New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-09-05
TURGENEFF


Ivan Turgeneff, whose death has been an
nounced in the cable dispatches, may saieiy 10
des;onoted as one of the great masters OF mod
ern fiction. 1t is barely thirty years since his
,nimitah,e volume of short stories won for him
svmpathetc audience in Russia, ana ltis
scarcely more than dozen years since MS more
ambitious novels found translators but MS
work is so strong and fine in its literary quanty
and vivid distinctness. and so characteristic OF
the MISSIONS and strange genius OF the nation
from which he sprang, that he has acquired a
renut,tion in Europe aud in America which
will .odure. His stories have been read almost
os widely in France as in his native land, and
Tho English translutions have been singularly
srocessfuI IN both sides of the Atlantic. In
Germany, also, his work has been highly appre-
cated by the most intellectual readers, ana
some of his enthusiastic admirers tDere nave
not hestated to pronounce him the greatest
novelist of the century. In Russia his pre-em-
inent merits have been universally recognlzeu
for a quarter Of century, although his per-
soual popularity With tho educated classes has
steadily declined He understood his country
men too well, and reaist that he was, portrayed
them too faithfully either to quicken in himself
a patriotic ardor that was invariably sluggish
or to endear himself to them. Mr.. Henry
James, jr., has described him as beng out Oh
harmony with his native land-"a rs having what
one may call poets quarrel with It," his
countrymen could not help adnlirng a great
master of fiction whose works were the cher
contribution made by Russia to the literature
of the world. They knew that he understood
them thoroughly and that the figures IN his
novels were animated by the very breath OF the
pative soil. Yet they never learned to love
him. His pen always seemed to them 10 have
the cold touch of dissecting-knife.
Tureeneff's services to the cause of emancipa-
tion in Russia have been exaggerated by the
translators who have introduced his works 10
English readers. One of them has compared
his Memoirs of Sportsman to " Uncle IOms
Cabin and placed him in the light OF great
social reformer That series Of short stories, how
evrr. WIS written by literary artist who had
b.come partially conscious of his descriptive
t,lepts and remarkable powers of observation
and WAS in no sense the work of social re-
former who was suddenly inspired to portray
the evils of serfdom. lie described Russian
society precisely as it was, with mlnuie hueIlty
and marvellous distinctneSs, but took no pains
to make the horrors OF the peculiar Institution
of serfdom conspicuous. The serls were III the
back ground of the sketches, breathing the same
atmosphere Of degradation and wrctchedhess
which all Russians were breathing, and II the
reader sbuddered rs he turned the pages IT was
nure literary art, not the flaming zeal OF the
social rcformer, that was working out us pur-
nos-. If Tnrgcnef fell under the ban ut the
Imperial authorities and sought refuge III that
rnrrcurial Paris where in the end no died, SELF
condemned to exile it was not because he WAS
an agitator with liberal tendencies, hut because
be had the literary genius tor which phlio-
sophical and scientific students in the UNIVERSE
ties and the educated CLASSES generally were
| thirstiny To Turgeneff, also, belongs the dis
| tInction of inventing the name OF Nihilist, ana
| strangely enough he applied 1t as "a term ol re-
| proach TO the new generation of educated men
whose anomalous gospel OF indivldualism ana
ASSUMPTION of intellectual superiority offended
his conservative prejudices. The class for
whom he coined the contemptuous word had
entirely disappeared when Vera Zassulic s
vindication bya jury of superior intelligence
became European event. BIzarof had ceased
to b. a type of the newer NihiIsm, which was
undermining railways, throwing bombs under
the Cars carriage, and facing death Wild
serene conscIousuess that it was aiding a posi-
| tive and necessary cause.
Turgeneff incidentally aided the cause oil
| emancipation and in a moment OF derision,
while he was satirizng the follies OF the liter
ary and scientific classes of that era, gave q
| name to one of the most mysterious movements
OF modern times but he WAS neither retoriner
nor an 'agitatDr but simply a Literary artist with
| rare movers Of observation, a subtle apprecla-
ton of the strong and weak spots in Russian
character ana {, natural bent toward pcssimlsm
The strongest characteristic of his literary
,netbod was the SHARPNESS with which his por-
| traits were etched. He was perfect master ol
the art of writing short stories, because his con
| ceptions of character were at once definite and
vivid. 1.-THE Brigadier," which appeared IL
| TIE TRIBUNE not long ago. was masterplece
| in this respect; and the characters III hl'
| LARGER works all possess this same quality OF
distinctness of outlino-intensity of personal
ity. Bazar0f, the materast who had scorn
fully released himself from the restraints oil
authority in religion and in all matters of MIND
and morals is one of the strongest figures II
recent literature. Even weak men, like Dim
;tri Roudinc arc positively prest nted In hi
naees and the hefoines Lisa, Helene, Katia
Comma and the rest, how strong, how charm
ing. how womanly they are! Yet they ars in
yariably doomed to disappointment. beraya
and death Turgenel1 had at beat sombr'
genius which revealed in the sterile wastes o
pessimism.
REAL BOSS