Why is Oblomov’s background introduced in reverse order? The background to the creation of the novel “Oblomov. What is the main character like?

Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is one of the iconic works of Russian literature of the 19th century. It is part of a trilogy with two other books by the writer - “An Ordinary Story” and “The Precipice”. The history of the creation of the novel “Oblomov” by Goncharov began long before the idea of the work appeared - the idea of “Oblomovism” as an all-encompassing social phenomenon appeared to the author even before the appearance of the first novel of the trilogy, “An Ordinary History.”

Chronology of the creation of the novel

Researchers consider the prototype of “Oblomovism” in Goncharov’s early work to be the story “Dashing Illness,” written in 1838. The work described a strange epidemic, the main symptom of which was “the blues”; patients began to build castles in the air and indulge themselves in empty dreams. Manifestations of a similar “disease” are observed in the main character of the novel, Oblomov.

However, the history of the novel “Oblomov” itself begins in 1849, when Goncharov published in the “Literary Collection with Illustrations” one of the central chapters of the work - “Oblomov’s Dream” with the subtitle “Episode from an Unfinished Novel”.

While writing the chapter, the writer was in his homeland, Simbirsk, where, in a patriarchal way of life that retained the imprint of antiquity, Goncharov gleaned many examples of “Oblomov’s dream,” which he depicted first in a printed passage and then in a novel. At the same time, the writer had already prepared a briefly sketched plan for the future work and a draft version of the entire first part.

In 1850, Goncharov created a clean version of the first part and worked on a continuation of the work. The writer writes little, but thinks a lot about the novel. In October 1852, the history of Oblomov was interrupted for five whole years - Goncharov, in the position of secretary under Admiral E.V. Putyatin, went on a trip around the world on the frigate Pallada. Work on the work was resumed only in June 1857, when, while staying in Marienbard, the writer completed almost the entire novel in seven weeks. As Goncharov said later, during the journey, the novel had already completely taken shape in his imagination, and it just needed to be transferred to paper.

In the fall of 1858, Goncharov completely completed work on the manuscript of Oblomov, adding many scenes and completely reworking some chapters. In 1859, the novel was published in four issues of the journal Otechestvennye zapiski.

Prototypes of the heroes of the novel “Oblomov”

Oblomov

The creative history of the novel “Oblomov” originates in the life of the author himself, Ivan Goncharov. For the writer, he said, it was important to depict true reality, without straying into the “soil of a thinker.”

That is why Goncharov copied the central character, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, from himself. According to the memoirs of the writer’s contemporaries, the author and the character of the novel have a lot in common - they both come from the Russian hinterland with a patriarchal, outdated way of life, both are slow and at first glance lazy, at the same time they have a lively mind, artistic imagination and a certain dreaminess, which cannot be said from the first impression.

Olga

Goncharov also drew the prototype for the main female character, Olga Ilyinskaya, from his own life. According to researchers, the prototypes of the girl are the writer’s acquaintances - Elizaveta Vasilievna Tolstaya and Ekaterina Pavlovna Maykova. Goncharov was in love with E. Tolstoy - like Olga for Oblomov, Elizaveta Vasilievna was for him the ideal of a woman, warmth, feminine intelligence and beauty. The correspondence between Goncharov and E. Tolstoy represents a parallel with the events of the novel - even the theory of love between the creator and the hero of the book coincides. The author endowed Olga with all the beautiful features that he saw in Elizaveta Vasilievna, transferring his own feelings and experiences onto paper. Just as Olga in the novel was not destined to marry Oblomov, so E. Tolstoy was expected to marry her cousin A.I. Musin-Pushkin.

The prototype of the married heroine, Olga Stolts, becomes Maykova, the wife of V.N. Maykov. Ekaterina Pavlovna and Goncharov had a strong and long-lasting friendship that began at one of the evenings at the Makov literary salon. In the image of Maykova, the writer drew a completely different type of woman - constantly searching, striving forward, not satisfied with anything, for whom family life gradually became painful and cramped. However, as some researchers point out, after the last edition of the novel “Oblomov”, the image of Ilyinskaya increasingly resembled not E. Tolstoy, but Maikova.

Agafya

The second important female character of the novel, the character of Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna, was copied by Goncharov from the memories of the writer’s mother, Avdotya Matveevna. According to researchers, the tragedy of the marriage between Agafya and Oblomov became a reflection of the life drama of Goncharov’s godfather, N. Tregubov.

Stolz

The image of Stolz is not only a composite character of the German type, a bearer of a different mentality and a different worldview. The description of the hero is based on the history of the family of Karl-Friedrich Rudolf, the father of Elizaveta Goncharova, the wife of the writer’s older brother. This connection is also indicated by the fact that in the draft editions the hero has two names - Andrei and Karl, and in lifetime editions in the scene of the character’s first appearance his name appears as Andrei Karlovich. However, there is a version that Stolz is also one of the personifications in the novel of one of the sides of the writer himself - his youthful aspirations and practicality.

conclusions

The history of the creation of “Oblomov” allows us to better understand the ideological meaning of the novel, its inner depth and special importance for the author. Having “nurtured” the idea of the work for more than ten years, Goncharov created a brilliant work, which even today makes us think about the true meaning of life, love and the search for happiness.

