Product Description

Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is a member of Russia’s dying aristocracy – a man so lazy that he has given up his job in the Civil Service, neglected his books, insulted his friends and found himself in debt. Too apathetic to do anything about his problems, he lives in a grubby, crumbling apartment, waited on by Zakhar, his equally idle servant. Terrified by the bustle and activity necessary to participate in the real world, Oblomov manages to avoid work, postpone change and – finally – risks losing the love of his life. Written with sympathetic humour and compassion, Oblomov made Goncharov famous throughout Russia on its publication in 1859, as readers saw in this story of a man whose defining characteristic is indolence, the portrait of an entire class in decline.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35476 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-31
• Original language: Russian
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

About the Author
Ivan Goncharov (1812-1891) Russian writer, is best-known for his humorous novel OBLOMOV (1859), a leading work in Russian Realism. Milton Ehre is Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago. Among his publications are Oblomov and His Creator: The Life and Art of Ivan Goncharov, Isaac Babel, translations of the plays of Gogol and Chekhov and poems by Anna Akhmatova.

Customer Reviews

Laziness and indecision as an art form
This is one of my favourite novels, and one of the very finest of the golden age of Russian literature in the nineteenth century, up there with Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.

Goncharov only wrote a handful of books (3 novels and a travelogue), and of these Oblomov is by far the best (although his final novel, The Precipice is under-rated and of interest too). Oblomov is the simple story of a nobleman in Tsarist Russia who has plenty of opportunities for success in love and life, but who finds it very difficult to take them - or indeed to do anything decisive at all other than laze around.

Oblomov seems to embody potential unfulfilled and a stubborn to change and take on new ideas, and he has been seen by many as a metaphor for pre-revolution Russia. 'Oblomovism' has apparently become a common term in Russia, meaning, of course, procrastination or inaction.

Amazingly for a book about seemingly so little, Oblomov glides by, perhaps because it is so well written. This is a singular and fascinating novel, with some stunningly detailed and well drawn characters. It may be of a very different style to most modern books, but I wuld strongly recommend it.

Sad and hilarious tale of a slothful nobleman
This is a wonderful story of an extremely lazy and kind-hearted nobleman who sees his life and only love waste away before his eyes, but cannot bring himself to act to prevent it. It is a delightful evocation of the comical and melancholy life on a Russian estate and a sad and gripping portrait of a good man undone by his own lethargy.

Liked Oblomov
I read OBLOMOV from a recommendation and what actually made me to buy it was because my friend considered it to be one of his favorite book of all time. I agree with him about that. It is an amazing book. Not only that, I developed an interest in the author's other works. Nevertheless, this is a wonderfully written book It is an absolute masterpiece, a classic accepted in Russia and the rest of the world.UNION MOUK,THE ARTAMONOV BUSINESS,AND QUIET FLOWS THE DON are other good Russian stories I enjoyed.