Fathers and Sons

'Of course, you cannot understand me: we belong to two different generations...'

When Arkady Petrovich comes home from college, his father finds his eager, naive son changed almost beyond recognition, for the impressionable Arkady has fallen under the powerful influence of the friend he has brought with him. A self-proclaimed nihilist, the ardent young Bazarov shocks Arkady's father by criticising the landowning way of life and by his outspoken determination to sweep away the traditional values of contemporary Russian society.

Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883), a Russian novelist, was brought up on the family estate in Oryol province. After a university education and a short time in the civil service he achieved his first popular success as a writer with A Sportman's Sketches.

David Horovitch trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He works extensively in the theatre and has made numerous TV appearances, including The Young Victoria, Casualty 1907, Cassandra's Dream...

Daily Telegraph

Turgenev's eye for absurdity, irony and pathos...is emphasized in this superb reading.

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883) was the first Russian writer to gain a wide reputation in Europe. He wrote many novels, plays, short stories, and novellas, of which First Love (1860) is the most famous.

Peter Carson learned Russian during National Service in the Navy, and at home-his mother's family left Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution.

Rosamund Bartlett lectures on Russian and music at the University of Durham.

Tatiana Tolstaya is co-host of the Russian television show The School for Scandal and the author of the novel The Slynx/Kys as well as several short story collections.