Who wrote the novel 'Fathers and Sons'?

Ivan Turgenev wrote the novel Fathers and Sons. Its original Russian title, Ottsy i deti, can also be translated as Fathers and Children.

Turgenev published the novel in 1862, during a period of intense debate over Russia’s future. The story contrasts the older generation with younger radicals, especially Bazarov, a medical student who embraces nihilism and rejects many traditional authorities. His arguments with Pavel Kirsanov turn family disagreement into a wider conflict about science, politics, culture, and social change.

The novel’s title points to a generational struggle, but Turgenev does not reduce either side to a simple stereotype. Bazarov is intellectually confident and skeptical, yet his experiences reveal limits in his theories and emotional defenses. The book helped make “nihilism” a widely discussed term in Russian public life. Chekhov, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky were all important Russian writers, but none wrote this particular novel. Turgenev is also known for A Sportsman’s Sketches and the novels Rudin and On the Eve.