Fathers and Children: Introduction by John Bayley

One of the grestest of the classic Russian novels, this universal tale of generational conflict is set at a moment of historic social upheaval, just before the emancipation of the serfs in 1861.

When Arkady Kirsanov returns home from university, his father and uncle find to their bafflement and dismay that the naive and impressionable young man has come under the sway of the charismatic new friend he brings with him. A fervent nihilist, Yevgeny Bazarov passionately rejects traditional value...