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The Talnikov Family
by
Avdotya Panaeva
general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author
| Title: | The Talnikov Family |
| Author: | Avdotya Panaeva |
| Genre: | Novel |
| Written: | (1848) (Eng. 2024) |
| Length: | 173 pages |
| Original in: | Russian |
| Availability: | The Talnikov Family - US |
| The Talnikov Family - UK | |
| The Talnikov Family - Canada | |
| from: Bookshop.org (US) |
- Russian title: Семейство Тальниковых
- Translated and with an Introduction by Fiona Bell
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Our Assessment:
B : lively not-so-happy-family portrait
See our review for fuller assessment.
| Source | Rating | Date | Reviewer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harper's | . | 12/2024 | Dan Piepenbring |
| TLS | . | 1/11/2024 | Barbara Heldt |
From the Reviews:
- "That’s the plot: a portrait of drudgery so complete that it reads almost like a satire of Russian literature, what with all the drinking of jugs of kvass, whipping and being whipped, eating bread soaked in tears, etc. (...) Her narration is effortless, almost effervescently negative, and her story ends with a marriage that feels like a prison break. Some of Panaeva’s sentences read like hidden messages in an old dollhouse, or Jenny Holzer billboards" - Dan Piepenbring, Harper's
- "Her chilling short novel The Talnikov Family strikes a balance between fiction and autobiography through an episodic plot that alternates between rage, revenge and stoic humour. (...) A few passages are brilliantly narrated. (...) Bell's introduction contextualizes Panaeva with reference to her contemporaries and begs the reader not to be put off by her style, which she has rightly preserved in all its repetitiveness." - Barbara Heldt, Times Literary Supplement
Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.
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The complete review's Review:
The Talnikov Family is a family-account presented as a manuscript Found Posthumously among a Woman's Papers, but only a brief novel-concluding paragraph acknowledges this, the author/editor explaining: "Here ends the manuscript that chanced to fall into my hands".
The novel itself is narrated by Natasha, and is a recollection of her childhood -- "at the hands of parents who are negligent and morally bereft", as that concluding note also sums up.
Natasha is one of many children in the Talnikov household, the opening passages already clearly setting the stage for what kind of family this is as Natasha recalls the death of her six-month-old sister, noting that:
At first, death made a strong impression on me, but given the complete indifference of those around me, and the absence of my father and mother, I concluded that death was not an important thing.Indeed, for the most part, the parents barely seem to bother to keep track of how many kids they have, or much about them (but then the exact number at any given time -- half a dozen, at least -- seems hard to pinpoint, and Natasha herself doesn't even bother telling us most of their names). An amusing scene has someone at one point asking the mother how old daughter Natasha is, but: "Mama was confused. Always lying about her own age, she had completely lost count of her children's". (Taking a stab: "Ten, I think," she answered -- incorrectly, since I was already twelve".)
If not ignoring the kids, the adults (often arbitrarily) lash out at them, as:
We were subjected to all sorts of punishments, indiscriminately and without bounds. Sunday was a day of massacre in our house. The innocents were punished in anticipation of their future crimes.The children are generally left to be supervised by an aunt or a governess -- fully on board with the parents' programme or even exacerbating it, as: from the moment the governess: "took us on, children's laughter died out in the house", Natasha reports. Natasha does like being around her loving grandmother, but otherwise the family is pretty nightmarish. The large brood of kids are also a handful, but in this environment of arbitrariness it's not surprising that they act out when they can -- with Natasha introduced to the governess with the warning that: "She's practically a boy, even plays with them. And how lazy she is ! She bursts into tears at the mere sight of a book !"
Constantly either denigrated or ignored by the adults in the household, Natasha lacks some self-confidence, manifesting itself most obviously when she is being courted, it being hard for her to imagine anyone could be interested in her. At least she then has hopes for a different life when she becomes engaged -- as amusingly made clear when her mother wishes her well:
Mama answered tragically, "Well then, it's all settled now ! I hope that you may live together as happily as your mother and father."The Talnikov Family has a compact, somewhat rushed feel, more episodic than expansive, with Natasha sharing small scenes from her and her family's life rather than slowly building up a family portrait. In some ways, such presentation fits with the haphazard ways prevailing in the household -- and the strength of many of Natasha's impressions do make for a powerful narrative which, even as the adults' behavior is often outrageous, is not simply downbeat.
I couldn't help whispering, "God forbid !"
There are some very fine passages -- including Natasha's observations after the death of her hot-headed older brother on the front, news of which deeply affects even her parents, concluding with her noting, however, that:
After a while, no one spoke of Misha. Only sometimes I dreamed that he was alive and I was glad. We would talk, but then suddenly he would turn pale and leave me, saying, "Time to go to the grave." Then I would stare intently at his face, but instead of my brother I'd be looking at a hideous dead man.Much in The Talnikov Family is rushed -- not least Natasha being swept off her feet and getting engaged -- but Panaeva shows considerable talent here (and was, as translator Fiona Bell's Introduction makes clear, a remarkable figure in the Russian literary world of her day). It may not have the satisfying fill readers might be used to or expect from a nineteenth century novel but it does offer quite a bit, including a fascinating picture of an example of Russian (family) life of the times. Tolstoy observes in the opening of Anna Karenina that: 'every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way', and Panaeva certainly pokes deep and well into the Talnikov family's specific and quite remarkable unhappiness.
- M.A.Orthofer, 24 September 2024
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The Talnikov Family:
- Columbia University Press publicity page
- Q & A with translator Fiona Bell at the Columbia University Press blog
- Q & A with Bell at the Yale News
- See Index of literature from Russia
- See Index of Books Written Before 1900
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Russian author Avdotya Panaeva (Авдотья Яковлевна Панаева) lived 1820 to 1893.
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© 2024 the complete review
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