Fathers and Sons centers on Arkady Kirsanov, a university graduate who returns to his family’s estate in 1859 accompanied by his radical friend Evgeny Bazarov. Bazarov, a medical student and self-proclaimed nihilist, rejects all traditional values, authorities, and romantic sentiments in favor of scientific materialism and rational skepticism. His presence creates immediate tension with Arkady’s father Nikolai, a gentle landowner, and particularly with his uncle Pavel, an aristocratic anglophile who represents the older generation’s refined sensibilities.

The novel explores the ideological clash between the liberal idealism of the 1840s generation and the revolutionary nihilism emerging in the 1860s. As the story unfolds, both Arkady and Bazarov face challenges to their beliefs through romantic entanglements—Arkady with Katya and Bazarov with the enigmatic widow Anna Odintsova—that test the nihilist rejection of emotion and sentiment.

Published in 1862, the novel introduced the term “nihilist” into political discourse and sparked fierce debate in Russian society. Turgenev was attacked by both conservatives, who saw him as promoting dangerous radicalism, and progressives, who felt he had caricatured their movement. The work remains a masterful portrait of generational conflict and social change in pre-revolutionary Russia, examining how political ideologies shape personal relationships and individual destinies.