easily; besides, his hands were shaking. The dark soft night peered into the room with its almost black sky, its faintly rustling leaves, and the fresh fragrance of the pure open air. . . .

  " 'We've become such friends—' Bazarov uttered in a stifled voice. 'Yes! For I'd forgotten that you wish to leave.'

  "Bazarov got up. The lamp burnt dimly in the middle of the dark, fragrant, isolated room; from time to time the blind shook, and the insidious freshness of the night flowed in; one could hear the mysterious whisperings of that night. Anna did not stir a single limb; a secret emotion was overcoming her little by little. It was communicated to Bazarov. He suddenly became aware that he was alone with a young and lovely woman.

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  'Where are you going?' she asked slowly.

  "He made no answer and sank into a chair. . . . 'Wait a little,' whispered Anna. Her eyes rested on Bazarov; it seemed as though she were examining him intently.

  "He strode across the room, then suddenly went up to her, hurriedly said 'Good-by !,' squeezed her hand so that she almost cried out, and left the room. She raised her crushed fingers to her lips, breathed on them, and suddenly, impulsively getting up from her low chair, she went with rapid steps toward the door, as though she wished to bring Bazarov back. . . . Her braid came loose and like a dark snake slithered down on her shoulder. The lamp burned long in Anna's room, and for long did she sit without moving, only running her hands from time to time over her arms, nipped at by the chill of the night.

  "Bazarov went back to his bedroom two hours later, his boots wet with dew; he was all muffled up and glum."

  In chapter 18 we have the third conversation, with a passionate outburst at the end, and again the window:

  "Anna held both her hands out before her, but Bazarov was leaning with his forehead pressed against the window pane. He was gasping; his whole body was visibly trembling. But it was not the tremor of youthful timidity, it was not the delectable dread of a first declaration of love that possessed him; it was passion struggling in him, strong and painful—passion not unlike rancor, and perhaps akin to it. Anna became both afraid of him and sorry for him.

  'Eugene Vasilyich!' she said, and involuntarily there was the ring of tenderness in her voice.
<
br />   "He turned quickly, devoured her with his eyes, and snatching both her hands, he drew her suddenly to his breast.

  "She did not free herself from his embrace at once, but within an instant she was standing in a distant corner and watching Bazarov from there. He rushed toward her.

  'You have misunderstood me,' she whispered hurriedly, in alarm. It seemed that were he to make another step she would scream. Bazarov bit his lips and left the room."

  In chapter 19 Bazarov and Kirsanov leave Nikolskoe. (The arrival of Sit-nikov is for comic relief, and artistically is too pat and not satisfying.) We will spend now three days—three days after three years of separation—with Bazarov's old people:

  "Bazarov leaned out of the coach, while Arkadi craned his head over his companion's shoulder and caught sight on the steps of the little manor house of a tall, gaunt man with rumpled hair and a thin aquiline nose; his military coat was unbuttoned. He was standing, his legs wide apart, smoking a long pipe, and his eyes were puckered up from the sun.

  "The horses stopped.

  "'So you've favored us at last,' said Bazarov's father, still going on smoking, though his student pipe was fairly dancing up and down in his fingers. 'Come, get out, get out; let me kiss you.'

  "He put his arms around his son. "'Gene, Gene,' they heard a woman's trembling voice. The door was flung open, and a roly-poly, short little old woman in a white cap and a short striped jacket appeared on the threshold. She 'oh'd,' swayed, and would certainly have fallen if Bazarov had not held her up. Her plump little arms were instantly twined round his neck, her head was pressed to his breast, and there was a complete hush. The only sound to be heard was her broken sobs."

  It is a small estate; the Bazarovs have only twenty-two serfs. Old Bazarov, who had served in General Kirsanov's regiment, is an old-fashioned provincial doctor, hopelessly behind the times. In their first conversation he indulges in a pathetic monologue which bores his emancipated, nonchalant son. The mother wonders how long Eugene will stay—after three 59

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  years. Turgenev closes the chapter with a description of Madame Bazarov's origins and mentality, a device we now know well: the biographical pause.

  A second conversation takes place, this time between old Bazarov and Arkadi (Eugene having got up early and gone for a ramble—one wonders if he collected anything). The conversation is permeated on old Bazarov's part by Arkadi's being Eugene's friend and admirer: it is this admiration of his son that the old man touchingly basks in. A third conversation takes place between Eugene and Arkadi in the shade of a haystack, in which we learn a few biographical details concerning Eugene. He had lived there two years on end and from time to time elsewhere; his father being an army doctor, he had led a roving life. The conversation turns philosophical but ends in a slight quarrel.

  The real drama begins when Eugene suddenly decides to leave, even though he promises to return in a month's time.

  Old Bazarov, "after a few more moments of bravely waving his handkerchief on the steps, sank into a chair and let his head drop on his breast.

  " 'He's forsaken us, he's forsaken us!' he babbled. 'He's forsaken us; he became bored here. I'm all alone now, all alone like this!' And each time he said this he thrust out his hand, with the index finger sticking up. Whereupon Arina Vlasievna drew near him and, putting her gray head close to his gray head, said :

  " 'There's no help for it Vasya! A son is a slice off the loaf. He's like the falcon—he felt like it, and he winged back to the nest; he felt like it, and he winged away. But you and I are like bumps on a hollow tree, sitting side by side and never budging.

  Only I shall remain the same to you forever, even as you to me.'

  "Vasili Ivanovich took his hands away from his face and embraced his wife, his friend, his mate, harder than he had ever clasped her even in youth: she had consoled him in his grief."

