Rudin by Ivan Turgenev

First published: 1856 (Dimitri Roudine, 1873; better known as Rudin)

Type of work: Psychological realism

Time of work: The 1840’s

Locale: A provincial estate in Russia

Principal Characters:

• Dmitri Rudin, an impoverished nobleman and progressive thinker, about thirty-five years old
• Natalia Lasunskaia, a young girl of marriageable age
• Daria Lasunskaia, the mother of Natalia, a noblewoman and leader of local society
• Mikhailo Lezhniov, a local landowner and former classmate of Rudin

The Novel

Ivan Turgenev commences his novel with an introduction to local society in a provincial backwater. Several scenes are presented with the sole purpose of introducing the reader to the various characters of the novel and the type of life they lead, isolated from the intellectual currents of the cities and fellow members of the nobility. Daria Lasunskaia is the center of social life in the area; her favor or disfavor determines one’s position in society. She rules her household with the same heavy hand; her daughter is being reared very strictly at home, under the guidance of Daria and a prissy French governess. Natalia Lasunskaia, however, has a mind of her own; she reads current tracts about philosophy and social issues and seems ready to revolt against her narrow upbringing. Mikhailo Lezhniov is a neighboring landowner, as yet unmarried, and a university graduate who also loves working the land. He is an honest, direct person who does not like society life, especially the constricted sort found at Daria’s estate. A number of minor local personages are introduced in the initial scenes: unmarried women, eccentric bachelors, tutors, and hangers-on. The picture presented is not flattering; life in the Russian provinces is boring, shaped by social constraints. The almost daily gatherings at Daria’s are oppressive but represent the only social intercourse available to the local gentry.

Into this stagnant world appears Dmitri Rudin, ostensibly on business, but actually a vagabond who travels about from estate to estate until his hosts tire of him. Rudin is an idealistic radical whose stock-in-trade is witty conversation, full of social commentary and philosophical observation. The local gentry is electrified by his presence, which breathes life into their gatherings. Daria is amused by his wittiness, Natalia reveres him as an idealist and begins to fall in love with him, and other members of the circle react favorably to him as a breath of fresh air. The minority opinion is represented by one local landowner who resents not being the wittiest member of the circle any longer, and by Mikhailo Lezhniov, who remembers Rudin from university days. In fact, Rudin is intelligent and witty; he is superior to most of the local nobility, but his comments are delivered with gentleness and wit in order not to offend. Lezhniov does not explain his lack of interest in Rudin to his neighbors, and Rudin continues to dazzle the members of Daria’s social circle. In a real sense, he is earning his keep by doing so; as long as he is viewed as a welcome addition to society and keeps its members amused and entertained, he will be supported by Daria, at whose home he is staying.

This situation begins to unravel as Natalia falls in love with Rudin. Rudin has recognized in her a desire for learning and freedom and is flattered by her attention. He encourages not only the infatuation but also her desire to revolt against her narrow intellectual training in the provinces and against the social mores of the nobility. With his apparent approval, Natalia declares her love to Rudin, stating that she is ready to run away with him and endure whatever fate has in store for them in their search for truth and freedom. At this point Rudin loses courage and delivers a homily on resignation to fate; since Daria will not allow the marriage, he cannot put Natalia in such an uncomfortable position. Despite Rudin’s protestations, Natalia begins to see what Lezhniov has known all along: Rudin cannot act on his principles. Though Rudin insists that he does not want to hurt Natalia by making her act against the wishes of her mother, the girl correctly realizes that the prospect of action terrifies Rudin. While he excoriates Russian society and preaches revolt against social conventions in the name of freedom and honesty, he himself cannot do so. Instead, when faced with the possibility of real love and of turning theory into practice, Rudin preaches resignation. Natalia points out his weakness to him, which he realizes after halfhearted protestations.

With this turn of events, Rudin has worn out his welcome and leaves Daria’s estate. As the affair becomes known, Lezhniov explains to his curious neighbors the background of his relationship with Rudin, and life returns to normal in the countryside. After a hiatus of two years, the author presents a glance at the local gentry. Lezhniov has married happily and is the father of a child, Natalia is about to be married to a local landowner with the consent of her mother, and the news is brought that Rudin has moved from family to family, alienating each in its turn.

