Russian · 1818–1883
Turgenev introduced Russian literature to Western Europe and shaped the modern novel's treatment of generational conflict. His Sportsman's Sketches, portraying serfs as fully human, influenced Alexander II's decision to emancipate them. Fathers and Sons coined the term "nihilist" and captured the rift between liberal fathers of the 1840s and radical sons of the 1860s. Living mostly in Paris near his great love, the singer Pauline Viardot, he served as ambassador for Russian culture to the West, befriending Flaubert, James, and Maupassant. His lyrical prose, psychological precision, and tragic vision influenced Chekhov, Hemingway, and generations of short story writers.