Fathers and Sons: The 1862 Russian Literary Classic (Annotated)

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An Essential Literary Classic by Ivan Turgenev

Fathers and Sons by Russian author Ivan Turgenev is a book of literary fiction first published in 1862. This edition features the 1921 English translation by C. J. Hogarth.

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‘By the way, since I mentioned the word happiness...Tell me, why is it that when we are enjoying something, music for instance, a fine evening, conversation with people who are sympathetic to us; why is it that all this seems to be a foretaste of some joy without measure which exists somewhere apart and beyond, rather than real happiness, that is a happiness which is actually within our grasp? Why should this be? Or are you, perhaps, not visited by such feelings?’

Synopsis

Arkady Petrovich’s father finds his earnest, idealistic son almost completely transformed when he returns home from college, and it becomes clear that the impressionable Arkady has been deeply influenced by the radical views of the companion he has brought with him to the family estate, Marino. The passionate young Bazarov, a self-described nihilist, stuns Arkady's father with his attacks on the landowner's provincial lifestyle and his resolve to topple the conventional foundations of contemporary culture.

Fathers and Sons is Ivan Turgenev's masterwork, vividly expressing the aspirations anxieties, regrets, and dreams of a changing Russia in the middle of the nineteenth century. A powerful portrayal of the confrontation between generations and class values, and a nod to the coming revolution, the novel is regarded as one of the great works of classic literarature.

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