Ivan Turgenev, Ottsy i deti [Fathers and Children; Fathers and Sons]

Richard Peace (University of Bristol)
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Ottsy i deti

[

Fathers and Children

, or

Fathers and Sons

] was first published in 1862, during a period of great reform in Russia and the emergence of a new radical force: a more strident younger generation led by such figures as Chernyshevsky, Dobroliubov and Pisarev. The idea for the novel appears to have originated in 1860, while Turgenev was staying on the Isle of Wight, and – according to the author himself – Bazarov, his chief protagonist, was inspired by a meeting with a young, unnamed (and unidentified) provincial doctor, who had subsequently died. Young radicals, however, saw Bazarov as a polemical portrait of their hero Dobroliubov, who had also died recently at a young age.

The plot moves between various country estates with a short episode in a provincial town. It opens with

2935 words

Citation: Peace, Richard. "Ottsy i deti". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 November 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11252, accessed 09 December 2024.]

11252 Ottsy i deti 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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