Posted by Lale on 4/5/2008, 9:03:45, in reply to "Re: Turgenev - Nest of Gentry"
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: Do you think her primary motive
: was love ("If I can't have him, I won't have
: anyone.") or shame ("I've kissed a married
: man and must atone for it the rest of my life.")?
Maybe she didn't believe she could love anyone else.
: What did you think of Varvara Pavlovna? She was quite
: a monster, wasn't she? ...perhaps too diabolical to be
: entirely believable.
She reminded me of Becky Sharp from Vanity Fair.
: I've been thinking about the similarities between Ivan
: Turgenev and Henry James, both in their life and work.
: I believe they were acquainted, though James was much
: younger. Each lived abroad for most of his adult life,
: but wrote on national themes. They never married, but
: each, near the end of his life, had a pathetic
: infatuation with a much younger person. They both
: wrote about predatory love relationships and romantic
: affairs with a large age difference. And lastly, for
: what it's worth, they both repeatedly used bird
: metaphors: Turgenev's characters live in
: "nests," and James's don't sit, they "perch."
This is amazing. Good job Steven. Really interesting parallels.
(It's funny: "James' characters don't sit, they perch")
Lale
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