Heated dispute sparked by a discussion about Turgenev’s illegitimate daughter

About six years after meeting for the first time in 1855, Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy have a particularly heated dispute sparked by a discussion about Turgenev’s illegitimate daughter. From the outset the two Russian men of letters have a close yet tempestuous relationship. Their constant bickering ends with a dramatic blow-up centred on Turgenev’s illegitimate daughter Paulinette. At the time, Paulinette and her English governess are living in the Paris home of the Spanish mezzo-soprano and composer Pauline Viardot, a married woman with whom Turgenev has a long-standing relationship. Turgenev tells Tolstoy and others present that, as part of her education, the girl is encouraged to assist poor people in her neighbourhood by visiting, donating money and doing their mending. There is already tension in the air because Tolstoy, a few days earlier, had shown little interest in Turgenev’s newly completed novel, Fathers and Sons. On hearing how Paulinette was being made to appreciate the problems of the poverty-stricken Tolstoy tells the older writer: “I think ... that a little girl sitting in fancy dress with dirty, foul-smelling rags on her knees is putting on a hypocritical, theatrical farce.” Turgenev storms out. That night by letter Tolstoy demands a formal apology and, although Turgenev accepts blame and complies, his reply does not reach Tolstoy. More waylaid letters and miscommunications follow over the next eight months. They take it in turns to accept responsibility and apologise, and each challenges the other to a duel. Several times Turgenev acknowledges the reality: trying to maintain their friendship is hopeless because they are just too different. They do not face each other pistols drawn but the relationship is severed. It is worth noting that Tolstoy doesn’t acknowledge that he does nothing for his illegitimate son, then three years old.