“Have you seen Madame Ratmirova today?” one personage asks mildly.
“I met her today at Lise’s place,” replies the hostess in a voice like an Aeolian harp. “I’m sorry for her. Her mind is embittered. Elle n’a pas la foi.”*
“Yes, yes,” the personage repeats, “I remember Pyotr Ivanovich saying that of her, and saying very rightly qu’elle a… qu’elle a le embittered mind.”*
“Elle n’a pas la foi,” the voice of the hostess evaporates like incense smoke. “C’est une âme égarée.* She has an embittered mind.”
“She has an embittered mind,” her sister repeats with her lips alone.
And that is why not all young men are head-over-heels in love with Irina. They are afraid of her. They are afraid of her “embittered mind”. That has become the established cliché about her; in this cliché, as in every cliché, there is an element of truth. And not only young men are afraid of her; so too are older adults – men in high places and even grand personages. No one can discuss as accurately and as subtly the comic or petty sides of a character, no one has the gift of stamping it so mercilessly with an unforgettable word. And this word sears all the more painfully because it comes from her splendid fragrant lips. It is difficult to say what is going on in her soul, but among her crowd of admirers rumour does not accord anyone the status of chosen one.
Irina’s husband is rapidly advancing along the road which the French call the Way of Honours. The stout general is ahead of him, the supercilious one behind. And in the same town where Irina lives, our friend Sozont Potugin also lives; he rarely sees her and she has no particular need to keep up the link with him… The little girl who was entrusted to his care died recently.
Note on the Text
This translation is based on the Russian text contained in volume 9 of Turgenev’s Collected Works (Polnoe sobranie sochinenii) published by Nauka in Moscow and Leningrad in 1965.
Notes
p.1, Conversation: The Maison de la Conversation (German: Konversationshaus), today known as the Kurhaus. Dating from 1824, this was and remains the centre of social life in the spa.
p.1, Baden-Baden: Spa town in the Black Forest, much frequented by Russian and European aristocracy. In Turgenev’s time it was in the independent kingdom of Württemberg. Referred to in the novel by its hyphenated form (official since 1931), by the shortened form “Baden” or by its French name “Bade”.
p.1, Pavilion: Now known as the Trinkhalle.
p.1, La traviata: Opera (1853) by Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901).
p.1, Tell Her: Words by E.P. Rostopchina and N.A. Dolgorukov, music by Yelizaveta Kochubei. The song was published in 1857 and soon became extremely popular.
p.2, louis d’or: A twenty-franc piece. The Baden casino was run by the French Jockey Club, based in Paris, and French currency circulated freely.
p.2, rien ne va plus: “No further bets taken” (French).
p.2, Princess Mathilde: Mathilde Bonaparte (1820–1904), hostess of a famous Paris salon. She was the niece of Napoleon Bonaparte and cousin to both Napoleon III and Nicholas I. Turgenev frequented her salon.
p.2, Emperor: Napoleon III (1808–73), Emperor of the French (1852-1870).
p.2, Madame… Russie: “Madame, the property principle has been profoundly shaken in Russia” (French).
p.2, l’arbre russe: A chestnut tree close to the Konversationshaus in Baden, a meeting point for the large Russian community.
p.2, ces princes russes: “These Russian princes” (French).
p.2, Charivari and Tintamarre: French journals, the first satirical, the second dealing with the Arts and fashion.
p.2, fine fleur: “The flower” (French).
p.2, all the nobility… fashion: An inexact quotation from Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin (xiii, 24).
p.3, A Hero of Our Time: Seminal novel by Mikhail Lermontov (1814–41), published in 1840.
p.3, Countess Vorotynskaya: Character from the short story High Society (1840) by V.A. Sollogub (1813–82).
p.3, le culte de la pose: “The cult of the pose” (French).
p.3, Golden Bull… Pope: The Golden Bull was in fact issued, in 1356, by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV.
p.3, poor tax: Although Turgenev’s erratic English makes certainty difficult, this probably refers to the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 (known as the “New Poor Law”) which overhauled existing legislation relating to pauperism.
p.3, grand genre: “High style” (French).
p.4, Dieu sait pourquoi: “God knows why” (French).
p.4, Weber’s coffee house: Situated in a wing of the Konversationshaus.
p.6, redemption payments: As a result of the Emancipation Statute of 1861 peasants were required to make forty-nine annual payments in exchange for land. These payments were cancelled in 1907.
p.6, Tatyana: Also referred to as Tanya, the affectionate form of her name.
p.7, For better, for worse: In English in the original.
p.7, esprit fort: “Person with a mind of their own” (French). Kapitolina Markovna uses the phrase to describe herself in Chapter 22.
p.7, Strauss: David Friedrich Strauss (1808–74), German theologian.
p.9, Buckle: Henry Thomas Buckle (1821–62), English historian, much admired in left-wing intellectual circles in Russia. His History of Civilization in England (1857–61) was published in Russian translation in 1864.
p.9, Ernani: Opera, first staged in 1844, by Giuseppe Verdi, based on Victor Hugo’s play Hernani.