Work test

Chronology of the creation of the novel

Prototypes of the heroes of the novel “Oblomov”

Oblomov

Olga

Agafya

Stolz

conclusions

Work test

Often referred to as a mystery writer, Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov, extravagant and unattainable for many of his contemporaries, went to his zenith for almost twelve years. “Oblomov” was published in parts, crumpled, added to and changed “slowly and heavily,” as the author wrote, whose creative hand, however, approached the creation of the novel responsibly and scrupulously. The novel was published in 1859 in the St. Petersburg magazine “Otechestvennye zapiski” and was met with obvious interest from both literary circles and the philistine.

The history of writing the novel pranced in parallel with the carriage of events of that time, namely with the Gloomy Seven Years of 1848-1855, when not only Russian literature, but also the entire Russian society was silent. This was an era of increased censorship, which became the reaction of the authorities to the activity of the liberal-minded intelligentsia. A wave of democratic upheavals took place throughout Europe, so politicians in Russia decided to protect the regime by taking repressive measures against the press. There was no news, and the writers were faced with a caustic and helpless problem - there was nothing to write about. What one might have wanted was ruthlessly torn out by the censors. It is this situation that is a consequence of the hypnosis and lethargy with which the entire work is shrouded, as if in Oblomov’s favorite dressing gown. The best people of the country in such a suffocating atmosphere felt unnecessary, and the values encouraged from above - petty and unworthy of a nobleman.

“I wrote my life and what grew into it,” Goncharov briefly commented on the history of the novel after putting the finishing touches on his creation. These words are an honest recognition and confirmation of the autobiographical nature of the greatest collection of eternal questions and answers to them.

Composition

The composition of the novel is circular. Four parts, four seasons, four states of Oblomov, four stages of life for each of us. The action in the book is a cycle: sleep turns into awakening, awakening into sleep.

Exposition. In the first part of the novel there is almost no action, except perhaps in Oblomov’s head. Ilya Ilyich is lying down, he is receiving visitors, he is shouting at Zakhar, and Zakhar is shouting at him. Here characters of different colors appear, but at the core they are all the same... Like Volkov, for example, with whom the hero sympathizes and is happy for himself that he does not fragment and does not crumble into ten places in one day, does not hang around, but maintains his human dignity in his chambers . The next one “out of the cold,” Sudbinsky, Ilya Ilyich also sincerely regrets and concludes that his unfortunate friend was bogged down in the service, and that now much in him will not move forever... There was the journalist Penkin, and the colorless Alekseev, and the heavy-browed Tarantiev, and all he pitied equally, sympathized with everyone, retorted with everyone, recited ideas and thought... An important part is the chapter “Oblomov’s Dream”, in which the root of “Oblomovism” is exposed. The composition is equal to the idea: Goncharov describes and shows the reasons due to which laziness, apathy, infantility, and, in the end, a dead soul were formed. It is the first part that is the exposition of the novel, since here the reader is presented with all the conditions in which the hero’s personality was formed.
The beginning. The first part is also the starting point for the subsequent degradation of Ilya Ilyich’s personality, for even the surges of passion for Olga and devoted love for Stolz in the second part of the novel do not make the hero better as a person, but only gradually squeeze Oblomov out of Oblomov. Here the hero meets Ilyinskaya, which in the third part develops into a climax.
Climax. The third part, first of all, is fateful and significant for the main character himself, since here all his dreams suddenly become real: he accomplishes feats, he proposes marriage to Olga, he decides to love without fear, he decides to take risks, to fight with yourself... Only people like Oblomov don’t wear holsters, don’t fence, don’t sweat during battle, they doze and only imagine how heroically beautiful it is. Oblomov cannot do everything - he cannot fulfill Olga’s request and go to his village, since this village is a fiction. The hero breaks up with the woman of his dreams, choosing to preserve his own way of life rather than strive for better things and eternal struggle with himself. At the same time, his financial affairs are hopelessly deteriorating, and he is forced to leave his comfortable apartment and prefer a budget option.
Denouement. The fourth final part, the “Vyborg Oblomovism,” consists of a marriage with Agafya Pshenitsyna and the subsequent death of the main character. It is also possible that it was marriage that contributed to Oblomov’s dullness and imminent death, because, as he himself put it: “There are such donkeys that get married!”

We can summarize that the plot itself is extremely simple, despite the fact that it is stretched over six hundred pages. A lazy, kind middle-aged man (Oblomov) is deceived by his vulture friends (by the way, they are vultures - each in their own area), but a kind, loving friend (Stolz) comes to the rescue, who saves him, but takes away the object of his love (Olga), and consequently and the main nourishment of his rich spiritual life.