  On Bazarov's whim the two friends make a detour to Nikolskoe where they are not expected. Having spent four unsatisfactory hours there (Katya remaining in her room), they go on to Maryino. Ten days later Arkadi returns to Nikolskoe. The main reason is, Turgenev has to have him out of the way when the expected quarrel between Bazarov and Uncle Pavel takes place. There is no explanation why Bazarov remains: he could have conducted his simple experiments quite as successfully in the home of his parents. The theme of Bazarov and Fenichka now starts, and we have the famous scene in the lilac arbor, complete with the Eavesdropping Device:

  "'I like it when you talk. It's just like a little brook murmuring.'

  Fenichka turned her head away.

  " 'How you talk!' she said, running her fingers over the flowers. 'And why should you listen to me? You've conversed with such clever ladies.'

  " 'Ah, Theodosia Nikolaievna! Believe me, all the clever ladies in the world aren't worth the dimple on your little elbow.'

  " 'Why, what won't you think of!' murmured Fenichka, and put her hands under her. . . .

  " 'Then I'll tell you; I want—one of those roses.'

  "Fenichka broke into laughter again and even clapped her hands, so amusing did Bazarov's request seem to her. She laughed, and at the same time felt flattered. Bazarov was looking at her intently.

  " 'By all means, by all means,' she said at last and, bending down to the seat, began picking over the roses. 'Which will you have—a red or a white?'

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  " 'Red—and not too large.' . . .

  "Fenichka stretched her little neck forward and put her face close to the flower. The kerchief rolled down from her head on to her shoulders; a soft mass of dark, shining, slightly ruffled hair became visible.

  " 'Wait, I want to sniff it with you,' said Bazarov. He bent down and kissed her hard on her parted lips.

  "She was startled and thrust him back with both her hands on his breast, but her thrust was weak, and he was able to renew and prolong the kiss.

  "There was a dry cough behind the lilac bushes. Fenichka instantaneously moved away to the other end of the seat. Pavel Petrovich appeared, made a slight bow, and having dropped with a sort of malicious despond 'You here?,' he went out of the arbor. . . .

  " 'That was wrong of you Eugene Vasilyich,' she whispered as she went. There was a note of unfeigned reproach in her whisper.

  "Bazarov remembered another recent scene, and he felt both shame and contemptuous annoyance. But he immediately tossed back his head, ironically congratulated himself 'on his formal induction into the ranks of the Lotharios,' and went on to his own room."

  In the duel that follows Uncle Pavel aims directly at Bazarov and fires but misses. Bazarov "took one more step and, without taking aim, pressed the trigger.

  "Kirsanov gave a slight start and clutched at his thigh. A thin stream of blood began to trickle down his white trousers.

  "Bazarov flung aside his pistol and approached his antagonist. 'Are you wounded?' he asked.

  'You had the right to call me up to the barrier,' said Pavel Petrovich, 'but this wound is a trifle. According to our agreement, each of us has the right to one more shot.'

  'Really, you'll excuse me, but that will wait till another time,' answered Bazarov, and he put his arm around Kirsanov, who was beginning to turn pale. 'Now I'm no longer a duelist but a doctor, and I must examine your wound before anything else. . . .

  'That's all nonsense—I don't need anyone's aid,' Kirsanov declared jerkily, 'and—we must—again—' He tried to pull at his mustache, but his hand failed him, his eyes rolled up, and he lost consciousness. . . . Kirsanov slowly opened his eyes.

  "... 'All I need is something to bind up this scratch and I can reach home on foot, or else you can send a droshky for me. The duel, if you are willing, won't be renewed. You have behaved nobly—today, today, you will note.'

  'No use raking up the past,' rejoined Bazarov. 'And as for the future, it's not worth racking one's head about that, either, for I intend clea
ring out without any delay. ' " Actually Bazarov would have behaved still more nobly if he had coolly discharged his pistol in the air after enduring Uncle Pavel's fire.

  Turgenev now starts his first mopping-up operation when a conversation takes place between Uncle Pavel and Fenichka, and another between Uncle Pavel and his brother —and Uncle Pavel solemnly asks Nikolay to marry Fenichka. A little moral is stressed, not very artistically. Uncle Pavel decides to go abroad: his soul is dead within him. We shall meet him for a last glimpse in the epilogue, but otherwise Turgenev has done with him.

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  Now for the mopping-up of the Nikolskoe theme. We move to Nikolskoe where Katya and Arkadi are sitting in the shade of an ash tree. The greyhound Fifi is there, too. The light and shade are beautifully rendered:

  "A faint breeze stirring in the leaves of the ash kept pale-gold flecks of light wavering to and fro over the shady path and over Fifi's tawny back; an even shade fell upon Arkadi and Katya, save that now and then a vivid streak would flare up in her hair. Both were silent, but the very way in which they were silent, in which they were sitting together, was expressive of a trustful rapprochement; each of them seemed to be not thinking of his companion, yet secretly rejoicing at the other's proximity. Their faces, too, had changed since we saw them last; Arkadi seemed calmer, Katya more animated, more spirited."

  Arkadi is getting out and away from Bazarov's influence. The conversation is a functional one —summing up matters, giving results, stating a final situation. It is also an attempt to draw differences between Katya's character and Anna's character. It is all very weak and belated. The moment Arkadi almost proposes marriage but walks away, Anna appears. A page later, Bazarov is announced. What activity!

  We are now going to get rid of Anna, Katya, and Arkadi. The final scene is set in the arbor. During another conversation between Arkadi and Katya, the Bazarov-Anna couple is heard discoursing. We have sunk to the level of a comedy of manners. The overhearing device is with us, the pairing device is with us, the summing up device is with us. Arkadi resumes his courtship and is accepted. Anna and Bazarov reach an understanding: