The article deals with A. M. Volkov’s satirical and polemical reception of the plots of I. S. Turgenev’s novels “Fathers and Children” and “Smoke”. The caricature cycles of the weekly Iskra demonstrate the process of decanonisation of literature and the development of alternative paths in the literature of the second half of the 19th century (as A. Vasilenko and A. Koslov wrote about this process). Volkov’s parodies not only discredit antinihilistic prose, but also discover anecdotal potential in the source texts.
The appendix includes the caricature cycle “Fathers and Children” and “Smoke. Intermezzo”, which together provide an insight into the reputation of Turgenev, his prose and cultural phenomenon as an antinihilistic novel in democratic circles of satirical journalism.