The peculiarities of the composition lie in parallel storylines at different levels of perception.

There is only one main storyline here and it is love, romantic... The relationship between Olga Ilyinskaya and her main gentleman is shown in a new, bold, passionate, psychologically detailed way. That is why the novel claims to be a love novel, being a kind of example and manual for building relationships between a man and a woman.
The secondary storyline is based on the principle of contrasting two destinies: Oblomov and Stolz, and the intersection of these same destinies at the point of love for one passion. But in this case, Olga is not a turning point character, no, the gaze falls only on strong male friendship, on pats on the back, on wide smiles and on mutual envy (I want to live the way the other lives).

What is the novel about?

This novel is, first of all, about the vice of social significance. Often the reader can notice Oblomov’s resemblance not only to his creator, but also to most people who live and have ever lived. Which of the readers, as they became closer to Oblomov, did not recognize themselves lying on the sofa and reflecting on the meaning of life, on the futility of existence, on the power of love, on happiness? Which reader has not crushed his heart with the question: “To be or not to be?”?

The quality of the writer, ultimately, is such that, while trying to expose yet another human flaw, he falls in love with it in the process and serves the reader with such an appetizing aroma that the reader impatiently wants to feast on it. After all, Oblomov is lazy, unkempt, childish, but the public loves him only because the hero has a soul and he is not ashamed to reveal this soul to us. “Do you think that thoughts don’t require a heart? No, it is fertilized by love” - this is one of the most important postulates of the work that lays the essence of the novel “Oblomov”.

The sofa itself and Oblomov lying on it keep the world in balance. His philosophy, illegibility, confusion, throwing govern the lever of movement and the axis of the globe. In the novel, in this case, there is not only a justification for inaction, but also a desecration of action. The vanity of vanities of Tarantyev or Sudbinsky does not bring any sense, Stolz is successfully making a career, but what kind of career is unknown... Goncharov dares to slightly ridicule work, that is, work in the service, which he hated, which, therefore, was not surprising to notice in the character of the protagonist . “But how upset he was when he saw that there would have to be at least an earthquake in order for a healthy official not to come to work, and as luck would have it, earthquakes don’t happen in St. Petersburg; A flood, of course, could also serve as a barrier, but even that rarely happens.” - the writer conveys all the meaninglessness of state activity, which Oblomov thought about and finally gave up, referring to Hypertrophia cordis cum dilatatione ejus ventriculi sinistri. So what is “Oblomov” about? This is a novel about the fact that if you are lying on the couch, you are perhaps more right than those who walk somewhere or sit somewhere every day. Oblomovism is a diagnosis of humanity, where any activity can lead either to the loss of one’s own soul or to a senseless waste of time.

The main characters and their characteristics

It should be noted that the novel is characterized by speaking surnames. For example, all the minor characters wear them. Tarantiev comes from the word “tarantula”, journalist Penkin - from the word “foam”, which hints at the superficiality and cheapness of his occupation. With their help, the author supplements the description of the characters: Stolz’s surname is translated from German as “proud”, Olga is Ilyinskaya because she belongs to Ilya, and Pshenitsyna is a hint at the greediness of her bourgeois lifestyle. However, all this, in fact, does not fully characterize the heroes; Goncharov himself does this, describing the actions and thoughts of each of them, revealing their potential or lack thereof.

Oblomov– the main character, which is not surprising, but the hero is not the only one. It is through the prism of Ilya Ilyich’s life that a different life is visible, only what’s interesting is that Oblomovskaya seems more entertaining and original to readers, despite the fact that he does not have the characteristics of a leader and is even unlikable. Oblomov, a lazy and overweight middle-aged man, can confidently become the face of the propaganda of melancholy, depression and melancholy, but this man is so unhypocritical and pure in soul that his gloomy and stale flair is almost invisible. He is kind, subtle in matters of love, and sincere with people. He asks the question: “When to live?” - and does not live, but only dreams and waits for the right moment for the utopian life that comes in his dreams and slumbers. He also asks the great Hamlet question: “To be or not to be,” when he decides to get up from the sofa or confess his feelings to Olga. He, just like Cervantes' Don Quixote, wants to accomplish a feat, but does not accomplish it, and therefore blames his Sancho Panza - Zakhara - for this. Oblomov is as naive as a child, and is so sweet to the reader that an irresistible feeling arises to protect Ilya Ilyich and quickly send him to an ideal village, where he can, holding his wife by the waist, walk with her and look at the cook while cooking. We discussed this topic in detail in an essay.
The opposite of Oblomov - Stolz. The person from whom the story and story about “Oblomovism” is told. He is German on his father and Russian on his mother, therefore, a person who has inherited virtues from both cultures. Since childhood, Andrei Ivanovich read both Herder and Krylov, and was well versed in “the hard work of getting money, vulgar order and the boring correctness of life.” For Stolz, Oblomov’s philosophical nature is equal to antiquity and the past fashion of thought. He travels, works, builds, reads avidly and envies his friend’s free soul, because he himself does not dare to claim a free soul, or maybe he is simply afraid. We discussed this topic in detail in an essay.
The turning point in Oblomov’s life can be called by one name - Olga Ilyinskaya. She is interesting, she is special, she is smart, she is well-mannered, she sings amazingly and she falls in love with Oblomov. Unfortunately, her love is like a list of specific tasks, and her lover himself is nothing more than a project for her. Having learned from Stolz the peculiarities of the thinking of her future betrothed, the girl is fired up with the desire to make Oblomov a “man” and considers his boundless and reverent love for her to be her leash. In part, Olga is cruel, proud and dependent on public opinion, but to say that her love is not real means to spit on all the ups and downs in gender relations, no, rather, her love is special, but genuine. also became the topic for our essay.
Agafya Pshenitsyna is a 30-year-old woman, the owner of the house where Oblomov moved. The heroine is a thrifty, simple and kind person who found the love of her life in Ilya Ilyich, but did not seek to change him. She is characterized by silence, calmness, and a certain limited horizons. Agafya does not think about anything lofty that goes beyond everyday life, but she is caring, hardworking and capable of self-sacrifice for the sake of her lover. Discussed in more detail in the essay.