p.9, A som-mo Carlo: “To mighty Carlo” (Italian). An aria from Act iii of Ernani. The reference is to Charlemagne.
p.10, Isabella, the well-known Jockey Club flower girl: Isabella (or Isabelle) Briant (c.1835–before 1900) became famous as flower-seller to the Jockey Club in Paris.
p.10, guilder: The guilder (German: Gulden) was the currency of several south German states, including Baden, between 1754 and 1873.
p.11, Dr Sauerbengel… Pennsylvania: The name appears to be fictitious, possibly based on the German word Saubengel (“Sow boy”) a pejorative journalistic word for politicians. In the nineteenth century Pennsylvania was in the vanguard of prison reforms. Turgenev may also have had in mind the name of the hill where his new villa stood: Sauerberg.
p.11, Asiatic Journal: The full name of the journal, founded in 1816, was The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and Its Dependencies.
p.11, Vedas and Puranas: Ancient sacred Hindu texts.
p.11, Aeginetan: From Aegina, one of the Greek islands.
p.11, Onatas… Phidias: Greek sculptors of the fifth century bc. Onatas was from Aegina, Phidias from Athens.
p.11, Bastiat: Frédéric Bastiat (1801–50), French economist and politician.
p.11, Adam Smith… physiocrats: Adam Smith (1723–90) renowned Scottish social philosopher and economist, author of The Wealth of Nations (1776). His economic theories were preceded by those of the physiocrats, French economists.
p.11, Macaulay: Thomas Macaulay (1800–59), British poet, historian and politician.
p.11, Gneist: Heinrich Rudolf Hermann Friedrich von Gneist (1816–95), German jurist and politician.
p.11, Riehl: Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl (1823–97), German historian and writer of historical fiction.
p.15, Third Section: From 1825 to 1880 the Tsarist secret police force.
p.15, Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Hugely influential anti-slavery novel (1852) by the American author Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96).
p.16, Voznesensky Prospect: Major thoroughfare in Petersburg.
p.16, Mademoiselle de la Quintinie: Novel (1863) by the French writer George Sand (1804–76).
p.17, sewing machines: Sukhanchikova’s ideas on this subject derive from Nikolai Chernyshevsky’s immensely influential novel What Is t
o Be Done? (1863).
p.18, Lassalle’s method or Schulze-Delitzsch’s: Ferdinand Lassalle (1825–64), German jurist and socialist; Franz Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch (1808–83), German economist.
p.18, allocation of land: A commission of 1859 was given the task of deciding which land should be given to the peasants after the Emancipation and which should be retained by the landowners.
p.18, peasant commune: Russian obshchina or mir; ancient unit of population and taxation in the Russian countryside. Thought by some, such as Herzen and Ogarev, to be an embryonic, and uniquely Russian, socialist institution.
p.19, fires: In May 1862 fires broke out in Petersburg which were attributed by the government to the work of nihilists.
p.19, Sunday schools, reading rooms, periodicals: Following the fires, in June 1862 the government closed the Sunday schools and reading rooms, established by private individuals to promote literacy, and suspended the radical journals The Contemporary (Sovremennik) and The Russian Word (Russkoye slovo). Sunday schools are mentioned in Chapter 22 of Fathers and Children.
p.19, statutory documents: Documents intended to regulate relations between landlords and former serfs after the Emancipation.
p.19, the things that are happening in Poland: An assassination attempt on the Polish Viceroy Konstantin Nikolayevich in June 1862 further increased tensions in Poland, which culminated in open rebellion, ruthlessly crushed by the Russians. Turgenev alludes obliquely to its aftermath in Chapters 11 and 28.
p.19, arbitrator: An official appointed to mediate between peasants and landowners after the Emancipation of the Serfs in 1861.
p.19, petit jeune homme: “Little young man” (French).
p.20, Bursch: Student at a German university.
p.20, Bénazet: Oskar Édouard Bénazet (1801–67), a Frenchman, took over the running of the Baden casino from his father Jacques in 1848. His name survives in the name of a hall in the present-day casino, and in a horse race run at the local racetrack.
p.20, Garibaldi: Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–82). Major Italian political and military figure.
p.20, Draper… Greene: The names reeled off by Voroshilov refer to the following: John William Draper (1811–82), American scientist, philosopher, physician and historian; Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902), German physiologist; Nikolai Shelgunov (1824–91), Russian left-wing journalist and literary critic; Marie François Xavier Bichat (1771–1802), French anatomist and physiologist; Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–94), German physician and physicist; Adolf Stahr (1805–76), German writer and literary historian; L’udovít Štúr (1815–56), Slovak poet, politician and linguist; Alfred von Reumont (1808–87), German historian; Johannes Peter Müller (1801–58), German physiologist; Johannes von Müller (1752–1809), Swiss historian; Hippolyte Taine (1828–93), French critic and historian; Ernest Renan (1823–92), French philosopher and writer; Afanasy Shchapov (1831–76), Russian historian; Thomas Nashe (1567–c.1601), English poet and pamphleteer; George Peele (1556–96), English dramatist; Robert Greene (1558–92), English dramatist and pamphleteer.
p.21, Varlamov: A.E. Varlamov (1801–48), noted Russian composer of popular romances.
