Oblomov

Oblomov is a novel written by Ivan Goncharov and originally published in 1859.

Oblomov is a listless and disillusioned young landowner. He lives in a rented apartment in St. Petersburg on the income of Oblomovka, the estate he has inherited and never visits, with a servant named Zakhar.

Fearful and sullen of everything outside his home, even his own room, he spends his days lying in bed, dependent on his servant for everything.

His friend Andrei Shtolz, on the other hand, has all the opposite values: he is active, hardworking, and constantly changing and moving. Shtolz gets him out of the apartment and introduces him to young Olga, who takes on the project of rousing him. For a while it works — until it becomes clear what keeping it up would cost him every day for the rest of his life...

The main theme of the novel is the duality and confrontation between activity and inactivity, represented by the two main characters of the story.

For this edition of Oblomov the English translation by C. J. Hogarth has been used.