Henry de Overwood
Major General Khvalynsky and the Russian forests. (Nikolai Gogol 'Oldlifestyle Landowners' and Ivan Turgenev 'Two Landowners'). An essay
Аннотация: MMMDCLXXVII. Major General Khvalynsky and the Russian forests. (Nikolai Gogol 'OldLifeStyle Landowners' and Ivan Turgenev 'Two Landowners'). An essay. - July 12, 2025.
Major General Khvalynsky and the Russian forests. (Nikolai Gogol 'OldLifeStyle Landowners' and Ivan Turgenev 'Two Landowners'). An essay.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol wrote the story "OldLifeStyle Landowners" ('Старосветские помещики') ('Old-Fashioned Farmers') in 1835. (In the same year, 1835, the story was published).
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev wrote the story "Two Landowners" ('Два помещика') in 1847 (this story was published in 1852).
One of the details ("OldLifeStyle Landowners") that interested me was the fate of the forests belonging to the main characters of the story.
The forests were actively exploited by the clerk (the steward) and the village elder (the headman), and the hundred-year-old oaks (stout oaks) were sold for logging (for beams). Dear "oldlifestyle landowners" Afanasii Ivanovich and Pulcheria Ivanovna were not able to control the condition of their own forests and their exploitation.
According to the biography, in 1850 Ivan Turgenev's mother Varvara Petrovna Turgeneva (née Lutovinova; 1787-1850) died, Ivan Turgenev - along his brother - they entered the inheritance.
In 1850-1852, Ivan Turgenev saw Nikolai Gogol.
The living abroad required a certain financial resources; it is not known when the sale of forests belonging to the Lutovinovs-Turgenevs began.
In the story by Ivan Turgenev "Two Landowners" (1847, 1852), a character appears - Major General Vyacheslav Illarionovich Khvalynsky. (The 'first landowner' - in this story).
If a comic note in the story by Nikolai Gogol "OldLifeStyle Landowners" sounds in the background (in the fifth-distant level), then in relation to General Khvalynsky, the comic approach comes to the fore.
General Khvalynsky, if to put aside the comic details, looks like a rather conspiratorial figure (a person in an atmosphere of secrecy).
He avoids unnecessary conversations so as not to hear unnecessary questions and not to respond to "slippery" statements.
He communicates minimally and at a distance with both higher and equals in status. He prefers to deal with those who are below him on the hierarchical ladder. This gives him the opportunity to conduct conversations in a way that is convenient for him.
It is clear that he is retired. But what did he do during the period of his service? He was an adjutant (aide-de-camp)? But if he was an adjutant, then under the authority of which person? - There is no clarity on this issue.
Nevertheless, despite the lack of information, a mocking rumor is circulating in the local (provincial, governorate) "society" about the activities of General Khvalynsky during his service. This rumor is briefly retold in the story "Two Landowners."
It is not known what kind of education he has. The General Khvalynsky's (briefly) reading of the Journal des Débats is mentioned in the story. (Journal des Débats Politiques et Littéraires - an influential French conservative newspaper of the 19th and 20th centuries. It was published in Paris from 1789 to 1944.).
General Khvalynsky "moves in society," but he practically does not receive guests (in his house). He evades the occupation of high-level elected noble's positions ("...I am very grateful you for the honor; but I have decided to devote my leisure time to solitude.").. He's economical. - He tries to live economically.
He plays cards, but without a noticeable losses, with a some practical benefits.
Practically nothing is known about his economic activity as a landowner. What kind of estate does he have? - It is not clear.
There is a minimum of neutral information about General Khvalynsky's relationship with (serf) servants. He doesn't seem to be harassing anyone, nobody subjecting to any significant punishments.
If the story by Nikolai Gogol "OldLifeStyle landowners" ends with a sad, tragic mood, then Ivan Turgenev's description of General Khvalynsky does not have any outcome.
From General Khvalynsky, Ivan Turgenev passes to the "second landowner" - Mardari Apollonich Stegunov.
It is known that the 'second landowner' has "five hundred souls" (five hundred serfs.) His house is of ancient construction, "there are thirty different-sized horses in Mardari Apollonich's stable." "Mardari Apollonovich has a lot of people [that is, servants], and everyone of them is dressed in the old-fashioned way: in long blue caftans with high collars, trousers of cloudy color and short yellowish waistcoats."
The story describes the tyranny of Mardari Apollonovich (his pleasure of his own foolishness - of his own power); as well as the punishment of a serf (a flogging of the serf at the stable).
There is no mention of forests, either in the description of General Khvalynsky or in the story about Mardari Apollonich Stegunov. (Ivan Turgenev mentions "trees" in the narration about the "second landowner": "The huts are assigned to the peasants, nasty, cramped; you won't see any trees around; there's not even a plants; there's only one well, and even that one is not good."
So, neither General Khvalynsky nor Mardari Stegunov - if we follow the text of the "Two Landowners" - were noticeably connected with Russian forests.
In some biographies of Ivan Turgenev, there are extremely brief mentions of timber (forests) sales - such transactions were less hectic and more profitable when compared with trade in wheat or other agricultural products.
"Since 1874, the famous bachelor dinners of the five - Flaubert, Edmond Goncourt, Daudet, Zola and Turgenev - have been held in Parisian restaurants of Rich or Pelle. The idea belonged to Flaubert, but Turgenev was given the main role in them. The dinners were held once a month. They raised various topics - about the peculiarities of literature, about the structure of the French language, told stories and just enjoyed delicious food. Dinners were held not only at Parisian restaurants, but also at the homes of the writers."
Turgenev married his daughter to a Frenchman, giving her a good dowry of 150,000 francs (mid-19th century). However, the French husband went broke (went bankrupt) and started drinking (started to drink alcohol excessively).
The income from the sale of Russian forests did not have a noticeable positive effect.
The minutiae of life were absorbed by a flow of a history. There remained "the great, powerful, truthful and free Russian language!.." (mighty, true, free Russian speech!) But! "how can you not despair at the sight of everything that is happening at home?" (how not fall into despair, seeing all that is done at home?) (THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE, the Poem in Prose by Ivan Turgenev, 1882).
Everything is transitory, but an art is eternal.
July 12, 2025 12:58 (12:58 p.m.)
Translation from Russian into English: July 12, 2025 18:50
Владимир Владимирович Залесский ' Генерал-майор Хвалынский и российский лес. (Н.В. Гоголь 'Старосветские помещики' и И.С. Тургенев 'Два помещика'). Очерк. '.
{3706. Генерал-майор Хвалынский и российский лес. (Н.В. Гоголь 'Старосветские помещики' и И.С. Тургенев 'Два помещика'). Очерк. - 12 июля 2025 г.
MMMDCLXXVII. Major General Khvalynsky and the Russian forests. (Nikolai Gogol 'OldLifeStyle Landowners' and Ivan Turgenev 'Two Landowners'). An essay. - July 12, 2025.
Vladimir Zalessky Internet-bibliotheca. Интернет-библиотека Владимира Залесского}