Fathers and Sons

"Fathers and Sons" is a famous novel by Turgenev that has become arguably the most significant work in history concerning the relationship between generations. The disputes between the protagonist Yevgeny Bazarov, who calls himself a nihilist and rejects conventional ideas about life, art, morality, and human nature, and his antagonist Pavel Kirsanov, an aristocrat to the core, form the central conflict of the novel. However, the plot is built more around Bazarov’s own inner conflict. The hero, who had just been rejecting everything and everyone, who did not believe in love and laughed at his friend for being capable of tender feelings, suddenly falls passionately and fervently in love himself. And everything is suddenly turned upside down — Bazarov is unable to cope with love, and it proves stronger than his most steadfast convictions.