Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov

Inaction hero

Oblomov, a novel by Russian author Ivan Goncharov, was published in 1859. The title character, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, is a member of the minor nobility (the English translation uses the word “barin” as the Russian equivalent of “baron”). He owns the family’s country estate, called Oblomovka, where he grew up. Oblomov resides, however, in a shabby apartment in St. Petersburg, where he lives the lazy life of a confirmed bachelor. Since Ilya has become the bearer of his parents’ estate, the Oblomov name has fallen in status, and the farm is not performing well financially.

The first few chapters of the novel are quite satirical. The running gag is that Oblomov refuses to get out of bed. From his prostrate position, he receives visits from a few friends who represent different segments of Russian society: a civil servant, a journalist, and fellow gentlemen, both Russian- and German-born. Oblomov’s failure to rise from his bed is indicative of the way he conducts his life in general. He is incapable of making decisions and committing to any form of action, neither in business nor personal matters. Like an overgrown man-child, he is utterly dependent upon his landlady, who takes care of his every need like a surrogate mother.

After this introduction, the novel flashes back to Oblomov’s childhood at Oblomovka. This is portrayed in heavily nostalgic realism. On the one hand, Oblomov enjoys his youth in an idyllic country setting. On the other hand, Goncharov pokes fun at this country-gentry life by exaggerating its quaintness, insularity, and simplicity. Growing up at his family estate, Oblomov’s every desire is catered to by his parents and servants, which contributes to his inactivity and ineffectualness as an adult. Following this trip down memory lane, the novel then takes another change in tone as it veers into a quite poignant romance. While at the beginning of the novel Goncharov wants the reader to laugh at Oblomov, over the course of the book one definitely comes to feel for him. As the novel proceeds, it becomes more realistic, less humorous, and as a result more compelling.

Oblomov was a popular novel in Russia, and the title character came to represent a recognizable type of Russian gentleman, as in “He’s such an Oblomov.” What this novel has to say about Russian society circa 1859, however, was largely lost on me, and probably will be unclear to most English-language readers. Only Russians themselves, or scholars of Russian history, will likely comprehend the social commentary. There is much made here of the distinctions between gentlemen of the landed gentry or nobility, and the lower peasant and servant classes. The attitude toward the latter segments of society ranges from sympathy to condescension. The rather generalized interpretation that I came away with is that Oblomov represents the minor nobility clinging to old ideas that are out of place in modern society, and as a result the dignity and standing of Oblomov’s class is sinking towards obsolescence as it phases into a lower-middle class.

Regardless of any social or political content, however, Oblomov is a novel that can be appreciated simply as a drama of human nature. People from different walks in society are shown living their lives in accordance with the hands they were dealt in life. Towards the end of the book in particular, the characters feel real, and they inspire real feelings in the reader. I would have preferred more naturalistic realism and less satirical humor—more Turgenev than Gogol, if you will—but I still found Oblomov quite engaging.