Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Under Western Eyes - post III

Once chance encounter with Haladin, who has identified Razumov as being a like-minded friend, leads to his life being ruined and identification with the revolutionary movement that leads to him traveling to Stuttgart and getting a mission that takes him to Geneva.

Bullet points between pages 114 - 168

* There are two important meetings in the space of a few pages with Haldin’s sister meeting Razumov with both showing signs of emotion barely able to share a word with her mistaking it for the deep emotion of a friend

* Then Razumov meets the narrator and is so rude to him that it becomes clear he is angry with the consequences of his association with Haladin and ends up describing the involvement with it all as a curse

* He then disappears from view for a while but after keeping away for a long time goes to visit the revolutionary leader Peter Ivanovitch at the house of the feminist millionaire who is supporting him

* Razumov sits there and listens to her moaning on about the Tsar and the dukes who have fleeced her of her money and then makes a play of being a dedicated revolutionary to Ivanovitch and urges him to stop prevaricating and inspire some action

* Ivanovitch urges him to bring Haladin’s sister to the house but as Razumov leaves the maid warns him against bringing her and tells him that she trusts him and will follow him anywhere and help him with his mission

Quite what will become of Razumov who believes that the revolutionary activity is immoral is not quite clear and will he finally settle accounts with the Haladin family? Maybe some answers will come tomorrow…