Bakunin, Turgenev and Rudin

Abstract

It is virtually a commonplace that the title character of Turgenev’s novel Rudin was modelled directly on Mikhail Bakunin, and that we can learn a great deal about Bakunin by reading Rudin.¹ The purpose of this essay is to determine whether, and to what extent, that belief is justified. To be sure, the issue is of little importance for our appraisal of the novel itself, either as a literary work or as a commentary by Turgenev on the Russian intelligentsia. In neither respect does it matter whether Rudin had a specific counterpart in real life. The question of whether the novel is an illuminating portrayal of Bakunin’s inner character by an author who knew him well, however, is directly relevant to our understanding of Bakunin. What follows is an argument for rejecting the commonly accepted view of Rudin’s origins. He is by no means a portrait of Mikhail Bakunin drawn from life and cannot be used as such without seriously distorting our view of Bakunin.