Will Gillettes's Blog

It was only a matter of time before my love of 19th century Russian literature lead to me to read Ivan Turgenev. Honestly, even while reading Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, I haven’t heard of Turgenev. Father and Sons caught my eye because the title interested me; I think the psychology of a family relationship is fascinating, especially between a father and his son. And after discovering who Turgenev was, I was excited to read his most famous novel.

While and me and my father have a close relationship, the generational gap between us sometimes acts as a barrier in our mutual understanding. I think we have a close bond where we can work around this “gap” easily, but there is still some struggle to communicate unique issues that we face as we belong in different generations. I also shrug away at strong emotion from my family, much like Bazarov does with his family. But the way this novel explores this relationship has made me seen mine different. I learned that the generational gap is never going to go away, but there are ways to make it less of an obstacle. We need to learnt to realize that arguing over different values is futile, especially with ones that don’t really affect one another. We need to understand that even though one can be family, they can be very different and thats fine. In this, we can also help understand our emotion towards family. We shouldn’t be afraid to show it if we mean it, for we never know what more happen. In addition, this emotion shouldn’t be seen as an act of weakness, but as an act of strength.

This novel also explores other philosophical questions, like contrasting emotions and happiness. Arkady, the protagonist, often struggles with his thoughts and views. He once considered himself a nihilist, but learns that nihilism is not the answer to his life. Through this, I learned that philosophy is abstract and fluid. We shouldn’t be afraid to enjoy something, even if it goes against our “philosophy”. We should be more concerned about what makes us happy rather than get caught up in labels. We can also apply this understanding to our position in life. We shouldn’t get caught up in how much progress we made, as long as we have enjoyed the process. Bazarov’s father has a simple life, but finds pleasure in it, and that’s what truly matters.

Alfred Kazin’s A Walker in The City was one of the first books in recent years that I bought spontaneously. I was intrigued by the title and summary as I love New York City, and wanted to read something I chose myself. What I ended up choosing was one of the most beautifully written book ever!

The way Kazin writes created such vivid and fruitful pictures and thoughts in my head, is truly spectacular. He squeezes color and life out of even the most basic of things within his experiences of walking down a city street. The way he can recall how all of his senses were provoked produced the same experience for me just by reading his recollections. His use of language and imagery is beyond any writer I have read, and it flows so smooth. It creates lyrics rather than sentences. He really shows how he feels rather than tell it, and this alone arouses sensations from my sense that have not arisen from reading before.

While Kazin’s use of language and imagery is more than enough to read this book, I found this autobiography fascinating. I find Kazin to be relatable, but his experience as a Jew in Brownsville opened up my eyes to life there. His take and views on this life aren’t held back, and he delivers raw emotion which really evoked similar feelings he faces. Through his journey of finding himself, he helps the reader to do the same. But because of his beautiful storytelling he helps us bloom more naturally.

While reading this novel, I saw a quote from Tremaine Emory, founder of Denim Tears (streetwear fashion label), that encompasses his love for Fyodor Dostoevsky. Emory is inspired by Dostoevsky because of how he isn’t afraid to show the madness of people, say what many are afraid to say, but most importantly that humans share similar these contemplative, dark, morbid emotions and experiences but we often overlook that fellow men experience this. The fact that Emory loves Dostoevsky shocked me proves that I often judge and get too wrapped up in my head. And I think My Brothers Karamazov shares invaluable lesson on this.

You already I am a huge fan of Dostoevsky and his unique Russian style, which he exemplifies perfectly in this novel, but I won’t talk much about that in this discussion. I will talk about how it has moved me. As I said early, Dostoevsky’s characters are the most human ever, and this is the case in this novel. But the most important and moving aspects of his characters in this novel is how they view other characters. The three brothers themselves are all very different, a monk, conceited graduate, and a sensualist. They way they interact is beautiful to read, and really challenges how I thought about myself and others.

Judgement is something I struggle with, and it is explored like no other novel. The way Ivan and his Inquisitor view the world as pathetic is not something I particularly agree with, but I often sometimes lose faith in humanity. This has changed with Emory’s quotes as seen above but also with Dostoevsky’s view religion. I’ve always though about religion as a materialistic manual for life, but through this novel I realized that at the core it is not it’s intention. It’s about compassion, love, and most importantly: faith through one’s own conclusion without temptation. Every interaction and scene discusses these reflective and important questions that we all struggle to answer, but Dostoevsky pushes us ourselves to try out best ourselves.