The reader meets Ilya Oblomov lying on his couch. He is a nobleman living in St. Petersburg. Being a little over 30, he is a bachelor, a little plump, but very kind man. Oblomov's main trait is laziness... He literally does nothing. He doesn't mingle among the noble society, he even doesn't read books. He only naps and dreams of moving to the country and arrange a rural life in an estate that he owns. But, he does nothing instead.
In his youth, Oblomov led a more active life, studied, worked in an office, dreamed of a family. Having made a major mistake, he got frightened and quit his job. Slowly, he ended up with his current life.
'A Few Days from the Life of I. I. Oblomov' movie
Nikita Mikhalkov/Mosfilm, 1979Oblomov's antagonist is his old friend Andrei Stoltz, the complete opposite of Oblomov. He is hard-working, very active, rational and meticulous. He tries to save his friend from this 'Oblomov' way of life. So, Stoltz forces Oblomov to go out in public and introduces him to a smart, energetic 20-year-old woman named Olga.
For the first time in this life, Oblomov comes out of his shell, he starts courting Olga and even rents a country house next to her. One day, he realizes he is in love. Oblomov proposes to Olga and she agrees with delight.
However, Oblomov's huge self-insecurity ruins everything. He starts thinking that by being next to Olga, he is compromising her, that people look at them disapprovingly. When they returned to St. Petersburg, rumors about their marriage begin to circulate, despite them keeping their engagement in secret. Oblomov is startled by this (as with his job) and he starts visiting Olga less and less. And, inevitably, they break up.
Oblomov falls into a depression and fraudsters manage to swindle him out of most of his money. Stoltz worries about him and tries to help again. But, he didn't actually need this help. The landlady of the apartment Oblomov is renting from is taking care of him, absolutely dedicating herself to him... and then, they get married. At the same time, Stoltz meets Olga and falls in love with her and they, too, get married...
The Oblomov name became a common byword for a lazy man. And the notion 'oblomovshina' also appeared, meaning a time of personal stagnation, apathy, laziness and lack of will for life. 19th-century critics hurried up to write long essays about it. So, what actually is 'oblomovshina' and would it damage the society?
Actually, the situation was quiet common for 19th-century Russian Empire. Pushkin's ‘Eugene Onegin’ is also about a bored nobleman, who doesn't work and is tired of life, though is not so lazy... A nobleman that owns land and serfs and receives income from it doesn't have to work. And from very childhood, he’s used to servants assisting him dress in the morning and serve him meals.
A book cover of Ivan Goncharov's 'Oblomov'
Alma Classics, 2021Soviet critics perceived the novel as a sign that the Russian nobility was on the verge of death, and that their way of life led to the revolution.
The moral degradation was also seen in novels by Ivan Turgenev (such as ‘The Noble Nest’), who also seemed to worry about it. But not Goncharov. We see absolutely no contempt from the author to his character Oblomov. On the contrary, despite Oblomov being shown as weak and lazy, he is still a kind person. And it seems that Goncharov even sympathized with him. Critic Nikolai Dobrolyubov praised Goncharov for actually showing the fullness of life as it was then. Yes, there is a lazy man. But, he doesn't owe it to anyone to be active. And he deserves happiness, just like anyone else.
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