Fathers and SonsWhen Fathers and Sons was first published in Russia, in 1862, it was met with a blaze of controversy about where Turgenev stood in relation to his account of generational misunderstanding. Was he criticizing the worldview of the conservative aesthete, Pavel Kirsanov, and the older generation, or that of the radical, cerebral medical student, Evgenii Bazarov, representing the younger one? The critic Dmitrii Pisarev wrote at the time that the novel "stirs the mind . . . because everything is permeated with the most complete and most touching sincerity." N. N. Strakhov, a close friend of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, praised its "profound vitality." It is this profound vitality in Turgenev's characters that carry his novel of ideas to its rightful place as a work of art and as one of the classics of Russian Literature. |
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Anna Sergeevna Arina Vlasevna aristocratic Arkadii and Bazarov Arkadii Nikolaich Arkadii replied Bazarov interrupted Bazarov remarked Bazarov replied Bazarov responded brother carriage cauterizing conversation cried dark doctor drawing room dress Duniasha elderly Evdoksia everything Evgenii Vasilich expression eyes face feeling felt Fenechka French garden gaze gentlemen German glanced goodbye gotten hair hand head heaven's sake horses inquired interjected Katia Kirsanov kissed laughed lips listen live look Marino Matvei Ilich Mitia morning Moscow mother never nihilist Nikolai Petrovich novel Oblomovism Odintsov Pauline Viardot Pavel Petrovich peasant Petersburg Petr Petrovich began princess Russian seemed serfs servant silent Sitnikov sitting Slavophile smile someone sort Sportsman's Sketches stay stood suddenly talk tell there's thing thought Timofeich told Turgenev turned understand Vasilii Ivanovich versts vich voice walked wearing What's whispered who'd who's wife woman words young