"superfluous man " (Russian : Lishny Chelovek) :
a character type whose frequent recurrence in
19th-century Russian literature is sufficiently
striking to make him a national archetype. He is
usually an aristocrat, intelligent, well-educated,
and informed by idealism and goodwill but
incapable, for reasons as complex as Hamlet's, of
engaging in effective action.
-Encyclopaedia
Britannica
In his great autobiography, Memoirs
of a Superfluous Man, Albert Jay Nock meant that he was superfluous
because his ideas, particularly his belief in freedom, had become so outmoded
at the time he was writing--the 1940s. But the original superfluous
men were Russian nobles, who led utterly meaningless lives of leisure,
while peasants worked their land, servants took care of them, and autocratic
government mostly ignored them. They were felt to be superfluous
because they had so little to do and made so little contribution to Russian
culture. For the most part though, they were treated, in literature
anyway, as kind of tragic heroes, as Russian Hamlets.
Thus, in Ivan Turgenev's novella, The Diary of a Superfluous Man,
the young protagonist, Tchulkaturin, humiliates himself in a romantic entanglement
and a resulting duel, all the while conveying the sense that there's nothing
else really left for him to do with himself. Turgenev's portrayal
of this hopeless character combines tragicomedy with social criticism,
but it is certainly more sympathetic than not.
As always, Turgenev is the most accessible of Russian authors; the Constance
Garnett translation is very readable; and it is blessedly short.
Even if you're, understandably, intimidated by Russian novelists, you'll
enjoy it.
(Reviewed:26-Sep-01)
Grade: (B+)
Websites:
Book-related and General Links:
-Ivan
Turgenev (kirjasto)
-ENCYCLOPAEDIA
BRITANNICA : turgenev
-ENCYCLOPAEDIA
BRITANNICA : Turgenev, Ivan Sergeyevich
-ETEXT
: Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (bartleby)
-ETEXTS
: Ivan Turgenev (bartleby.com)
-ETEXT
: Ivan Turgenev "Singers" from Sketches from a
Hunter's Album translated by Richard Freeborn
-ETEXT
: Gustave Flaubert writes letter to Ivan Turgenev November 13, 1872
-PROFILE
: Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883) (Melissa McDaniel)
-Ivan
Sergeevich Turgenev (1818-1883) (williams.edu)
-Bob
Bamont's Ivan Turgenev Page
-Ivan
Turgenev 1818 - 1883 (Penguin Classics)
-Ivan
Sergeevich Turgenev 1818 - 1883 (Marc Robinson)
-ART
: Vasily Perov. Portrait of the Author Ivan Turgenev. 1872. (Olga's
Gallery)
-ART
: A Portrait of Ivan Turgenev : facsimile of a wood engraving of Ivan Turgenev
by Fritz Eichenberg
-LINKS
: Top: Arts: Literature: World Literature: Russian: Authors: Turgenev,
Ivan (Open Directory)
-ESSAY
: Bazarov's Byronic Roots : Tracing Byron's Influence on the Creation and
Development of the Nihilist Bazarov in Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons
(Daniel Hocutt)
-ESSAY:
IDENTITY: A Study of Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons (Frederick
Corney, Assistant Professor Department of History U of FL)
-Shchi:
A tale by Ivan Turgenev that heartbreakingly and ironically sets forth
the epic economic divide between master and serf in 19th century Russia
(Soup Tales)
-Encyclopædia
Britannica : superfluous man
-ESSAY
: Different Brands of Superfluity (Matt Jungers on November 05, 1999)
-REVIEW:
(Bryan's Reviews Page)
-REVIEW:
of FLAUBERT & TURGENEV. A Friendship in Letters: The Complete Correspondence.
Edited and translated by Barbara Beaumont (Michiko Kakutani, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of FIRST LOVE AND A FIRE AT SEA By Ivan Turgenev. Translated by Isaiah
Berlin (John Bayley, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of Two Lives: Reading Turgenev and My House in Umbria by William Trevor
(John Banville, NY Review of Books)
-REVIEW:
of Turgenev's Letters selected, translated, and edited by A.V. Knowles
(Isaiah Berlin, NY Review of Books)
-REVIEW:
of Turgenev: His Life and Times by Leonard Schapiro (Henry Gifford,
NY Review of Books)
-REVIEW:
of The Gentle Barbarian: The Life and Work of Turgenev by V.S. Pritchett
(Conor Cruise O'Brien, NY Review of Books)
GENERAL :
-superfluous
man (arizona.edu)
-Bucknell
Russian Studies Department
-LINKS
: Russian Books On-Line In English
-ESSAY
: Russian Literature (John Mooers)
EUGENE ONEGIN :
-ESSAY
: The Superfluous Lenski (Rossen Djagalov on October 01, 1999)
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