I dont know why I expect happy endings from russian authors anymore

Na prvi pogled možda malo suviše naivna, ali zar nije prva ljubav baš takva?

16-godišnji narator u ovoj noveli na 120-ak strana vraća film i priča o prvom zaljubljivanju, u 5 godina stariju kneginjicu. Od prvog susreta i ljubavi na prvi pogled, do produbljivanja zaljubljenosti, ljubomore, razočarenja i pokušaja da se nametne nekome, ko je ipak jedna generacija iznad njegove. Iako izgleda kao pripovest namenjena deci, Turgenjev svoj direktan stil koristi veoma spretno, tako da sam se često uhvatio kako mi se vraćaju osećanja iz tog doba.

Najbolji opis mladalačke zaljubljenost i dalje mi ostaje onaj iz Jadnika, ali Prva ljubav mu je jako jako blizu.

Ik ben heel blij dat ik dit gekozen heb uit de keuzestress-verhogende berg Russische literatuur. Heel mooi!

Sensitive. Romantic. Sincere.
Imaginative story. Cleverly told.
A must for anyone who likes to read.

یه رمان عاشقانه مسخره و اعصاب خرد کن! من قسم خورده بودم هیچ وقت عاشقانه نخونم ولی بخاطر قطع نشدن رشته کتبی که قراره همه با alter ego در رابطه باشن کوتاه اومدم و اینو خوندم و الان خیلی عصبانیم!

“I burnt as in a fire in her presence ... but what did I care to know what the fire was in which I burned and melted--it was enough that it was sweet to burn and melt.”



In Ivan Turgenev's novella, First Love, a much older Vladimir Petrovich recounts the first love that has haunted him into later life. As a sixteen-year old, he is obsessed with an older woman, Zinaida, who holds court with a drawing room full of suitors. This infatuation moves him to question the nature of love, sacrifice and passion. However, as a lens to understand the object of his obsession, it falls remarkably short. Late in the book, she tells him, "I am not what you imagine me."

Vladimir refuses to recognize any failure of understanding. "Whatever you did, however you tormented me, I should love and adore you until the end of my days." Despite what he sees as Zinaida's betrayal, he can't come to grips with the final image of his love. What did this image say about the childish love he had bestowed on her? Years later, he seeks her out one more time. Very solid story.

“My son,' he wrote to me, 'fear the love of woman; fear that bliss, that poison....”

“And now, when the shades of evening begin to steal over my life, what have I left fresher, more precious, than the memories of the storm—so soon over—of early morning, of spring?”

I was impressed with my first novella by Ivan Turgenev in this tender depiction of first love. It seems to me that he wrote as it were from his own youthful experience of love, as the protagonist’s heady exhilaration and inevitable scarring felt all too real and tangible.

Summer 1833. Vladimir Petrovich, a 16-year-old Russian youth, was exploring the countryside at his family’s manor house, daydreaming, and fancying himself a knight. His carefree days came to an abrupt end when a royal family that had fallen on hard times took up residence in a dilapidated lodge nearby. Vladimir was smitten by the tall and slender 21-year-old Princess Zinaida. In that first encounter, she was observed in the garden slapping four young men on their foreheads with flowers. Not a good first impression, won’t you say? And yet, Vladimir worshipped her.

Zinaida was haughty and teasing like Dickens’ Estella. She knew her power over this naive, lovelorn youth. As one of her suitors rightly pointed out to her, “Caprice and irresponsibility… Those two words sum you up.” Poor Vladimir. Love is a lavish emotion and lavish too is the suffering of young love. Zinaida too was in love, but who with? She had no want of admirers.

First Love is a psychologically perceptive novella written in language that is lush and fittingly intoxicating. It makes a great introduction to Ivan Turgenev.

I was led to this novella by Glenn's enticing review. Read it here:
Glenn's review

Thank you, Glenn.

n  "I? Believe me, Zinaida Alexandrovna, whatever you did, however you tormented me, I should love and adore you to the end of my days."n

This novella is about a 16-y/o Russian boy, Vladimir Petrovich of a rich family falling in love for the first time. The object of his affection is a 21-y/o princess, Zinaida Alexandrovna who has just moved to Vladimir's neighborhood. Zinaida's family used to be rich but her father squandered everything because of his vices. Zinaida is beautiful so she has many suitors that she entertains and flirts with all of them. Zinaida thinks that Vladimir is still a boy and so she does not reciprocate his feelings for her.

The story is narrated by the 40-y/o graying Vladimir to his two male friends inside the dinner room of one of his friends' house. Turgenev did not explain why the three middle-aged men are telling the stories of their first loves. It is clear that they are not drunk because the old Vladimir even refuses to orally deliver his story. He chooses to write it first and they reconvene after two weeks for him to read what he has wrote to the two eager listeners. I liked the use of the frame story but I thought that middle-aged men who are not drunk would not normally discuss about their past loves. Past sex partners maybe because we normally boast about our sexual escapades but not unrequited sad love stories. Or maybe they are latent homosexuals? There is also no explanation where are their wives and I got the impression that they dine regularly. Dine? Men normally drink and not dine together. Or maybe dine and drink but not dine only unless they talk about business and one of them does not drink for health or religious reason. Oh no, but the homosexual angle is a bit pushing too far. My point is that Turgenev should have explained more the circumstances why the three stooges are talking about their first loves. Or maybe it was Valentine's Day and they'd like to reminisce their first loves? But not when they are not drunk, right? Otherwise, it is too cheesy and mushy for men to talk after dinner.

But this book is still okay with me. I liked Turgenev's prose. Very appropriate for Valentine's Day (today, Feb 14, 2013). I also liked the twist in the end. I saw that coming because of the way Zinaida first looked at Vladimir's father. but I did not see the possibility that Zinaida is a masochist.. That scene really made the ending very interesting for me.

It's a good book especially as an introduction to Ivan Turgenev. I have three of his other books: two full-length novels, Spring Torrents and A Lear of the Steppes and one memoir, Fathers and Sons and I look forward to reading them soon.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

‘I didn’t want to know whether I was loved, and I didn’t want to admit to myself that I was not’

Turguéniev conta histórias simples que de simples nada têm.

Je crois que la littérature russe devient ma comfort zone (tortured mind be like

First Love is the absorbing, painfully candid account of 16-year-old Vladimir’s young, idealistic passion for his next-door-neighbour, a capricious 21-year-old named Zinaida, who, alas, is in love with someone else.

I read Turgenev’s Fathers And Sons years ago, and forgot what an elegant and psychologically penetrating writer he was. The Russian author said this was one of his most autobiographical works, and it shows. It’s there in Vladimir’s loathing of Zinaida’s other suitors and his roiling, turbulent emotions. Reading his words, I can practically feel the acne on my skin from my teen years. (Oh youth!)

Zinada is a fascinating figure – there’s more than a touch of Great Expectations’s Estella about her, although that book would come out a year later, in 1861 – and you’re left to interpret her motivations from what we’re given of Vladimir’s (albeit limited) account of her actions.

This slim book – a novella, really – is less shocking than it would have been to a 19th century reader, and it’s pretty easy to figure out who Zinaida’s lover is. But it’s evocative enough to make me want to read more Turgenev, or some of his Russian colleagues. After all, I live in Canada, another cold climate, and winter is coming.