Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (1976), Edition: First Edition, Paperback, 192 pages
Description
Rudin was written by Turgenev in the immediate aftermath of the Crimean War, when it became obvious to many educated Russians that reform was needed. The main debate of Turgenev's own generation was that of East versus West. Rudin depicts a typical man of this generation, aka the men of forties, intellectual but ineffective. Rudin is often compared to Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and Lermontov's Pechorin.
User reviews
LibraryThing member gbill
Turgenev’s first novel, Rudin, is another ‘superfluous man’ story, with Rudin representing a “man of the 1840’s”, sensing change was necessary, but having difficulty fitting in and being a productive member of society. Rudin rejects the outright nihilism and misogyny in Pigasov (who
Quotes:
On regret:
“There’s no harder thing in the world than being aware of your own recent stupidity.”
And this one, actually quoting Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin:
“Whoe’er has felt will feel alarmed
By phantoms of the days long gone…
There are not fascinations left for him,
Already the serpent of remembering,
The pangs of conscience will be gnawing him…”
On transience:
“’I remember a Scandinavian legend,’ he said in conclusion. ‘A king is sitting with his warriors in a long, dark hall, around a fire. It takes place at night, in winter. Suddenly a small bird flies in through one open door and out at another. The king remarks that the little bird is like a man in this world: it flew out of the darkness and back into the darkness again, and did not stay long in the warmth and light…’Oh, king,’ the eldest warrior objects, ‘the little bird will not lose itself in the dark but will find its nest.’ It is just like our life on earth that is so fleeting and insignificant; but everything great on earth is accomplished only by men. For man the awareness of being the instrument of these higher powers must take the place of all other joys: in death itself man will find his life, his nest…’”
Show More
perhaps represents a “man of the 1860’s, and a cruder version of Bazarov), but is a failure because he cannot live up to the philosophies he studies and talks so eruditely about. The love interests and Pigasov are somewhat interesting, but the novel is not fully developed enough to recommend to anyone other than a hardcore Turgenev fan. Quotes:
On regret:
“There’s no harder thing in the world than being aware of your own recent stupidity.”
And this one, actually quoting Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin:
“Whoe’er has felt will feel alarmed
By phantoms of the days long gone…
There are not fascinations left for him,
Already the serpent of remembering,
The pangs of conscience will be gnawing him…”
On transience:
“’I remember a Scandinavian legend,’ he said in conclusion. ‘A king is sitting with his warriors in a long, dark hall, around a fire. It takes place at night, in winter. Suddenly a small bird flies in through one open door and out at another. The king remarks that the little bird is like a man in this world: it flew out of the darkness and back into the darkness again, and did not stay long in the warmth and light…’Oh, king,’ the eldest warrior objects, ‘the little bird will not lose itself in the dark but will find its nest.’ It is just like our life on earth that is so fleeting and insignificant; but everything great on earth is accomplished only by men. For man the awareness of being the instrument of these higher powers must take the place of all other joys: in death itself man will find his life, his nest…’”
Show Less
LibraryThing member edwinbcn
It is debatable whether we should read a novel entirely for its own merit, even disregarding the intention of the author, while it is questionable how much a reader twice removed could make of a classical novel, written nearly 200 years ago, and belonging to an entirely different age, and entirely
Without reading the introduction or any other literary criticism, Rudin would appear merely a stiff novella. Where the novels of Dostoyevsky still appeal to universal sentiment or character, the early novels of Turgenev are novels of manner. Rudin surely can be read as a short, failed love story, the main character Rudin being more of an anti-hero than a hero. However, as the introduction explains, the reader can make more of the novel when it is understood that in Rudin Turgenev portrays a type rather than an individual character, a cultural phenomenon rather than a tragic hero. Rudin exemplifies a certain type of man of his time, a personification of the ills of Russian society at that time. It is this added dimension which enable us to see Rudin as a tragic figure.
Nonetheless, Rudin remains a somewhat stifled short novel, and the long, difficult Russian names of relatively many characters add to the reading difficulty. Readable, but not very enjoyable.
Show More
different culture. The significance of Turgenev's first novel, Rudin (1855) might even be difficult for Russian readers to grasp.Without reading the introduction or any other literary criticism, Rudin would appear merely a stiff novella. Where the novels of Dostoyevsky still appeal to universal sentiment or character, the early novels of Turgenev are novels of manner. Rudin surely can be read as a short, failed love story, the main character Rudin being more of an anti-hero than a hero. However, as the introduction explains, the reader can make more of the novel when it is understood that in Rudin Turgenev portrays a type rather than an individual character, a cultural phenomenon rather than a tragic hero. Rudin exemplifies a certain type of man of his time, a personification of the ills of Russian society at that time. It is this added dimension which enable us to see Rudin as a tragic figure.
Nonetheless, Rudin remains a somewhat stifled short novel, and the long, difficult Russian names of relatively many characters add to the reading difficulty. Readable, but not very enjoyable.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
Russian
Original publication date
1856
Physical description
192 p.; 7.78 inches
ISBN
0140443045 / 9780140443042