The author explicates the concepts of nihilism and the meaning of life as they have been presented by Ivan Turgenev in his masterpiece Fathers and Sons. She examines in detail the question whether Bazarov’s attitude, the novel’s main protagonist’s, challenges traditional ways of living and points to a deeper and more objective meaning of life, or whether his challenge is intended as an attempt to eliminate all prospect of objective meaning attributable to life, and leaves only one viable option, namely that life must be interpreted in purely subjective terms. Relying on her own analysis of Bazarov’s existential outlook, the author contrasts his qualms with the outlook of the main protagonist of the short story Rudin, which shows a man of a completely different character from Bazarov’s. These two incompatible conceptions of life adopted by entirely different characters evoke a somber image of Russian nihilism and help to illuminate ethical assumptions and practical implications of that attitude.