Fathers and Sons

The literal translation of this 1862 novel is Fathers and Children. Turgenev's young protagonists are Arkady and Bazarov, both caustic young men who reject authority and social conventions-- much to Arkady's father Nikolai's horror-- which unleashes a whole series of scandals, and misunderstandings. Readers will come to appreciate the meaning of nihilism. The novel is often studied in high school grades 9-10. Its sequel, Smoke is Turgenev's 1867 novel, a critique of social reforms undertaken by the charlatan "intellectuals" who would shape Russia's future.