Subject

As Dmitry Bykov says:

Goncharov’s heroes do not duel, like Onegin, Pechorin or Bazarov, do not participate, like Prince Bolkonsky, in historical battles and the writing of Russian laws, and do not commit crimes and transgress the commandment “Thou shalt not kill,” as in Dostoevsky’s novels. Everything they do fits into the framework of everyday life, but this is only one facet

Indeed, one facet of Russian life cannot cover the whole novel: the novel is divided into social relations, and into friendly relations, and into love ones... It is the latter theme that is the main one and is highly appreciated by critics.

Love theme embodied in Oblomov’s relationship with two women: Olga and Agafya. This is how Goncharov depicts several varieties of the same feeling. Ilyinskaya’s emotions are saturated with narcissism: in them she sees herself, and only then her chosen one, although she loves him with all her heart. However, she values her brainchild, her project, that is, the non-existent Oblomov. Ilya’s relationship with Agafya is different: the woman fully supported his desire for peace and laziness, idolized him and lived by caring for him and their son Andryusha. The tenant gave her a new life, a family, long-awaited happiness. Her love is adoration to the point of blindness, because indulging her husband’s whims led him to an early death. The main theme of the work is described in more detail in the essay “”.
Friendship theme. Stolz and Oblomov, although they fell in love with the same woman, did not start a conflict and did not betray their friendship. They always complemented each other, talked about the most important and intimate things in both of their lives. This relationship has been ingrained in their hearts since childhood. The boys were different, but got along well with each other. Andrei found peace and kindness while visiting a friend, and Ilya happily accepted his help in everyday affairs. You can read more about this in the essay “Friendship of Oblomov and Stolz.”
Finding the meaning of life. All heroes are looking for their own path, looking for the answer to the eternal question about the purpose of man. Ilya found it in thinking and finding spiritual harmony, in dreams and the very process of existence. Stolz found himself in an eternal movement forward. Disclosed in detail in the essay.

Problems

The main problem with Oblomov is the lack of motivation to move. The entire society of that time really wants, but cannot, wake up and get out of that terrible depressing state. Many people have become and are still becoming Oblomov’s victims. It’s pure hell to live life as a dead person and not see any purpose. It was this human pain that Goncharov wanted to show, resorting to the concept of conflict: here there is a conflict between a person and society, and between a man and a woman, and between friendship and love, and between loneliness and an idle life in society, and between work and hedonism , and between walking and lying and so on and so forth.

The problem of love. This feeling can change a person for the better; this transformation is not an end in itself. For Goncharov’s heroine this was not obvious, and she put all the power of her love into the re-education of Ilya Ilyich, not seeing how painful it was for him. While remaking her lover, Olga did not notice that she was squeezing out of him not only bad character traits, but also good ones. In fear of losing himself, Oblomov could not save his beloved girl. He was faced with the problem of a moral choice: either remain himself, but alone, or play the whole life of another person, but for the benefit of his wife. He chose his individuality, and in this decision one can see selfishness or honesty - to each his own.
The problem of friendship. Stolz and Oblomov passed the test of one love for two, but were unable to snatch a single minute from family life to preserve their partnership. Time (and not a quarrel) separated them; the routine of days tore apart the bonds of friendship that were strong. They both lost from separation: Ilya Ilyich completely neglected himself, and his friend was mired in petty worries and troubles.
The problem of education. Ilya Ilyich became a victim of the sleepy atmosphere in Oblomovka, where the servants did everything for him. The boy's liveliness was dulled by endless feasts and naps, and the dull numbness of the wilderness left its mark on his addictions. becomes clearer in the episode “Oblomov’s Dream,” which we analyzed in a separate article.

