| For a fan of Russian literature, this book is a necessary read. Goncharov explores the problems with nobility and the caste system in a way that none of his predecessors did. He does this while largely capturing the beauty of the Russian style of writing. He offers detailed characters that each represents a different archetype. He shows you several social environments and the place each held within the system as well as what purpose they served. And mostly he accomplishes all of this while telling a very humorous and ammusing story. I did feel that he strayed for about 100 pages in the middle. The story got away from being a Russian piece of literature and turned into a Jane Austen romance of types. I love Jane Austen and have no problem with these plot types in general, but it felt misplaced in this particular novel. For this reason, I would suggest that if you are not a fan of Russian literature yet, you introduce yourself into its world with a different piece of work, of which there are MANY. |
| Oblomov, the main character of Ivan Goncharov's novel, is widely regarded as one of the finest literary examples of the backward-looking landed gentry of mid-nineteenth century Russia. His name has even entered the Russian language in the term "oblomovshchina", meaning backwardness, inertia. The unheroic hero Oblomov is also a very fine literary creation of a fully-fledged human being. He is a melancholy idealist, a dreamer whose temperament is such that he never begins to put his dreams into action. His tragedy is that he weighs the possible obstacles to his endeavors for such a long time that, finally, he never even starts to act. Ivan Goncharov is at his best when he describes the mental processes of Oblomov that lead to his bumbling life. There is no better description of how the mind of a pessimistic person manipulates the perception of reality than in this book. "The Saint of Sloth" is the title of a review written by the critic V.S. Pritchett for the New York Review of Books. It captures nicely the two main aspects of Oblomov's character. On the one hand, Oblomov is lazy, irresponsible, pessimistic, paralyzed, complacent, slothful; but on the other hand he is idealistic, true to himself, honest, child-like, innocent, saintly. He is ultimately a lovable human being. He does not lack wisdom, he lacks resolve. As can be expected, Goncharov's book is not an action-packed thriller. On the first 50 or so pages, Oblomov barely manages to get out of his bed. A patient reader who keeps reading, however, is rewarded with a wonderfully realistic love story (including all the ups and downs), and many wise comments by the bachelor Goncharov on life, love, passion, duty and marriage. |
