Fathers and Sons
The original generational conflict novel. A nihilist son returns home and clashes with his liberal father in 1860s Russia. The word "nihilism" entered common use from this 1862 book. Turgenev meant Bazarov as a critique; young Russians adopted him as a hero. The author lost control of his own creation, which is its own kind of literary achievement.
Turgenev cannot decide what he thinks of Bazarov, so a plot contrivance decides for him, resolving by circumstance the ideological standoff the novel exists to stage. The Odintsova romance defuses the nihilism rather than testing it, Arkady fades into a contented landowner, and the epilogue pours sentiment over everything the book had kept admirably dry.
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