Idea

Goncharov’s task is to show and tell what “Oblomovism” is, opening its doors and pointing out both its positive and negative sides and giving the reader the opportunity to choose and decide what is paramount for him - Oblomovism or real life with with all its injustice, materiality and activity. The main idea in the novel “Oblomov” is a description of a global phenomenon of modern life that has become part of the Russian mentality. Now the surname of Ilya Ilyich has become a household name and denotes not so much quality as a whole portrait of the person in question.

Since no one forced the nobles to work, and the serfs did everything for them, phenomenal laziness blossomed in Rus', engulfing the upper class. The support of the country was rotting from idleness, not contributing to its development in any way. This phenomenon could not but cause concern among the creative intelligentsia, therefore in the image of Ilya Ilyich we see not only a rich inner world, but also inaction that is destructive for Russia. However, the meaning of the kingdom of laziness in the novel “Oblomov” has political overtones. It is not for nothing that we mentioned that the book was written during a period of tightening censorship. There is a hidden, but nevertheless basic idea in it that the authoritarian regime of government is to blame for this widespread idleness. In it, the personality does not find any use for itself, bumping only into restrictions and fear of punishment. There is an absurdity of servility all around, people do not serve, but are served, so a self-respecting hero ignores the vicious system and, as a sign of silent protest, does not play the role of an official, who still does not decide anything and cannot change anything. The country under the gendarmerie's boot is doomed to regression, both at the level of the state machine and at the level of spirituality and morality.

How did the novel end?

The hero's life was cut short from heart obesity. He lost Olga, he lost himself, he even lost his talent - the ability to think. Living with Pshenitsyna did not do him any good: he was mired in a kulebyak, in a pie with tripe, which swallowed up and sucked in poor Ilya Ilyich. His soul was eaten by fat. His soul was eaten by Pshenitsyna’s repaired robe, the sofa, from which he quickly slid into the abyss of entrails, into the abyss of entrails. This is the ending of the novel “Oblomov” - a gloomy, uncompromising verdict on Oblomovism.

What does it teach?

The novel is arrogant. Oblomov holds the reader’s attention and places this same attention on an entire part of the novel in a dusty room, where the main character does not get out of bed and keeps shouting: “Zakhar, Zakhar!” Well, isn't it nonsense?! But the reader doesn’t leave... and can even lie down next to him, and even wrap himself in an “oriental robe, without the slightest hint of Europe,” and not even decide anything about the “two misfortunes,” but think about them all... Goncharov’s psychedelic novel loves to lull to sleep the reader and pushes him to fend off the fine line between reality and dream.

Oblomov is not just a character, it is a lifestyle, it is a culture, it is any contemporary, it is every third resident of Russia, every third resident of the whole world.

Goncharov wrote a novel about the general worldly laziness of living in order to overcome it himself and help people cope with this disease, but it turned out that he justified this laziness only because he lovingly described every step, every weighty idea of the bearer of this laziness. It is not surprising, because Oblomov’s “crystal soul” still lives in the memories of his friend Stolz, his beloved Olga, his wife Pshenitsyna and, finally, in the tear-stained eyes of Zakhar, who continues to go to his master’s grave. Thus, Goncharov's conclusion– to find the golden mean between the “crystal world” and the real world, finding one’s calling in creativity, love, and development.

Criticism

Readers of the 21st century rarely read a novel, and if they do, they don’t read it to the end. It is easy for some lovers of Russian classics to agree that the novel is partly boring, but it is boring in a deliberate, suspenseful way. However, this does not frighten reviewers, and many critics have enjoyed and are still dismantling the novel down to its psychological bones.

One popular example is the work of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Dobrolyubov. In his article “What is Oblomovism?” the critic gave an excellent description of each of the heroes. The reviewer sees the reasons for Oblomov’s laziness and inability to organize his life in his upbringing and in the initial conditions where the personality was formed, or, rather, was not.

He writes that Oblomov is “not a stupid, apathetic nature, without aspirations and feelings, but a person who is also looking for something in his life, thinking about something. But the vile habit of receiving satisfaction of his desires not from his own efforts, but from others, developed in him an apathetic immobility and plunged him into a pitiful state of moral slavery.”

Vissarion Grigorievich Belinsky saw the origins of apathy in the influence of an entire society, since he believed that a person is initially a blank canvas created by nature, therefore some development or degradation of a particular person is on the scales that belong directly to society.

Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarev, for example, looked at the word “Oblomovism” as an eternal and necessary organ for the body of literature. According to him, “Oblomovism” is a vice of Russian life.

The sleepy, routine atmosphere of rural, provincial life complemented what the efforts of parents and nannies did not manage to accomplish. The hothouse plant, which in childhood had not become familiar not only with the excitement of real life, but even with childhood sorrows and joys, smelled of a stream of fresh, living air. Ilya Ilyich began to study and developed so much that he understood what life consists of, what a person’s responsibilities are. He understood this intellectually, but could not sympathize with the perceived ideas about duty, work and activity. The fatal question: why live and work? “The question, which usually arises after numerous disappointments and disappointed hopes, directly, by itself, without any preparation, presented itself in all its clarity to the mind of Ilya Ilyich,” the critic wrote in his famous article.

