Fathers and Sons (1862) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

• Yevgeny Vasil'evich Bazarov (Евгений Васильевич Базаров): The nihilist protagonist of the novel.
• Arkady Nikolaevich Kirsanov (Аркадий Николаевич Кирсанов): Yevgeny Bazarov's friend
• Nikolay Petrovich Kirsanov (Николай Петрович Кирсанов): Arkady's farther
• Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov (Павел Петрович Кирсанов): Nikolay Kirsanov's brother, Arkady's uncle
• Anna Sergeyevna Odintsova (Анна Сергеевна Одинцова): FATHERS AND SONS was the most closely studied of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev's works in the Soviet high school curriculum. An inadvertent political agenda favorite, juxtaposing two generations, "the fathers," or the fading aristocracy, and "the sons," or the new fresh blood of the middle class and the nihilists, the novel seemed a perfect vehicle for portraying the brewing unrest of the pre-revolutionary era, and introduced the character of Bazarov -- the spirited nihilist who was seen as a brilliant idealistic rebel, the new kind of perfect man who rejected the old notions of class and came to disrupt nobility's status quo. Growing up, Turgenev witnessed much class injustice in Russia, and his themes reflect his overwhelming concern with the suffering of the poor and the voiceless serfs. But FATHERS AND SONS is not merely a convenient socio-political piece; Turgenev is a lyrical romantic. At the novel's heart lies the ultimately tragic human story of Bazarov's flippant kiss of a servant girl and the bizarre tension it causes in a cozy country gentry household where he is a guest. An important period classic.
• Katya, Katerina Odintsova (Катерина Одинцова): Anna Odintsova's young sister
• Vasily Ivanovich Bazarov (Василий Иванович Базаров): Yevgeny Bazarov's farther
• Anna Vlasyevna Bazarova (Анна Власьевна Базарова): Yevgeny Bazarov's morther
• Fenechka (Фенечка): Add a description of this character.
• Sitnikov (Ситников)
• Kukshina (Кукшина)

Quotes edit see section history

• “... and as for the times, why should I be influenced by them? Rather let them be influenced by me.”

• “But the heat of noon passes, then comes evening and night, bringing a return to the peaceful haven where sweetly sleep the tired and weary...”

  Narrator

• “Vulgarity is often a welcome interlude in life. It slackens strings that are too highly strung and sobers self-confident or presumptuous feelings by a reminder of their kinship with it.”

  Narrator

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Nikolskoye

First Sentence edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Ivan Turgenev (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Fritz Eichenberg (Illustrator) - The Easton Press leatherbound edition, 1977
2. Ralph E. Matlaw (Translator)
3. Michael R. Katz (Translator)
4. Constance Garnett (Translator)
5. Isaiah Berlin (Introduction)
6. Rosemary Edmonds (Translator)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 891.733

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( T ) › Turgenev, Ivan
• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › European
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Historical
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Book Review: Fathers and Sons is a brilliant Russian novel, one of the works that helps establish that era of Russian Literature, from 1860 to 1890 as perhaps the most vibrant era in all of literary history, the era of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekov and Turgenev. I read it in the same year, 1996, when I first read The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment and several of Chekhov’s plays and stories, a year which solidified in my heart a love for that writing, for those writers, for those books. I could stop there. In some ways, I have to stop there. I remember reading the novel, remember how good I thought it was. But it’s been almost 15 years now and somehow I’ve never gotten around to re-reading it, to reminding myself of how brilliant it is (I’ve re-read the Dostoevsky because I have newer translations of them and have gone back to them while also reading them anew). But I can look at it again and be reminded of what it is. It is in many ways the first modern novel written in Russia and it was certainly the first Russian novel to be widely admired in the Western world.