A
Reckless Character and Other Stories
Translated by Isabel F. Hapgood
PREFACE
For
three years after the violent reception of “Fathers and Children”
Turgénieff published nothing, as has already been said. But during
those three years events occurred in his personal life which reconciled
him with literature and proved to him that the cultured public—the
European, and, in particular, the Russian—fully comprehended and was
able to appreciate his merits.
In 1878, at the meeting of the Literary Congress, during the
Paris Exposition, the representatives of all European literature
unanimously, and by acclamation, elected him the president of one of the
sections of the Congress. In 1879, during a visit to London, he received
from the University of Oxford the honorary degree of LL.D., because he
had displayed in his works (especially in the “Memoirs of a
Sportsman”) a thorough knowledge of the manners and customs of the
common people.
At the end of February, 1879, Turgénieff went to Russia for the
purpose—as he himself jestingly remarked—of “making peace with the
Russian public,” and, in particular, with the Russian youth. The
rapturous reception which was given to the great romance-writer, completely
unexpected as it was by him, proved to him to what a degree Russian
society sympathised with its beloved author. At a reception in Moscow,
where he appeared on the platform before the Russian public for the
first time in twelve years, he took part in a session of the Society of
Lovers of Russian Literature; then he appeared in St. Petersburg, where
he read at several literary evenings, chiefly from his “Memoirs of a
Sportsman.” He also enjoyed a whole series of triumphant ovations, in
which young people took a particularly lively part. All this was like
the celebration of his thirty-fifth literary anniversary, which should
have occurred in 1878, and served as a proof that all former
misunderstandings between the Russian public and a writer who had
consecrated his labours to current topics of interest had been
relegated to oblivion.
Turgénieff’s triumph evoked violent irritation in that section
of the press which had zealously hounded him ever since he had ceased to
publish his writings in the Russian Messenger, and an opportunity to cast a shadow upon his
literary activity speedily presented itself. In October, 1879, a small
sketch, entitled “En Cellule, Impressions d’un Nihiliste,”
appeared in the Temps of
Paris, accompanied by a letter from Turgénieff to the Temps.
In this letter Turgénieff said that, while he did not, in the
least, share the author’s convictions, he nevertheless assumed that
this simple and sincere recital might serve as a proof how little
preliminary, solitary confinement could be justified from the point of
view of rational legislation. This letter gave rise to a vicious attack
upon Turgénieff himself, and even to his being directly accused of
“disgracing his grey hair” and of “turning somersaults” before
the Nihilists, “for the sake of winning popularity and having fun with
them.”
Turgénieff replied publicly to this attack in a long letter,
which may be called a remarkable page from his autobiography. The letter
winds up with the words which Turgénieff had a full right to utter:
“The public,” he says, “knows the author of this attack, . . . and
I venture to add that it knows me also.”
The Russian public speedily demonstrated that it did know and
value Turgénieff, in spite of all calumnies. In Moscow, during the
famous “Púshkin Days” (June 6-8, O. S., 1880), such honours and
ovations fell to the lot of the famous romance-writer as completely
threw into the shade all the honours which had been paid to him in both
capitals a year previously. The Moscow University in a solemn session,
on the day when Púshkin’s monument was unveiled, elected him an
honorary member of its body, thus, as it were, uniting the names of the
two great representatives of Russian literature in the past and the
present. (Turgénieff was also an honorary member of Kíeff University,
and a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.)
There can be no doubt that these were the best days of his life.
He himself acknowledged the fact by selecting for his reading, at a
literary evening, the poems: “Once more in the Fatherland,” and
“The last cloud of the storm has dispersed.”
His visit to Russia in 1880 was his last. His health grew worse
and worse, and for months together no news of him reached Russia. During
this period “The Song of Love Triumphant,” “Old Portraits,” and
“A Reckless Character” appeared in the journal Order of 1881. His malady, which puzzled even the most celebrated
Paris physicians, developed gradually but without a halt, and caused
him suffering which he was able to endure solely thanks to his athletic
constitution and to narcotics, to which he was compelled to resort
more and more frequently for relief. But he did not lose his spirits and
continued to work as his strength permitted. Thus, in the summer of 1882
he wrote” Clara Mílitch,” which he intended, at first, to call
“After Death” but he changed the title for fear he should be accused
of being a spiritualist. He also prepared for publication his “Poems
in Prose,” already written at intervals. The latter appeared in the European
Messenger for December, 1882, and “Clara Mílitch” in the same
journal in January, 1888. Later on, he revised all his works, and dictated
various fragments of his “Memoirs.” He died on August 22, O. S.
(September 8, N. S.), 1888.
