My Review on Turgenev’s Fathers and Children

I started reading Fathers and Children (or Fathers and Sons) to understand more of Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground because Turgenev’s “Fathers and Children” was responded by Chernyshevsky’s “What’s to be done?” which in turn was responded by Dostoevsky’s “Notes from Underground”.

What stands out to me the most from Fathers and Children is how it follows the story of a young adult who is a nihilist. For those who don’t know, a nihilist is someone who does not believe that meaning can be found in the world; that there is no basis for human values and that institutions like marriage, government, and religion are ultimately meaningless.

We get to see what it’s like for a nihilist to relate to friends, enemies, potential lovers, and family members. We get to have some answers to questions like “What happens when a nihilist falls in love?”, or “How does a nihilist face death?” Is it all despair and gloom? Surprisingly, not all the time.

Beyond this, the novel is about relationships and how it looks like in Russian family and society in the mid 19th century. There were heart-warming and funny moments throughout the story which I didn’t expect but enjoyed nonetheless.

I also like how the story wraps up and the narrator gives an update on the life of the characters in the ending. It provides a feeling of satisfaction to the conclusion of the story.

For the English translation I recommend NYRB Classics edition (translated by Nicolas and Maya Slater). This is the latest translation (2022) as of date and I found it to be more modern and readable than the Alma Classics and Timeless classics edition.

First page of Slater’s translation (c 2022)

My Favorite Quotes

Why don’t sweet moments last forever?

Where had it all gone? She had become his wife; he had been happy, as not many on earth are happy… “But,” he thought, “those first sweet moments – why couldn’t one live in them for a whole eternal, undying lifetime?”
Ch 11 p.59
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Strengths of being a calm person

“Still waters run deep, you know?”
Ch 14 p.78
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Effects of good governance

“And do you expect,” asked Anna Sergeyevna, “that when society is put right, there will be no more stupid or bad people?”
“At the very least, if society is properly regulated, it won’t matter at all whether a person is stupid or intelligent, bad or good.”
Ch 16 p.88
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Longing for happiness

Tell me, why is it that even when we’re enjoying, say, a musical performance, or a pleasant evening, or a conversation with people we like – why is it that those things always seem to evoke a kind of infinite happiness that exists somewhere else, rather than an actual happiness that we’re experiencing ourselves? Why is that? Or don’t you, perhaps, feel anything like that?”
Ch 18 p.106
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Parent’s relationship with their children

“What can we do, Vasya?” A son is a piece of you that’s cut free. Like a falcon – he wanted to come, so he flew here to us and he wanted to go, so he flew away; and you and I are like mushrooms on a tree stump, we sit here side by side and don’t go anywhere. But I’ll stay the same for you, now and forever, as you will for me.”
Ch 21 p. 142
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The most dreadful thing

Just think, what could be more dreadful than to love and not be loved in return?
Ch 24 p.169
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Consequence of unequal marriages

“For instance, you wouldn’t – forgive my asking – you wouldn’t marry a rich man?”
“If I loved him a lot… No, I think that even then I wouldn’t marry him”.
“There you are then! cried Arkady. After a while he added, “But why wouldn’t you marry him?”
“Because even the songs go on about unequal marriages.”
“Perhaps it’s because you want to be in control, or -“
“Oh no! What would be the point? On the contrary, I’d be happy to submit – but inequality is hard to bear. Having one’s self-respect and then submitting, that’s something I can understand, that’s happiness; but being second-best all your life… no, I’ve had enough of that already.”
Ch 25 p.176
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Happiness

It takes sight of tears like these in his beloved’s eyes to show a man, half swooning with shame and thankfulness, how happy he can be on this earth.
Ch 26 p.188
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Hope

Whatever passionate, sinful, rebellious heart may lie hidden within that grave, the flowers that grow above it gaze serenely at us with their innocent eyes, and speak to us not only of eternal peace, that great peace of “unfeeling” nature; they speak, too, of eternal reconciliation and life everlasting.
Ch 28 p. 211
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