The revolutionary as tragic hero: the background to Bazarov in Turgenev's novel Fathers and sons

Abstract

This study examines the background to the creation of the main character, Bazarov, in Ivan Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons, published in 1862. Because of the topical reference of the novel and its varying interpretations by many critics according to ideological bias, Turgenev was drawn into defending his portrayal of Bazarov. Accordingly, Turgenev left ample testimony in his correspondence and elsewhere as to his intentions. However, Turgenev was sometimes drawn by debate with partisan critics to try to justify himself on non-literary, ideological grounds;moreover, )For example, in his letter of 14 April 1862 to K.K. Sluchevsky, spokesman of Russians studying in Heidelberg who were offended by the portrayal of the younger generation in Fathers and Sons, Turgenev wrote: "My entire story is directed against the gentry as the leadng class". Pis'ma, IV,p.380. Turgenev's testimony is sometimes apparently contradictory, not only because of his own inherent inclination towards paradox, but because as a "middle of the road" liberal he tried to meet criticism from both left and right, Prior to his letter to Sluchevsky (note 1 above) Turgenev had written to the conservative A.A. Fet in a letter dated 6 April 1862 denying that the novel was at all tendentious. Pis’ma, IV,pp.370-372. Therefore, to understand why Bazarov is portrayed as he is, it is necessary to consider not only Turgenev's testimony, but also his hero's place in the literary tradition of the time and Turgenev's literary and philosophical outlook, as revealed in his works in general.