Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
In The Big Lebowski, when the Dude sees a man floating in the pool, the Big Lebowski's wife, Bunny, tells him that the man is a nihilist. The Dude's comment: "That looks exhausting." Well, it was Turgenev that first popularized this term.
When Fathers and Sons was released in 1862, Turgenev got criticism big-time from both sides. The problem was that no one knew if he supported the younger radicals or the older conservatives. It seems that Turgenev himself wasn't even sure. (Source: Edmonds, Rosemary. "Introduction." Fathers and Sons.)
Turgenev claimed that, when he wrote Bazarov's death scene, he himself wept because he had become so attached to his character. (Source: Isaiah Berlin's "1970 Romanes Lecture")