Book 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.
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.
