Synopsis of Turgenev's "Luzhin" - The masterpiece that created the Russian Hamlet "The Extraordinaire".
Turgenev (1818-1883)Wikipedia.
Luzhin" was published by Turgenev in 1856 and is his masterpiece.
I read "Luzhin" translated by Nakamura Tohru, Iwanami Shoten.
Let's take a quick look at the cover synopsis.
This masterpiece has been known in Japan since the Meiji era (1868-1912) under the title of "Ukiso" translated by Futabatei Shimei. A man named Luzhin appears at the mansion of Darya, a female landowner. He is a cold-hearted intellectual with a weak will, but later he dies with only his revolutionary ideals in his heart. This film was written in 1855 and shows a type of intellectual that can still be seen today.
Iwanami Shoten, Luzin, translated by Nakamura Toru.
This work isAahibiki.The work was translated by Futabatei Shimei, and was well known in Japan from early on.
The protagonist of this work, Loo Jin, is a charming, good-natured boy who quickly charms the countryside with his sophisticated behavior and overwhelming oratorical talents.
But what a sad and empty person he really was. He had no firm will and was a social misfit who could not get along anywhere in society.
The afterword at the end of the book provides a detailed description of his personality, so let's take a look at that.
What kind of person is this Luzhin? Appearing by chance at a country estate, this young man is as dashing as a crane in a muddy bog in the midst of his old, stagnant environment. His overflowing wit, sharp words of warning, and passionate eloquence leave everyone around him in awe.
The women, in particular, think he is a genius (in fact, the author had titled his first draft of the novel ''Skin of Genius'' (гениальная-натурa)).
At first, the reader imagines that such an illustrious man must have been a man of great social stature. However, as one reads on, one realizes that his life is actually a series of failures, and that this seemingly brilliant and brilliant man is merely a failure in life.
Iwanami Shoten, Nakamura Toru's translation of Luzhin, p. 216-217
Some line breaks have been made.
This is a very important part of Luzhin's character. It reveals why he is an empty-mouthed man, a social misfit who can't get anything right.
His major flaw is that he lacks the ability to face reality and adapt to it, or, to put it another way, that he only plays with ideas and plans in the air and does not have the unyielding, strong will to implement them correctly.
This is eventually discovered by Natalya, the daughter of the Lassunskaya family, and his love is finally shunned.
On the surface, he appears to be full of eye-to-nose brilliance, but in reality he is nothing more than a vacillating, weak-willed, shabby fantasist who lacks adaptability to reality. In the case of literary works, Pushkin's Onegin (the protagonist of the rhyming novel of the same name), Lermontov's Pechorin (the protagonist of "Hero of Our Time"), and Gertzen's Peritov (the protagonist of "Whose Crime Is It Anyway") are all representatives of this type.
The history of Russian literature has given it such names as "superfluous man," "useless man," and "Russian Hamlet." "Luzhin" is a novel that captures this archetype in the simplest and most easily understood form and reproduces it beautifully in the main character.
In other words, Turgenev's novel is a portrayal of Luzhin, a Russian intellectual who, despite his genius, was deemed useless by society and ultimately faded away as a pathetic loser.
Iwanami Shoten, Nakamura Toru's translation of Luzhin, p. 217-218
Some line breaks have been made.
To put it simply, Luzhin is extremely smart. When it comes to abstract ideas and concepts, he is the best in the world.
In other words, he manipulated the German idealism that was popular among young people at the time, quickly theorizing all the complex phenomena of the world and rephrasing them into simple and clear principles and systems.
In other words, he can instantly answer any difficult thing in the world with, "I mean, it's called ________," or "In short, it shows that ________.
The way he speaks is so brilliant that those who are listening are surprised that this man is not just a man.
But as the above commentary shows, he lacks the ability to see reality, and even more, he lacks a firm will. This is his tragedy.
If you're smart, you can handle it.
No, no. No matter how smart you are, if you cannot see reality, everything is just a theory in your head. Reality is not like a theory. It is different from a mathematical formula like 22 is 4.
Still, it would have been nice if he had the strong will to confront reality, but he gives up and runs away as soon as he hits the wall of reality. This is the fundamental reason why nothing he does works.
He is so smart that he theorizes about everything. But that theory is completely unconnected to reality. That is why they fail. Because it doesn't work, they are devastated and run away, saying, "It can't be helped. This is a repetition.
Turgenev vividly portrayed such a man in this novel.
As for this "Luzhin", Pushkin'sOnegin."and Railmontov's.A Modern Hero."It is said that he is a direct descendant of a man named Pechorin who appears in
Onegin to Pechorin to Luzhin is a"The Excess.", ,Russian Hamlet."The "Russian Hamlet," as it is called, has come to represent the epitome of a person who thinks and worries in his/her head but is ultimately unable to take action.
It seems that there were in fact many such types of people in 19th century Russia. Pushkin, Lermontov, and Turgenev sensitively captured their ideas and expressed them in literature.
Please refer to our previous articles on Pushkin's "Onegin" and Lermontov, which created the lineage of the extraordinaries, if you are interested.
Thoughts - From a Dostoevskyian Perspective
Turgenev created a Russian hamlet called Luzhin.
Turgenev loved Shakespeare, especiallyHamlet."Hamlet is said to have been greatly influenced by the "The Great Man of the World. He was concerned about people like Hamlet, who were in anguish over their destiny, and who did not have the strength to take action to shape their destiny.
This is a difficult question as to whether Hamlet was actually a man of action, but Turgenev seemed to get that impression about him.
Luzhin is just so smart and has a brilliant eloquence. And in no time at all, he attracts a lot of people.
In "Rouzin," the daughter of the place where he is staying falls in love with Rouzin, and he also falls in love with the daughter.
It seems as if the two will be together, but at the right moment, her mother finds out about their relationship and objects, saying that the rootless Luzhen cannot have a daughter.
Rouzin pathetically said, "If your mother is against it, I can't do it anymore. Oh, how could I let this happen?" He soon lost heart.
His love for her quickly wanes, and he ends up making effeminate excuses.
But what would have happened if this had been Dostoevsky?
Dostoevsky's depictions of love usually depict an explosion of maniacal passion, an endless abyss, and chaos.The Moron.And the love of the "Mere Old Man" is out of the ordinary,The Memoirs of a Basement.s protagonist's twisted personality, for example, is similar to Luzhin's, but completely different.
Luzhin is an intellectual without a strong will. But Dostoevsky's characters are all monsters of will. Each of them has a passion that borders on madness.
It was a very interesting novel, with the difference between Turgenev, the calm artist, and Dostoevsky, the passionate man.
The above is a synopsis of Turgenev's masterpiece "Luzhin" - the creation of the Russian Hamlet "Extraordinaire".
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