Sondag, April 26, 2026

Nuwe stories - Turgenev

In my jong dae het  ek deur 'n craze vir Russiese  skrywers gegaan. In daardie jare het ek een na die ander verslind.  Onder alles wat ek gelees het kan ek net dink aan een boek van Turgenev - Fathers and Sons.

Ek  onthou niks daarvan nie, dit was 30 jaar gelede, behalwe dat ek nie daarvan gehou het nie. En dit was die  einde van Turgenev. Die lewe is te kort.

My belangstelling is eers nou weer - 'n leeftyd later - geprikkel nadat my nefie vir my die  Oscar-wennende kortfilm van "The Singers" gewys het.

Gesien deur die lens van baie jare is Turgenev nou 'n geleendheid - 'n gat wat gevul kan word, onaangeraak deur dekades, met die jare van ander ervarings.

Die eerste boek was "The Torrents of Spring".

As ek terugkyk van  die einde na die begin, laat dit my dink aan die laaste beeld van Mia Farrow wat loop om haar pasgebore baba vir die eerste keer te sien in "Rosemary's Baby". Wat sy ook al gaan sien - dit gaan epic wees.

Turgenev bou alles hier op -  'n man se goed en dan sy swakheid en verraad - om 'n oomblik te skep waar hy die meisie wat hy verraai het, kontak - na 'n leeftyd - en haar vergifnis soek.

Hoe sy gaan reageer, is alles. 

The Torrents of Spring


Skittles he played in masterly fashion; as he threw the ball, he put himself into amazingly heroic postures, with artistic play of the muscles, with artistic flourish and shake of the leg. In his own way he was an athlete — and was superbly built! His hands, too, were so white and handsome, and he wiped them on such a sumptuous, gold - striped, Indian bandana!


A constrained silence followed…. No one moved. Pantaleone uttered a faint moan.

‘Is it your wish to go on?’ said Dönhof.

‘Why did you shoot in the air?’ inquired Sanin.

‘That’s nothing to do with you.’

‘Will you shoot in the air the second time?’ Sanin asked again.

‘Possibly: I don’t know.’


Maria Nikolaevna was dressed that day very much ‘to her advantage,’ as our grandmothers used to say. She wore a pink glacé silk dress, with sleeves à la Fontange, and a big diamond in each ear.


Snake! ah, she’s a snake!’ Sanin was thinking meanwhile; ‘but what a lovely snake!’


Then the going home to his own country, the poisoned, the devastated life, the petty interests and petty cares, bitter and fruitless regret, and as bitter and fruitless apathy, a punishment not apparent, but of every minute, continuous, like some trivial but incurable disease, the payment farthing by farthing of the debt, which can never be settled….


he described his life, solitary, childless, joyless; he implored her to understand the grounds that had induced him to address her, not to let him carry to the grave the bitter sense of his own wrongdoing,




Knock Knock Knock


Tyeglev confined himself to observing that I had nothing to do with it -  - that something else had guided my hand -  - and this only showed how little I knew him. His voice, strangely calm and even, sounded close to my ear. “But you do not know me,” he added. “I saw you smile yesterday when I spoke of the strength of my will. You will come to know me -  - and you will remember my words.

the world.
“There are indeed,” I assented.
Yes, someone has said truly of suicides: until they carry out their design, no one believes them; and when they do, no one regrets them.

Twee duime opwaarts

On the eve


Turgenev vat 'n lang tyd om al die klein karakters in te klee, voordat die storie
uiteindelik vlam vat, en fokus op net sy en hy.

Die heldin (in hierdie geval) is Elena, 'n meisie wat verlief word op Insarov, 'n fanatiese Bulgaarse patriot, wat lewe om sy land se saak op te neem in die oorlog teen Turkye.

Maar hy sterf (aan natuurlike oorsake) voordat hulle daar uitkom.

Ek onthou die beeld van 'n vrou in 'n skuit wat aanland gaan in 'n vreemde land, die kis van haar geliefde dra na die  strand en hom daar  begrawe. Die beloofde onvervulde land.

Medium




Virgin Soil


Dieselfde storie as "On the Eve", twee keer die lengte - 'n meisie word meegevoer deur die politieke passie van 'n jong man, ontsnap saam met hom uit haar vervelige bestaan, maar die rewolusie ontwyk hulle.

Die "oorbodige man" tema is oor en oor in T, die ou wat niks sinvols kan klaarmaak nie.

Diary of a superfluous man




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