Alexander Vasilyevich Druzhinin examined the “Oblomovism” and its main representative in more detail. The critic identified 2 main aspects of the novel - external and internal. One lies in the life and practice of daily routine, while the other occupies the area of the heart and head of any person, which never ceases to collect crowds of destructive thoughts and feelings about the rationality of existing reality. If you believe the critic, then Oblomov became dead because he chose to become dead rather than live in eternal incomprehensible vanity, betrayal, self-interest, financial imprisonment and absolute indifference to beauty. However, Druzhinin did not consider “Oblomovism” an indicator of attenuation or decay, he saw sincerity and conscience in it, and believed that this positive assessment of “Oblomovism” was the merit of Goncharov himself.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is a significant work of Russian classical literature. This is the book that you come to a true understanding of in adulthood, gradually understanding its meaning and the characters of the characters. The main character of the work is the young landowner Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. Some call Oblomov a thoughtful poet, others a philosopher, and others just a lazy person. However, there is no single view of Oblomov’s image that would fully and holistically characterize him as a person. Every reader who knows how to think and think will form his own individual opinion about him.

The history of the creation of the novel "Oblomov"

Ivan Goncharov created “Oblomov” under the influence of special impressions and thoughts. The novel did not appear suddenly, not out of the blue, but became a response to the author’s own views. The history of the creation of the novel “Oblomov”, without a doubt, leaves a significant imprint on the general atmosphere of the work, against the background of which the course of the narrative takes place. The idea was born gradually, like the building blocks of a big house. Shortly before “Oblomov,” Goncharov wrote the story “Dashing Illness,” which served as the basis for the creation of the novel.

The creation of the novel “Oblomov” coincides with the socio-political crisis in Russia. For that time, the image of an apathetic landowner who could not independently take responsibility for his own life or make responsible decisions turned out to be very relevant. The main idea of the work was formed under the influence of the views of the critic Belinsky, who was strongly impressed by Goncharov’s first novel, “Ordinary History.” Belinsky noted that in Russian literature the image of a “superfluous person” has already appeared, who cannot adapt to the reality around him and is useless for society. This man is a freethinker, a sensitive dreamer, a poet and a philosopher. Romanticism in his nature is associated with extreme inactivity, laziness and apathy. Thus, the history of the novel “Oblomov” is connected with and reflects the life of the noble class in the second half of the 19th century.

Ideological and compositional component

The novel consists of four parts, each of which fully reveals the state of the main character and reflects the changes taking place in his soul: a weak-willed, lazy existence; transformation of the heart, spiritual, moral struggle and, finally, dying. Physical death is the result that Ilya Ilyich comes to. The history of the creation of the novel “Oblomov” emphasizes the hero’s inability to go beyond his indecision and reluctance to engage in any activity.

The situation in Oblomov's house

As soon as you entered the room where Ilya Ilyich was lying on the sofa, you could find in the interior, in the arrangement of things, an incredible resemblance to the owner himself: dust could be seen everywhere, plates that had not been cleared away after dinner. The role of Oblomov in the novel “Oblomov” is characteristic and decisive. She sets an example of an existence that leads to spiritual death.

Oblomov is not adapted to life, his whole appearance and habits express the desire to hide, to take refuge from the oppressive reality: his shoes were wide and stood next to the sofa, so “he always immediately fell into them”; the robe was so wide and loose that “Oblomov could wrap himself in it twice.” Servant Zakhar is similar to his master: getting up from his bed once again is a feat for him, cleaning the rooms is an unimaginable worry and fuss. Zakhar is immersed in his thoughts, he has known the “master” since infancy, which is why he sometimes allows himself to argue with him.

What is the main character like?

The characterization of Oblomov in the novel “Oblomov” is shown to the reader literally from the first pages. Ilya Ilyich is a sensitive nature, apathetic, emotional, but opposed to any activity. Movement was a difficult task for him; he did not want and did not strive to change anything in his life. Lying down was a normal, habitual state for him, and in order to get Oblomov off the couch, an out-of-the-ordinary event had to happen. The need to fill out business papers tired him, the thoughts of having to move out of the apartment worried him and made him sad. However, instead of straining his will and mind and doing what is required of him, he continues to be inactive.

“Why am I like this?”

The characterization of Oblomov in the novel “Oblomov” reflects the main idea of the work - the collapse of the hero’s moral ideals and gradual dying. demonstrates to the reader the origins of Ilya Ilyich’s weak-willed character. In a dream, the hero sees himself small, his native village of Oblomovka, in which he was born and raised. As a child, they tried in every possible way to protect him from real life: they were not allowed to leave the house in the cold and frost, to climb fences, he studied only on those days when there were no holidays, and they happened so often that “it was not worth going.” Food was a cult; holidays were loved here and large tables were set.

