Man on a mission to plough his land. On Turgenev’s Home of the Gentry.
It’s been a while since I’ve read any Russian novels, especially something from the 19th century and it’s definitely have been a while since I’ve read Turgenev, who to this day is still my favourite Russian author. And though it has been too long, it is like being reconciled to a familiar friend, by this time he would have new stories to tell and after many years, he might not have changed but you have, but in a way you remain who you are. And you still love the conversation you have with him.
Turgenev though, has a lot of layers to cover. Sure, he’s a mate. But how well do you know your mate really? From the dry introduction, I’ve only just learned that he was in communication with other influential Russian writers such as Goncharov, who would also speak out against the indolence that had blanketed the Russian soul. This soul of Russia perhaps can find its embodiment with what the middle-class was closest to back then — the gentry. In the hero of the novel, in Lavretsky do we see this push and pull forces which would tear him apart, as he strives to resolve inner conflicts as Russia herself would battle her own demons.
It is perhaps, one of the most personal out of Turgenev’s works as Lavretsky is clothed in the cloak of the author: both coming from the gentry, both had disappointing romantic experiences and both thoroughly influenced by countries West of the Russian frontier. The last one is significant as it is this very friction which shapes the decisions of Lavretsky, and in the author’s life, shaped his relationship with other contemporaries such as Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. But we need to take these similarities with a grain of salt, as we are always in the danger of overreading when we compare the author to his creations, no matter how similar.
A not-so-sweet homecoming
Lavretsky, cuckolded in Paris by his wild and promiscuous wife decided to return to his village of O. to rest his mind, where he’s a landowner. That rest doesn’t come too easily when he met his cousin’s daughter, Liza who was already infatuated with the younger and more promising Panshin, complete with the confidence of youth and a government position to hold. Things become a bit awkward as Lavretsky gets a little closer to Liza at the expense of Panshin, especially when he came across a society article which mentioned the death of his wife.
Things are not that straightforward however. When Lavretsky came home one night, giddy from a walk in the night, a figure emerged from the shadows of his house. His dead wife was very much alive after all and has every intention to reconciliate with him, or at least his livelihood. Lavretsky tried his best to keep her in check, intending to ship her off to one his properties in the middle of nowhere, but his wife, Varvara Pavolvna was a lioness and very much self-interested. She started by visiting Liza’s house and connected with her mother. Worse yet, she connected with Panshin to put the spanner in the works.
When the crisis came, eight years had elapsed. Lavretsky had earned his freedom from Varvara Pavlovna, who found a way out of her imprisonment. Liza had become a nun. Panshin, who was further infatuated with Varvara ceased his interest in Liza and would be a moderately successful government official. Lavretsky, for the second time in the story would return to his home again to find the younger generation running around euphorically. He did try to see Liza at one point, but they would only ignore each other in passing, Liza clinging to her rosary even tighter as Lavretsky drew close.
The man and his gardens, and the passions which might ruin them
Turgenev would have penned stronger and more magnetic characters such as Insarov in On the Eve, and Sanin in Sprint Torrents, not to mention Bazarov in Fathers and Sons. But in many ways, Lavretsky best represented the conflicts Russia was facing at the time with its class differences, intellectual snobbishness and the influences from those outside of the motherland in art, culture and politics.
Like a Shakespearean play, we are only introduced to Lavretsky from the peripheral characters. We heard of the discussion of his homecoming through the grapevines before he stepped into the scene. When we meet him, we only meet him in passing, unaware of the events that had happened in his life. His history will be revealed to the readers soon enough, starting from the lineage of his grandfather, leading to the waywardness of his son, Lavrestky’s father. This waywardness may have also planted the seeds of Lavretsky’s anglophilism and restlessness.
Lavretsky’s infatuation with German culture can also be seen in his friendship with Lemm, though he is perhaps not the best representation of German art, in particluar German music, known to be bold, controversial and brave. Yet it is a precarious friendship built on the bond of mutual social fabric, and when this fabric falls apart, Lavretsky’s friendship with Lemm also took a hit. Yet, it is also representative of what Lavretsky prioritises in his values: his passions, and to another extent, the importance of art.
We can argue that Lavretsky’s passions was the catalyst which tore apart the social Fabric of O. — his romance with Liza created rifts with Panshin, her mother and Marfa Timofeyevna, though the latter was the most sympathetic. In this regard, it is difficult to sympathise with Lavretsky though he is the protagonist of the novel, he is equally the antagonist. Lavretsky in a way, represents external ideas which had pervaded the intellegentsia and Russian society. In his own way he disrupts and corrupts, distracting rather than helping, leading to a dangerous lethargy.
Though Lavretsky exists as a gentry, in a way, part of the leisure class falling short of being aristocratic, he also has a duty to be a landowner, thus to be responsible for the fruits of his land. It is a duty that in a large part of the book that he left neglected. It is also perhaps, the same conflict reflected in Turgenev, as he tries to reconcile the passions of his arts (to which thankfully he had found an avenue in his writing), and to extract the output of his property. We need to take note however, that Turgenev was opposed to serfdom and had become one of the prominent voices for their liberation.
This conflict is best manifested by Mikhalevich’s accusation of Lavretsky’s complacency:
“You’re not a sceptic, not disillusioned, not a Voltairean, you’re a layabout, a vicious layabout, consciously a layabout, not the naïve type. Naïve layabouts lay on the stove and do nothing, because they don’t know how to do anything; and they don’t think, but you’re a thinking man — and yet you lie around; you could do something — and yet you do nothing; you lie with your full stomach sticking up in the air and say: This is how it must be, lying about like this, because no matter what people do, everything’s nonsense, it’s all a lot of rubbish leading to nothing.”
This is a similar allegation which Goncharov made in Oblomov to the Russian gentry, if not the same. Goncharov had a bit of a falling out with Turgenev over these ideas, though not for Home of the Gentry, but for Goncharov’s poem Duma. Yet, all these works contributed ultimately to Russia’s freeing of the serfs in 1871, regardless of artistic freedoms which the authors take from one another.
However, Lavretsky would realise his mission as he got caught in an argument with Panshin who asked him for what reason did he return to his land:
“‘All that is admirable!” exclaimed Panshin, furious at last. ‘So here you are, you’ve returned to Russia — what precisely do you intend to do?’
‘To plough the land,’ answered Lavretsky, ‘and to strivve to plough it as well as possible.’”
In a remarkable ending in Turgenev fashion, Lavrestky would not win Liza’s heart, despite all the other characters ceasing to be impediments to prevent him from winning Liza. Though he could then indulge on his passion, Lavrestky and Liza had become too different to reconcile. Yet, we learn that Lavretsky had been a good landowner, who had tilled his land and looked after his serfs fairly. This accomplishment, we can argue, is a more important achievement than winning Liza’s hand. He succeeded, despite of Mikhalevich’s fiery words to be a Voltairean: a man who cultivates his own piece of land.
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Home of the Gentry may not be as memorable as Turgenev’s other novels, but it was a popular novel on its publication and made the author popular beyond the border of his native Russia. Lavretsky was not Tolstoy’s Sanin who also acted as a vessel for the author’s messages, but acted more as a vehicle for Turgenev’s inner reflections. It is a realised novel, from an author not yet fully mature in his powers. But from it, we can already see the signs which guarantee the future success of its author.
