Introduction to Western culture
Ivan Turgenev was born in St. Petersburg in 1838. After receiving an academic degree from St. Petersburg University, he moved to Germany to study languages and foreign literature at the University of Berlin. Later he began to speak English, German, French, Latin and ancient Greek fluently. The author was impressed by the European way of life, which, in his opinion, would be useful to introduce in Russia. Thus, Turgenev became a convinced Westerner and entered into arguments with the Slavophiles.
“Are we really so little original, so weak, that we are afraid of any external influence and will brush it off in childish fear, lest it spoil us? I do not believe this: on the contrary, I believe that even in our seven waters our Russian essence cannot be taken away from us. Otherwise, what a lowly group of people would we be? – Turgenev said at a literary evening with critic Pyotr Pletnev.
He expressed similar opinions about the character of Sozont Ivanovich Potugin’s novel “Smoke”, saying:
“Yes sir, yes I am from the West, I belong to Europe; That is to say, I am devoted to education, to the education that we so sincerely mock – civilization – yes, yes, this word is even more beautiful – I love and believe in it with all my heart, and I have a different belief, no, and never will.”
In Europe, Turgenev felt an urgent need for constant communication with his homeland, to which he periodically returned and was inspired by Russian realities. While visiting Russia, Turgenev formed a circle of literary acquaintances, including Mikhail Lermontov, Vasily Zhukovsky, Alexey Koltsov and others. In 1845, Turgenev met Fyodor Dostoyevsky, but their friendship was short-lived. Returning from hard labor and exile as an Orthodox monarchist, Dostoevsky was outraged by his colleague’s novel “Smoke”, in which he saw “the slander of the West against Russia.”
Promotion of Russian culture in Europe
Abroad, Turgenev communicated with European writers, editors and translators. In France, he was friends with Victor Hugo, Gustave Flaubert, Emile Zola, George Sand and Prosper Mérimée, among others. Thanks to this, Turgenev not only followed global trends, but also promoted the best foreign books in Russia. Charles Perrault’s (“Little Red Riding Hood”, “Puss in Boots”, “Tom’s Thumb”), “St. Gustave Flaubert’s Julian the Merciful and Herodias, George Byron’s The Darkness and other works.
Turgenev also introduced European readers to examples of Russian classics. With his participation, the works of Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Goncharov and other authors were translated. He personally met with publishers, read and edited manuscripts, and did the translations himself.
Turgenev’s works were also very popular abroad. In the 1850-1860s, newspapers in London and Paris (Revue des Deux Mondes, Fraser’s Magazine, Household Words and others) published translations of “Notes of a Hunter”, “Noble Nest”, “On the Eve”, “Rudin”. and other books. Translators of Turgenev’s works in France were Prosper Merimee, Louis Viardot, Durand-Greville and others. Turgenev translated some of his works himself. In England, his translators were William Ralston, Emilia Dilk, Constance Garnett and Charles Turner.
Suspicions of espionage and links to London propagandists
In 1862, Turgenev was brought to the trial of the 32s (“The case of persons accused of association with London propagandists”). It was not possible to solve the problem remotely, and in 1864 the writer had to come to Russia for interrogation, where he was able to divert suspicion from himself.
Turgenev, on the other hand, was seen as “an official on special missions” or a spy whose purpose was to create a positive image of Russia abroad. On this subject, especially in an interview with the site kp.ru stated Joseph Linder, author of the book “History of the Russian Special Services of the X-XX Centuries”.
“His task was to monitor all misinformation about Russia in the foreign press and create a positive image of our state in the West,” Linder said.
According to his information, Turgenev had major agents, including the French, who published “correct” articles about Russia. As Linder assures, the head of the Third Chamber, Count Orlov, in secret correspondence reproached Turgenev for not spending any government money, but only his own. And the writer, whose mother was one of the richest landowners in Russia, allegedly replied: “I answer to the ruler for my actions, I do not answer to anyone for my money.” According to the historian, Turgenev understood that he could not spend so much money abroad – this could trigger the suspicions of French counterintelligence.
Comments of Western critics about Turgenev
The best foreign critics of the time highly appreciated Turgenev’s contribution to European literature. So, in 1869, an article titled “The Works of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev” was published in the British Quarterly Review. The novels “Rudin”, “Noble Home”, “On Eve”, “Fathers and Sons” and “Smoke”, according to the author, give a general picture of “the most critical moment in the history of modern Russia.” The critic also called Turgenev The only Russian writer to achieve pan-European fame.
Turgenev spent the last years of his life at the peak of fame both in Russia and Europe. After the writer’s death in 1883, Guy de Maupassant’s essay “Ivan Turgenev” was published, in which he called his colleague “a great Russian novelist”, “one of the most remarkable writers of this century” and “one of the greatest writers”. Geniuses of Russian literature.”
And, according to Juliette Adam, publisher of the Parisian magazine Nouvelle Revue, thanks to Turgenev he formed an opinion about Russia. Literary critic Emil Oman, in his critical-biographical essay “Ivan Turgenev” (1906), said that thanks to Turgenev, “Russia gained for itself an integral place in the intellectual life of Europe.”