Oblomov absorbed the beliefs of his native village and became part of the existence that its inhabitants led. “Oblomovism” is a consequence of such a worldview: to go with the flow, only occasionally waking up from an anxious, restless sleep. The role of Oblomov in the novel “Oblomov” is great and significant: to identify the problem of spiritual oblivion of the individual, its dissolution in everyday details and unwillingness to live.

Oblomov and Stolz

Ilya Ilyich’s closest and only friend throughout his life was and remained Andrei Ivanovich Stolts. Despite the difference in characters, they had a strong friendship since childhood. Stolz is active, energetic, constantly in business and on the road. He cannot sit in one place for a minute: movement is the essence of his nature. He has achieved a lot in life thanks to his external efforts, but deep poetic experiences are inaccessible to him. Stolz prefers not to dream, but to act.

Oblomov is apathetic, he doesn’t even have enough energy to finish reading the book he started (often it lay on the table for several weeks). Poets excited his imagination, awakened movements of thoughts and feelings in his soul, but he never went further than these thoughts and feelings. Thought was his nature, but he did nothing to develop it further. With their contrasting characters, these two people complemented each other and formed a single harmonious whole.

Test of love

The main characters of the novel have a significant influence on Ilya Ilyich’s condition. Oblomov was inspired by a great feeling for Olga Ilyinskaya, which forced him to temporarily leave his cozy world and go out into the outside life, filled with colors and sounds. Despite the fact that Olga often made fun of Oblomov and considered him too lazy and apathetic, this man was dear and close to her.

Their beautiful and painfully touching love story is shocking and gives rise to a feeling of regret and indelible bitterness in the soul. Oblomov considers himself unworthy of love, which is why he writes Olga a painful and at the same time exciting letter. It can be assumed that he anticipates their imminent breakup, but this circumstance rather indicates Ilya Ilyich’s unwillingness to accept feelings towards himself, doubts that he is worthy of the young lady’s love. The hero is afraid of being rejected and hesitates for a long time to propose to Olga. In the letter, he writes that her love is a preparation for a future feeling, but not love itself. In the end, the hero will be right: later Olga confesses to him that she loved the “future Oblomov” in him, and cherished the possibility of new love in her feelings for him.

Why didn’t love for Olga Ilyinskaya save Oblomov?

With the appearance of Olga and Oblomov, it seems that he rose from the sofa, but only for a while, in order to be able to express to the young lady his admiration for her beauty and youth. His feelings are sincere and strong, but they lack dynamics and decisiveness.

Instead of resolving pressing issues related to the apartment and preparations for the wedding, Oblomov continues to close himself off from life. During the day he sleeps or reads books, rarely visits his bride, shifts responsibility for his happiness to strangers: he asks others to take care of the apartment, to resolve matters with rent in Oblomovka.

Why does this book remain relevant today?

The history of the creation of the novel “Oblomov” is closely connected with the historical events of the 50-60s and is an excellent monument to the noble society of the 19th century. Modern readers may be interested in the book for questions that are of an eternal nature. This is the choice of life direction, love line, philosophical views and thoughts. The heroes of the novel "Oblomov" are different, but they are all living people with individual character traits. Each of them has their own advantages and disadvantages, their own beliefs, views on the world. For example, Andrei Stolts is quite ambitious, demanding of himself and those around him, Olga Ilyinskaya is a romantic nature who is not alien to poetry and music, Zakhar is absent-minded and lazy.

The characterization of the novel leads the reader to understand the simple truth. Oblomov was ruined not by the blow that interrupted his earthly existence, but by his inactive, apathetic attitude towards life, towards himself. It is important not to sleep through life, not to waste it in vain, but to realize one’s essence through its various manifestations, such as activity, culture, art, personal happiness.

The history of the creation of the novel "Oblomov"

In 1838, Goncharov wrote a humorous story called “Dashing Illness,” which dealt with a strange epidemic that originated in Western Europe and came to St. Petersburg: empty dreams, castles in the air, “the blues.” This “dashing sickness” is a prototype of “Oblomovism”.

The entire novel “Oblomov” was first published in 1859 in the first four issues of the magazine “Otechestvennye zapiski”. The beginning of work on the novel dates back to an earlier period. In 1849, one of the central chapters of “Oblomov” was published - “Oblomov’s Dream”, which the author himself called “the overture of the entire novel.” The author asks the question: what is “Oblomovism” - a “golden age” or death, stagnation? In “The Dream...” the motifs of staticity and immobility, stagnation prevail, but at the same time one can feel the author’s sympathy, good-natured humor, and not just satirical negation.

As Goncharov later claimed, in 1849 the plan for the novel “Oblomov” was ready and the draft version of its first part was completed. “Soon,” Goncharov wrote, “after the publication of Ordinary History in 1847 in Sovremennik, I already had Oblomov’s plan ready in my mind.” In the summer of 1849, when “Oblomov’s Dream” was ready, Goncharov made a trip to his homeland, to Simbirsk, whose life retained the imprint of patriarchal antiquity. In this small town, the writer saw many examples of the “sleep” that the inhabitants of his fictional Oblomovka slept.

