Oblomov - Softcover

Goncharov, Ivan

4.12

38,798 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 154137214X ISBN 13: 9781541372146

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

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Oblomov is the best known novel by Russian writer Ivan Goncharov, first published in 1859. Oblomov is also the central character of the novel, often seen as the ultimate incarnation of the superfluous man, a symbolic character in 19th-century Russian literature. Oblomov is a young, generous nobleman who seems incapable of making important decisions or undertaking any significant actions. Spoiled as a child to the point of not even being able to put on his own socks, Oblomov is unprepared to deal with the smallest difficulty of adult life. In his fevered dreams he sees the words "Oblomovstchina" ("Oblomovism" or in this translation "the disease of Oblomovka") in flaming letters on the ceiling putting a name to the disability of which he is all too aware. This romantic novel was considered a satire of Russian nobility whose social and economic function was increasingly in question in mid-nineteenth century Russia, and from it the word "Oblomovstchina" entered the Russian vocabulary. "Oblomov" is one of the greatest Russian classics, and has never before been translated into English. It constitutes a study of a perfectly new type in Russian fiction of a man who, though plunged in a slough of apathy from which nothing can arouse him, is yet a man of fine and noble instincts. What he utterly lacks and is ruined by, is his total lack of will-power. Mr. MAURICE BARING says : " In Oblomov Goncharov created a type which has become immortal, and Oblomov has passed into the Russian tongue, just as Tartuffe has passed into the French language, or Pecksniff into the English tongue."

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Review:

The combination of Goncharov''s edits and Schwartzs translation left me thumbing back to the copyright page to confirm 1862, not 1962, as this translation sparkles with contemporary lyricism and humor."Karen Vanuska, Quarterly Conversation -- Quarterly Conversation

Oblomov is a truly great work, the likes of which one has not seen for a long, long time. I am in rapture over Oblomov and keep rereading it.Leo Tolstoy -- Leo Tolstoy

"[Goncharov is] ten heads above me in talent.Anton Chekhov -- Anton Chekhov

""Oblomov" is a truly great work, the likes of which one has not seen for a long, long time. I am in rapture over "Oblomov" and keep rereading it."--Leo Tolstoy--Leo Tolstoy

"[Goncharov is] ten heads above me in talent."--Anton Chekhov--Anton Chekhov

"The combination of Goncharov''s edits and Schwartz's translation left me thumbing back to the copyright page to confirm 1862, not 1962, as this translation sparkles with contemporary lyricism and humor."--Karen Vanuska, "Quarterly Conversation"--Quarterly Conversation

"You can''t help but be captivated by the ''rapture'' that Tolstoy spoke of when reading and rereading it."--Ron Rosenblum, Slate, A Slate Best Book of 2008--Slate

"[Goncharov is] ten heads above me in talent. Anton Chekhov--Anton Chekhov"

"Oblomov" is a truly great work, the likes of which one has not seen for a long, long time. I am in rapture over "Oblomov" and keep rereading it. Leo Tolstoy--Leo Tolstoy"

Oblomov is a truly great work, the likes of which one has not seen for a long, long time. I am in rapture over Oblomov and keep rereading it. Leo Tolstoy--Leo Tolstoy"

The combination of Goncharov's edits and Schwartz s translation left me thumbing back to the copyright page to confirm 1862, not 1962, as this translation sparkles with contemporary lyricism and humor." Karen Vanuska, Quarterly Conversation--Quarterly Conversation"

Long before Jerry Seinfeld and Samuel Beckett, there was Ivan Goncharov, a minor government official in czarist Russia, and his classic novel about an ordinary Russian aristocrat mired in his own extraordinary inertia. Chris Lehman, Bookforum
--Bookforum"

" Oblomov is a truly great work, the likes of which one has not seen for a long, long time. I am in rapture over Oblomov and keep rereading it."--Leo Tolstoy--Leo Tolstoy

"Offers a fine example of sly and compassionate satire, a very rare genre indeed"--Michael Wood, London Review of Books--London Review of Books

"You can't help but be captivated by the 'rapture' that Tolstoy spoke of when reading and rereading it."--Ron Rosenblum, Slate, A Slate Best Book of 2008--Slate

"The combination of Goncharov's edits and Schwartz's translation left me thumbing back to the copyright page to confirm 1862, not 1962, as this translation sparkles with contemporary lyricism and humor."--Karen Vanuska, Quarterly Conversation--Quarterly Conversation

"Long before Jerry Seinfeld and Samuel Beckett, there was Ivan Goncharov, a minor government official in czarist Russia, and his classic novel about an ordinary Russian aristocrat mired in his own extraordinary inertia."--Chris Lehman, Bookforum
--Bookforum

About the Author:

Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov (1812–1891) was a Russian novelist best known as the author of Oblomov. He was born in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk); his father was a wealthy grain merchant. After graduating from Moscow University in 1834 Goncharov served for thirty years as a minor government official. In 1847, Goncharov's first novel, Obyknovennaia istoriia (usually translated into English as A Common Story), was published; it dealt with the conflicts between the excessive Romanticism of a young Russian nobleman, freshly arrived in Saint Petersburg from the provinces, and the emerging commercial class of the Imperial capital with its sober pragmatism. It was followed by Ivan Savich Podzhabrin (1848), a naturalist psychological sketch. Between 1852 and 1855 Goncharov voyaged to England, Africa, Japan, and back to Russia via Siberia as the secretary of Admiral Yevfimy Putyatin. His travelogue, a chronicle of the trip, The Frigate Pallada (The Frigate Pallas), was published in 1858 ("Pallada" is the Russian spelling of "Pallas"). His wildly successful novel Oblomov was published the following year, evolving from an 1849 short story or sketch entitled "Oblomov's Dream. An Episode from an Unfinished Novel" ("Son Oblomova"), published in "Sovremennik", No. 4. The short story was later incorporated into the finished novel as "Oblomov's Dream" ("Son Oblomova"), Chapter 9. The main character, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, was compared to Shakespeare's Hamlet who answers "No!" to the question "To be or not to be?". Fyodor Dostoyevsky, among others, considered Goncharov a noteworthy author of high stature. Turgenev, who fell out with Goncharov after the latter accused him of plagiarism (specifically of having used some of the characters and situations from The Precipice, whose plan Goncharov had disclosed to him in 1855, in Home of the Gentry and On the Eve), nevertheless declared: "As long as there is even just one Russian alive, Oblomov will be remembered!"

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