At this point the author seems to have second thoughts about leaving Rudin in such a predicament. An epilogue is attached in which Lezhniov, traveling on business, meets Rudin in a hotel. Rudin has gone to seed and Lezhniov, feeling sorry for the indigent philosopher, invites him to dinner for old times’ sake. The conversation is frank, as Rudin admits to his character defects, but Lezhniov also remembers the idealistic young man in Rudin who, for some reason, was unable to mature into a man of action. At the very end of the story the reader is informed that, in fact, at the end of his life Rudin did put his theories into practice by joining in the Paris revolt of 1848 and dying on the barricades for freedom.

The Characters

Dmitri Rudin, after whom the novel is titled, is the central character of the novel. Turgenev, one of the most renowned novelists produced by Russia, was not above using an old technique to emphasize the importance of the main character. Rudin is the dynamic outsider who intrudes upon the closed society of the countryside and produces a stir; he dominates conversation, provokes commentary on his origins and opinions, and steals the heart of a beautiful, thoughtful young girl. In his wake not much has changed; only Natalia seems to have learned a valuable lesson about human nature. After Rudin’s departure, life returns to normal. A person such as Rudin leaves no permanent imprint upon people except memories, both positive and negative.

Daria and Natalia, on the other hand, are people of action. Daria is domineering, but she is also responsible for a large estate, rears her daughter without assistance, and acts immediately when the need arises. Her daughter has inherited this trait; when Natalia is enthralled by Rudin’s ideas, she wants to begin to put them into practice. For some reason Turgenev sprinkles his novels with such women, while the men in his novels tend to be ineffective or shallow.

Lezhniov is an exception to the typically weak male character in Turgenev’s fiction. He is almost an ideal character; he combines love of the land and hard work with respect for intellectual labor, seems to be an extremely stable person, and is an embodiment of the virtues of decency and honesty. His last visit with Rudin in the hotel symbolizes what Turgenev believed was the correct attitude toward Rudin: respect for his idealism and intellect, but criticism of his inability to do anything practical. While maintaining one’s ideals, Turgenev suggests, one must be prepared to accommodate the demands of reality.

Critical Context

During his youth Turgenev was heavily influenced by German romantic idealism. In Rudin, the first of the author’s novels after a successful career as a writer of short stories, the central character is a typical romantic idealist. Turgenev seems to be engaging in self-criticism as he portrays Rudin to be a failure; that period of life is over, and the author repudiates his earlier views. By softening the portrait toward the end of the novel, perhaps the author demonstrates a lingering fondness for the character of the romantic idealist, if not for the ideas.

Turgenev may also be reacting to a heightened sense of Russian nationalism resulting from the Crimean War. When Lezhniov states that Rudin is not really malicious but rather a victim of his time who does not understand Russia, he seems to be rejecting a cosmopolitan sense toward which Turgenev is sympathetic in ordinary circumstances, and to which he returned in later life. In this sense, Rudin may represent an atypical period of the author’s life.

Rudin is considered to be one of Turgenev’s best short novels. In a sense it serves as a dry run for his later works, in which he dealt with the question of reform versus revolution. Rudin is one of the many works which Turgenev wrote about social and political issues during the 1850’s, and the writer is given credit by historians for being influential upon the process of reform in Russia. Turgenev continues the tradition, begun by Alexander Pushkin, of portraying strong heroines who are disappointed by weaker men. Perhaps Turgenev’s most lasting contribution is his ability to re-create life in the Russian countryside, exposing both its negative and positive aspects.

Bibliography

Dessaix, Robert. Turgenev: The Quest for Faith, 1980.

Freeborn, Richard. Turgenev: The Novelist’s Novelist, 1960.

Matlaw, Ralph. “Turgenev’s Novels: Civic Responsibility and Literary Predilection,” in Harvard Slavic Studies. IV (1957), pp. 249-262.

Pritchett, V.S. The Gentle Barbarian: The Life and Work of Turgenev, 1977.

Ripp, Victor. Turgenev’s Russia: From “Notes of a Hunter” to “Fathers and Sons,” 1980.

Schapiro, Leonard. Turgenev: His Life and Times, 1979.