p.21, Il trovatore: opera by Giuseppe Verdi, first staged in 1853.
p.21, Iskra: An illustrated left-wing magazine published in Petersburg beween 1859 and 1873.
p.21, basta: “Enough” (Italian).
p.22, the Roman question: In August 1862 Garibaldi attempted unsuccessfully to free Rome from French occupation.
p.22, Court Councillor: Seventh of the fourteen civil-service ranks established by Peter the Great.
p.24, Yazykov: Nikolai Mikhailovich Yazykov (1800–47), Russian poet, member of the “Pushkin Pleiad”. Many of his poems reflect Slavophile ideas.
p.24, underwater telegraph: Five unsuccessful attempts to lay an underwater cable between Ireland and Newfoundland had been made since 1858. The task was finally successfully accomplished on 27th July 1866 by the SS Great Eastern.
p.24, the tax on paper: Newspaper stamp duty was abolished in England in 1855. This led to a rapid increase in newspaper circulation.
p.24, tanning rat skins: Tanned rat skins were often used to make shoes and gloves in nineteenth-century Great Britain.
p.24, Schleswig-Holstein: A notoriously complicated and prolonged diplomatic and military imbroglio between Denmark and the German Confederation. The question concerned disputed sovereignty over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. After the Prusso-Danish War of 1864 sovereignty passed to Prussia and Austria jointly and, after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, to Prussia alone.
p.25, une portion de bifteck aux pommes de terre: “A portion of steak with potatoes” (French).
p.25, Anna Deslions’s: Parisian courtesan (1838–94), at the height of her fame during the Second Empire. Known as “The Lioness of the Boulevards”.
p.26, Onufry or Akulina: A reference to two sects of Old Believers, supposedly named after their founders (see second note to p. 27).
p.26, Slavophile: A member of a nineteenth-century Russian intellectual movement, broadly nationalist in flavour. They were opposed by the “Westernizers”, who counted Turgenev among their number. Gubaryov, the arch-Slavophile in the novel, is partially based on the poet Nikolai Ogaryov who, from being a Westernizer, gradually espoused Slavophile views.
p.27, Actual State Councillor: Fourth of the fourteen civil-service ranks.
p.27, Archpriest Avvakum: Avvakum Petrovich (1620/21–82) was a Russian priest, the author of a famous autobiography detailing his persecution as the leading “Old Believer” – i.e. one who refused to accept the liturgical reforms of Patriarch Nikon (1652–58). In 1682 Avvakum was burnt at the stake for his beliefs.
p.28, Kokhanovskaya: Pseudonym of Nadezhda Stepanovna Sokhanskaya (1825–84). Writer, mainly of short stories with a strongly Slavophile flavour.
p.28, Kellner, noch ein Gläschen Kirsch: “Waiter, another glass of cherry brandy” (German).
p.28, Butenop brothers: Ivan Nikolayevich (1803–after 1881) and Nikolai Nikolayevich (1810–81). Originally from Schleswig-Holstein, the brothers established themselves with great success in Moscow and other Russian cities. Their firm made agricultural machinery, but the elder brother Ivan (Johann) branched out into clock repair and restoration.
p.29, Hegel: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), major German philosopher.
p.30, Come, rule over me and be my lord: A reference to the words supposedly addressed to the Viking Ryurik by the Slav tribes (see first note to p. 36).
p.31, la souveraineté du peuple: “The sovereignty of the people” (French).
p.31, Catullus: Gaius Valerius Catullus (c.84–c.54 bc), Roman poet. Turgenev adds his own explanatory note, citing and translating Poem no. 86: “Odi et amo. Quare id faciam, fortasse requiris? Nescio: sed fieri sentio et excrucior” (“I hate and I love. You will perhaps ask why this is so. I don’t know, but I feel it is so, and it torments me”).
p.31, Jockey Club: In the 1860s the Baden-Baden Jockey Club was run by the prestigious and highly fashionable Paris Jockey Club.
p.32, the shortcomings of the British wartime administration as revealed by the Times: William Howard Russell’s dispatches from the Crimea were instrumental in revealing the failings of the British war effort.
p.32, Marx’s: David Raphael Marx (1789–1857), bookseller and publisher. In 1824 he opened two reading rooms and a bookshop in the north wing of the newly opened Konversationshaus in Baden.
p.32, Veuillot’s: Louis François Veuillot (1813–83), French writer who specialized in religious topics.
p.33, Lichtentaler Allee: Wooded avenue laid out along the west bank of the River Oos in Baden-Baden.
p.36, crossed his path… hare: It was considered unlucky for a hare to cross your path.
p.36, Ryurik: Semi-leg
endary Scandinavian prince, invited by the Slavs to rule over them and found what became the state of Russia.
p.36, Boyars’ Duma: The Boyars’ (i.e. nobles’) Council was an advisory assembly to the Tsar, abolished in 1721.
p.36, Peter or Catherine: Peter I (r.1682–1725) and Catherine II (r.1760–96). Both monarchs are routinely given the appellation “the Great”. Catherine is also mentioned in Chapter 15.
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