Ivan Turgenev was a prominent Russian writer in the nineteenth century. Turgenev contributed heavily to Russian Realism with classics such as Fathers and Sons and A Sportsman's Sketches. Fathers and Sons, published in 1862, is a novel that follows the life of Arkady, a young college graduate, who returns to his father's small estate in Russia. Arkady's father welcomes him and his friend but quickly learns just how different his son's beliefs are from his. Fathers and Sons is considered by many to be one of the finest novels in the nineteenth century.