Fathers and Sons

"I do not share anyone's opinions, I have my own..." This is the credo of the medical student Yevgeny Bazarov - the main character of the most famous novel by I.S. Turgenev. Bazarov considers himself a nihilist, rejecting all ideals and values. But why did the author himself call such a strong personality, with a clear and logical mind, a "tragic figure"?

Some contemporaries of I.S. Turgenev saw in Bazarov a caricature of the "new man," while others saw him as an ideal to emulate. Yet, this image left no one indifferent. And, surprisingly, the hero remains interesting to modern readers. Indeed, although the historical context of the novel has faded into the past, the conflict of "fathers" and "children" remains relevant at all times.

The artist Ekaterina Babok has seen this conflict in her own way. Her delicate and lyrical illustrations seem to soften the heated debates between the "liberal fathers" and the "revolutionary children" and add a special poetic hue to the most discussed novel of the 1860s.