{"id":871,"date":"2020-03-27T04:05:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T04:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/?p=871"},"modified":"2020-03-27T13:35:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T13:35:00","slug":"turgenevs-take-on-the-russian-peasantry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/nkhumalo\/turgenevs-take-on-the-russian-peasantry\/","title":{"rendered":"Turgenev’s Take on the Russian Peasantry"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Zhizdra Region<\/p><\/div>\n

Most of the Russian literature we have read has been dominated by glorious czars, valiant warriors, and pious monks. \u201cKhor and Kalinych\u201d, \u201cThree Deaths\u201d, and \u201cHow One Russian Peasant Fed Two Generals\u201d vividly depict the quotidian lives of Russia\u2019s more common figures and all of the shades that they occupy. In the majority of the representations of serfs that we have viewed we have seen them through a monochromatic lens: stupid comedic reliefs like in <\/span>The Snow Maiden. <\/span><\/i>In my opinion, of the three stories \u201cKhor and Kalinych\u201d best illustrates the idiosyncratic nature of the peasantry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Readers need not lay eyes on the Zhizdra region to grasp the distinction between the Orlov and Kaluga people. Turgenev\u2019s depictions of Orlov and Kaluga provinces and peoples perfectly set up the story as one that adds depth to our literary understanding of Russian serfs. He displays the hierarchical and cultural differences between the two peoples: \u201cThe Orlov peasant is a man of little stature\u2026 taking part in no trade, eating poorly and wearing bast shoes whereas the Kaluga peasant, who pays quit-rent\u2026 has a tall build\u2026 trades in grease and tar and wears boots on feast days\u201d (Turgenev 19).\u00a0 \u2018Little\u2019 and \u2018tall\u2019, \u2018taking part in no trade\u2019 and \u2018trades in grease and tar\u2019, and \u2018bast shoes\u2019 and \u2018boots\u2019 display the binaries that can exist between peasants that live in the same region. The juxtaposition of these descriptions works to enhance the differences between peasants and calls the reader to imagine what other ways that serfs may differ.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite Turgenev\u2019s progressive depiction of serfs, it is important to note that his attention to detail was reserved only for males. Sexist language is used throughout the text. Women are called \u2018stupid\u2019 and referred to as workers \u2018about the house\u2019 (26). Also, not a single female character is named. After being amazed by Turgenev\u2019s forward-looking illustrations of peasants, I was thoroughly\u00a0disappointed that he chose not to portray female peasants in the same technicolor light he gave the men.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of the Russian literature we have read has been dominated by glorious czars, valiant warriors, and pious monks. \u201cKhor and Kalinych\u201d, \u201cThree Deaths\u201d, and \u201cHow One Russian Peasant Fed Two Generals\u201d vividly depict the quotidian lives of Russia\u2019s more common figures and all of the shades that they occupy. In the majority of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1023,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unit-8-russian-revival-social-critique"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1023"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}