Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov 10 out of 10

 Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov

10 out of 10

Oblomov is a fundamental, classic novel and it may be a shame to admit at having read it so late, even if it is not included in the same Eden of books with the sine qua non masterpieces War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Karamazov Brothers, The Death of Ivan Ilyich – speaking of which, Leo Tolstoy has written a formidable acclaim

‘Oblomov is a truly great work, the likes of which one has not seen for a long, long time. I am in raptures over Oblomov and keep re-reading it.’

This wonderful, splendid, glorious chef d’oeuvre has been included on The Guardian 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/23/bestbooks-fiction

Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is one of the most fascinating, complex, interesting, challenging characters in the literature of the world, annoying at times, honest, pure, kind, if lazy and incapable from one stage on in his life to achieve anything, given his inability to get out of his room for most of the narrative, finding love and yet somehow becoming tired even by that extraordinary, ecstatic, exalting feeling.

For many chapters, he receives visitors and friends, some of them false men, like Taranteyev and later on Ivan Matveyevich, determined to speculate and abuse the confidence of the hero, a man that is so annoyed by petty operations, activities like managing his estate that he has no idea about…well almost anything, what the property brings in income, what the taxes should be, how agriculture works, what a clerk does, even if he has been employed for a while in a government position.

However, at the first challenge, when he made a mistake and sent some accounts to the wrong destination, the protagonist has decided to take a long vacation from his office, then he could not face the criticism and after only a couple of years he has abandoned his job, resigning never to work or engage in any serious activity for the rest of his life, with a brief exception.

His best, real friend is Andrey Stolz, the son of a very hard working, serious, somewhat rough, disciplined German father and a Russian mother, who has been raised in the same neighborhood, near the estate of Oblomovka, as the hero, the two grew up together to be different, but good comrades, with the German opting for a very active, successful, very involved in business life, while his childhood companion chose to do nothing and suffer from “Oblomovitis”.

Andrey Stoltz tries hard to make his friend abandon the lazy, inactive, sleepy atmosphere of his house, give up the unfortunate entourage that drags him down and “live life to the full, a fond”, traveling abroad, to Paris, Europe – as the doctor had suggested, seeing the tendency of the protagonist to gain weight and have a lifestyle that includes no exercise, little if any intellectual provocation – he starts a book, but then stops after a few pages, other volumes left by his only real soul mate are left untouched.

There is a tremendous change in the eventless existence of the hero, when he meets Olga, a young, curious, intelligent, well read, forward, studious, modern, passionate, sometimes febrile woman, who is introduced by Stolz, who describes Oblomov, mentions his special qualities, the pureness, delicacy, honesty, generosity of his soul, but also the shortcomings, the fact that he is in danger of becoming captive in his own house, sleeping for most of the day and night, incapable of seeing the advantages of going out and slowly closing the door to life.

The relationship with Olga prompts a dramatic change, the hero is no longer trapped in his room, where he used to spend the whole time in the same attire, on the sofa or asleep in bed, but he walks all day with the woman he loves, writes interesting, long letters – whereas a few weeks back, he could not find the words and energy to address some urgently needed messages to his estate, the manager and other people that could help in solving the increasingly pressing problem of money.

The reader hopes that this love would transform the protagonist beyond recognition and there is no possibility for regress, since they talk about marriage and Olga accepts, in spite of some early warning signs, the letter that the lover writes and in which he says that he is not worthy and he would retreat when she finds the man who is really worthy of her affection – for he is not – and he angers the woman who sees that he lacks stamina, the aplomb, the stature, energy, personality, character needed to continue with this sublime state of affairs.

Yes, he is transfigured, has an epiphany, knows the joys of supreme bliss, a love that transforms individuals, gives them extraordinary, supernatural powers, but in the case of Oblomov, it takes him only so far, to the point where he becomes overwhelmed, scared of the perspectives in front of him and senses that there is an opposition between his Ideal Married Life, which is tranquil, slow, translates into a picture of a large family, at his estate, with every day equal to the other, peaceful, emotionless, without fears and troubles.

In opposition to this, Olga aspires to a future with daily events, she would be bored to death in the situation where every day is the same, she needs change, travels to all corners of Europe and beyond – whereas the would be husband is attracted by a scenario that reminds one of Kant, who has never ventured out of his village for more than ten miles.

Eventually, Oblomov moves into a rather unsuitable house, cheated by Taranteyev, where Agafia Pshenitsina is the landlady, and becomes used with the surroundings, the entourage, the lack of provocation and scared by the lack of money, the perspective of having a demanding wife in Olga, swindled further by the two crooks, he becomes so indebted that he has little to eat beyond primitive, course food, the curtains, the rooms become almost destitute and he is saved from this abyss by the same Andrey Stoltz, who becomes intimately close to Olga, once the planned marital vows are not exchanged.

To conclude, there is a lot to say in favor of the ideal life as seen by Oblomov, eliminating his excesses – to stay in the same room and lack any kind of mental or physical exercise means spiritual and literal death – and this reader has adopted that very lifestyle for the past decade, with lots of reading, movie watching and four visits to the health club per week…to quote the hero at the end:

“Isn’t everybody looking for the same thing as me? After all, surely the purpose of this hustle and bustle of yours, all these passions, wars, trade and politics is to achieve precisely this very peace and quiet, to strive for this ideal of paradise lost?”

You can legally download this phenomenal, glorious masterpiece here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=oblomov