Work on the novel was interrupted due to Goncharov's trip around the world on the frigate Pallada. Only in the summer of 1857, after the publication of the travel essays “Frigate “Pallada””, Goncharov continued work on “Oblomov”. In the summer of 1857, he went to the resort of Marienbad, where within a few weeks he completed three parts of the novel. In August of the same year, Goncharov began working on the last, fourth, part of the novel, the final chapters of which were written in 1858. “It will seem unnatural,” Goncharov wrote to one of his friends, “how can a person finish in a month what he could not finish in a year? To this I will answer that if there were no years, nothing would be written per month. The fact of the matter is that the novel was taken down to the smallest scenes and details and all that remained was to write it down.” Goncharov recalled this in his article “An Extraordinary History”: “The whole novel had already been completely processed in my head - and I transferred it to paper, as if taking dictation...” However, while preparing the novel for publication, Goncharov rewrote it in 1858 “Oblomov”, adding new scenes to it, and made some cuts. Having completed work on the novel, Goncharov said: “I wrote my life and what grows into it.”

Goncharov admitted that the idea of Oblomov was influenced by Belinsky’s ideas. The most important circumstance that influenced the concept of the work is considered to be Belinsky’s speech on Goncharov’s first novel, “An Ordinary Story.” In his article “A Look at Russian Literature of 1847,” Belinsky analyzed in detail the image of a noble romantic, an “extra person” claiming an honorable place in life, and emphasized the inactivity of such a romantic in all spheres of life, his laziness and apathy. Demanding the merciless exposure of such a hero, Belinsky also pointed to the possibility of a different ending to the novel than in “An Ordinary History.” When creating the image of Oblomov, Goncharov used a number of characteristic features outlined by Belinsky in his analysis of “An Ordinary History.”

The image of Oblomov also contains autobiographical features. By Goncharov’s own admission, he himself was a sybarite, he loved serene peace, which gives rise to creativity. In his travel diary “Frigate “Pallada””, Goncharov admitted that during the trip he spent most of the time in the cabin, lying on the sofa, not to mention the difficulty with which he decided to sail around the world. In the friendly circle of the Maykovs, who treated the writer with great love, Goncharov was given the ambiguous nickname “Prince de Lazy.”

The appearance of the novel “Oblomov” coincided with the most acute crisis of serfdom. The image of an apathetic landowner, incapable of activity, who grew up and was brought up in the patriarchal atmosphere of a manorial estate, where the gentlemen lived serenely thanks to the labor of serfs, was very relevant for his contemporaries. ON THE. Dobrolyubov in his article “What is Oblomovism?” (1859) praised the novel and this phenomenon. In the person of Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, it is shown how environment and upbringing disfigure a person’s beautiful nature, giving rise to laziness, apathy, and lack of will.

Oblomov’s path is a typical path of provincial Russian nobles of the 1840s, who came to the capital and found themselves outside the circle of public life. Service in the department with the inevitable expectation of promotion, from year to year the monotony of complaints, petitions, establishing relationships with clerks - this turned out to be beyond Oblomov’s strength. He preferred colorless lying on the sofa, devoid of hopes and aspirations, to moving up the career ladder. One of the reasons for “dashing illness,” according to the author, is the imperfection of society. This thought of the author is conveyed to the hero: “Either I don’t understand this life, or it’s no good.” This phrase by Oblomov makes us recall well-known images of “superfluous people” in Russian literature (Onegin, Pechorin, Bazarov, etc.).

Goncharov wrote about his hero: “I had one artistic ideal: this is the image of an honest and kind, sympathetic nature, an extremely idealist, struggling all his life, seeking the truth, encountering lies at every step, being deceived and falling into apathy and powerlessness.” In Oblomov, the dreaminess that was rushing out in Alexander Aduev, the hero of “An Ordinary Story,” lies dormant. At heart, Oblomov is also a lyricist, a person who knows how to feel deeply - his perception of music, immersion in the captivating sounds of the aria “Casta diva” indicate that not only “dove meekness”, but also passions are accessible to him. Each meeting with his childhood friend Andrei Stolts, the complete opposite of Oblomov, brings the latter out of his sleepy state, but not for long: the determination to do something, to somehow arrange his life takes possession of him for a short time, while Stolts is next to him. However, Stolz does not have enough time to put Oblomov on a different path. But in any society, at all times, there are people like Tarantiev, who are always ready to help for selfish purposes. They determine the channel along which Ilya Ilyich’s life flows.

Published in 1859, the novel was hailed as a major social event. The Pravda newspaper, in an article dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Goncharov’s birth, wrote: “Oblomov appeared in an era of public excitement, several years before the peasant reform, and was perceived as a call to fight against inertia and stagnation.” Immediately after its publication, the novel became the subject of discussion in criticism and among writers.