This is a review of Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev.

I read this book this past semester for my Russian literature class, and I really enjoyed it. I thought it would be useful to review here, because one of the central characters is a nihilist. In the novel Turgenev paints a very intriguing picture of the nihilistic life lived out by the character Bazarov. As I learned in class, when the book first came out it was rejected by the liberals because the portrayal of Bazarov was too extreme, and they did not want to be associated with his ideas. However, it was also rejected by the conservatives, because they claimed that the portrayal of nihilist attitudes was too attractive. We see this in our society today where we are oddly attracted to people who live out the implications of their philosophy, but we are scared to be extreme.

All of the relationships in the book fan outward from the basic father/son relationship between Arkady and Nikolai Kirsanov. Arkady has been idolizing the nihilist Bazarov for some time, and Bazarav has taken him as a disciple of sorts. The novel begins with Arkady bringing Bazarov home to his father for the summer while their university is out. The father, Nikolai, and his brother, Paul, are principled individuals of the old order. The conflict in the book arises from the clash between the nihilist ideas of Bazarov and Arkady and the principled ideas of Nikolai and Paul. The book contains several stimulating dialogs between Bazarov and Paul, who are the real intellectual players, while Arkady and Nikolai throw in their two cents’ worth.

I encourage people, especially Christians, to read this book, because it explores the implications of nihilism and naturalism from many different angles ranging from ennui to romance. On a broader level it is also good because it shows that whatever your worldview is, it has practical implications for how you live. So many people think up abstract philosophical systems, then live disconnected lives. Christians are just as guilty of this as atheists.

For those of you who like Russian literature, this book fits right into the tradition. Bazarov can be seen as a further extension of some of the issues explored through the character Pechorin in Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time.