The post-mortem examination showed that his malady had been one
of the spine, which had completely destroyed three vertebrai. His
brain was found to weigh two thousand grammes. His body was taken to
Paris from Bougival, where he had chiefly resided during his last years,
and his funeral was held in the Russian church there. Memorial services
were held in almost every town in Russia; and not only Russia but all
the civilised world displayed grief, acknowledging Turgénieff’s
death as a heavy loss to all literature. The German critics even
compared him to Goethe. Shortly before his death he said that he would
like to be buried in the Monastery of the Assumption, at Svyatigórsk,
at the feet of Púshkin, whom he always called his “Master.” But he
considered himself unworthy of that honour, and ordered that his body be
interred in the Volkhóff Cemetery, at St. Petersburg, by the side of
his friend, the critic, Byelínsky. As there was no room there, he was
buried near the chief church (cathedral) in that cemetery, near the
entrance, on the left, on September 27, 0. S., 1883.
Concerning the stories “A Reckless Character” and “Old
Portraits” the Russian critics have, practically, nothing to say. Of
“The Dream” it is said that it is a representative of those
artistic, semi-fantastic little tales in which the mystical romanticism
of Turgénieff’s nature outwardly expressed itself from time to time.
“Father Alexyéi’s Story” represents (as has already been
said, in the Preface to Volume XV) the conflict of the natural with the
supernatural. It is one of the less known of the author’s
writings; but, says one critic, “it may be called one of the most
profound examples of artistic perspicacity and inspiration. But
justice demands the statement that doubts more frequently reigned in
Turgénieff’s soul during the last period of his life than did faith,
and this fact undermined his mighty genius. Yet the poet’s lofty heart
yearned toward faith, panted with thirst for it. He was more of a
sceptic than an enthusiast,—more of a Hamlet than a Don Quixote, as he
himself would have expressed it; but his heart was more inclined toward
Don Quixote.”
“The Song of Love Triumphant” deals with the marvellous in
the direction of magnetism. Turgénieff’s talent was a musical talent,
so to speak; and music evokes indefinite but good, agreeable, radiant
sensations. Thus he had positively no rivals in his power of
communicating musical emotions, as we have seen in “The Singers”; in
the description of Lemm’s playing (“A Nobleman’s Nest”); and of
the violin-playing in “The Song of Love Triumphant,” which is, in
its line, a masterpiece.
The “Poems in Prose” constitute a wonderfully-lyrical
series of memoranda, filled with profound thought and illumined by
genuine feeling, chiefly sad, and sometimes inconsolably desolate.
“Nature” expresses the idea of Nature’s hostility to all things,
and her devastating power over our personality. A man beholds Nature in
the very inmost sanctuary of her creative power, and questions her
concerning man. Her answer is cheerless and discouraging to the last
degree.
Quite another idea is conveyed by “The Sparrow.” It is the
same, replete with faith and encouraging to man, with which the author
concluded his famous speech on “Hamlet and Don Quixote “: “All
shall pass away, all shall vanish,—the loftiest dignity, power,
all-embracing genius,—all shall crumble into dust.
The
vast earthly whole
Like
smoke disperseth. . . .
But good deeds do not disperse into smoke; they
are more lasting than the most radiant beauty. ‘All things shall pass
away,’ saith the Apostle; ‘human love alone abideth.’ ”
The hidden religious ideal of Turgénieff’s poetry is expressed
in this thought, as it was in the character of Liza (“A Nobleman’s
Nest”), and also in the concluding words—marvellous in the
profundity of their view of the universe—of “Father Alexyéi’s
Story,” and of the great romance, “Fathers and Children.”
In
concluding this series of prefaces to my translation, I wish to say a
few words concerning my method. Many foreign critics, more or less
competent through knowledge of the language, history, and institutions
of Russia, have expressed their opinions on the great author’s
works. What the foreign public has never previously been told is the
views held by his own countrymen, critics and readers. Obviously, this
is precisely what is most valuable for the thoughtful foreign reader
and the student. Accordingly, I have compiled these prefaces from five
or six different volumes—criticisms of Russian literature in general,
the biography prefixed to the Collected Works, a couple of volumes
composed entirely of a reprint of the criticisms, by Russian critics, in
different Russian journals (of various dates), preceded by a critical
study of all the works, Turgénieff’s “Literary Memoirs,” and a
volume of letters to his friends.
The constant use of quotation-marks in such a compilation and
condensation would have been both cumbrous and confusing. Therefore I
take this opportunity to warn the reader that in the whole sixteen
prefaces one page, at the utmost, would cover all the original remarks
from myself. I trust that the strictly Russian point of view thus
furnished, together with the explanatory notes, with which readers are now equipped for the first time, will result in a fuller and more
judicious appreciation than ever of Russia’s great writer.
I.F.H.
Contents
A Reckless Character
The Dream
Father Alexyéi’s Story
Old Portraits
The Song of Love Triumphant
Clara Mílitch
Poems in Prose
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