The fundamental ideas of the novel, according to Russian critics, are as follows: The thirst for enjoyment, the thirst for personal happiness, is deceptive; it not only does not give happiness, but it cannot even furnish stable support for life. Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( 1818 – 1883) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, translator and popularizer of Russian literature in the West. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches (1852), was a milestone of Russian realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons (1862) is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century fiction.