IVAN ALEXANDROVICH GONCHAROV (1812-1891) was a Russian novelist whose highly esteemed works dramatized social change in Russia and contain some of Russian literature's most vivid and memorable characters.

His debut novel, A COMMON STORY (1847), deals with the conflict between the excessive romanticism of a young Russian nobleman who has recently arrived in Saint Petersburg from the provinces, and the sober pragmatism of the emerging commercial class of the capital.  The book immediately secured his reputation when it was acclaimed by the influential critic Vissarion Belinsky.

OBLOMOV (1859), Goncharov's second and best-known novel, is a masterful portrait of upper-class decline.  The titular protagonist is the ultimate incarnation of the superfluous man, a young member of  Russia's dying aristocracy who is incapable of making important decisions or undertaking any significant action.  Terrified by the activity necessary to participate in the real world, Oblomov manages to avoid work and postpones change, rarely leaving his room or bed; in the first 50 pages he manages only to move from his bed to a chair.  From this character derives the Russian term "oblomovshchina", epitomizing the backwardness, inertia, and futility of 19th-century Russian society.

His third and final novel, THE PRECIPICE (1869), took twenty years to complete and was considered by Goncharov to be his definitive work in which he fully realized his grand artistic ambition.  It is the story of a romantic rivalry among three men, condemning nihilism as subverting the religious and moral values of Russia.  Although less successful than its predecessor, it is still regarded as one of the Russian literature's classics.


The following books are in ePUB and/or PDF format as indicated:

* Common Story, A (Heinemann, 1894).  Constance Garnett, trans. -- PDF
* Frigate Pallada, The (St. Martins, 1987).  Klaus Goetze, trans. -- PDF
* Oblomov (Everyman's Library, 1992).  Natalie Duddington, trans. -- ePUB
* Oblomov (Macmillan, 1915).  C.J. Hogarth, trans. -- ePUB + PDF
* Oblomov (Penguin, 2005).  David Magarshack, trans. -- ePUB
* Oblomov (Seven Stories, 2008).  Marian Schwartz, trans. -- ePUB
* Precipice, The (Knopf, 1916).  M. Bryant, trans. -- PDF

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