Yevgeny Bazarov

fictional character

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Yevgeny Bazarov, fictional character, a young physician whose actions and philosophy are the focus of the novel Fathers and Sons (1862) by Ivan Turgenev. Bazarov is rude, sarcastic, and strident in his profession of faith in nothing but science. He calls himself a nihilist and rejects all traditional institutions and forms of authority. His death at the end of the novel has been interpreted in various ways by different critics, including those who see it as Turgenev’s rejection of the philosophy of nihilism.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.