Resumen
Resumen de Oblómov
Para quién es
For readers who love humane comedy, rich detail and intimate character studies, and anyone who has put off something important. Oblomov explores comfort, indecision and the hope that love can inspire change.
De qué trata este libro
Oblomov is a Russian novel by Ivan Goncharov, published in 1859. It follows Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, a kind and dreamy landowner in St Petersburg who spends nearly all his days lying on a sofa in a dressing gown. Goncharov worked on it for about ten years, and it appeared just before the great reforms that ended serfdom in Russia. It is a comic book, but it is also a sad one.
The novel gives you one of the most complete portraits of a lazy man in any literature, and it makes you like him. Oblomov is gentle, honest and imaginative. He is also unable to answer a letter, move house or manage his estate. Around him stand a servant who shares his habits, hangers-on who use him, a brisk friend who tries to rescue him, and a young woman who believes she can change him.
The book gave Russian a word, Oblomovism, for a life of drift and comfort that wears away a person's will. Readers have argued ever since about whether the word is a cruel joke or a tender warning. Let us begin where the novel begins, on a morning in bed, with a man who cannot decide whether to get up.
En este resumen
- 1A man who will not get upFree
- 2Visitors who each want something
- 3Zakhar, the letter and the move
- 4The dream of Oblomovka
- 5Stolz, the friend who pulls him out
- 6Olga, and the first spring of love
- 7Love meets the old habits
- 8What Oblomovism really means
- 9How Goncharov tells the story
Idea clave 1 de 9
A man who will not get up
The novel opens in a rented apartment on Gorokhovaya Street in St Petersburg. Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is lying in bed, as he does on most mornings and for much of every day. He is a landowner in his early thirties, with soft hands, a round pleasant face and a loose Eastern dressing gown that he loves like an old friend. He owns an estate called Oblomovka, with several hundred serfs, far from the capital.
Goncharov takes his time over the room. There is dust on the furniture, a cobweb on the ceiling and an old newspaper that has not been read for a year. A dinner plate with a bone on it sits where it was left last night. The mess is not the mess of a poor man. It is the mess of a man who has stopped caring about small tasks and has found that nothing terrible happens when he lets them go.
Oblomov is not stupid, and he is not cruel. He has a warm heart and a fine imagination, and he often lies there planning great improvements to his estate, new roads, a better house, a school. The plans are clear and lovely in his head. But the step from plan to action never comes, because action means effort, and effort means disturbing his peace.
This is the first big point of the book. Oblomov's laziness is not simple. He once held a government post in the capital and left it after a small mistake, afraid of the blame. He found it easier to retire than to face an unpleasant boss. Since then he has built a whole philosophy around staying still.
Goncharov asks you to watch this man with amusement, and then with unease. Many of us have a sofa of our own. We know the pleasure of saying later, and we know how heavy later becomes. From the first pages you can see why readers laugh at Oblomov and then stop laughing.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Ilya Ilyich Oblomov
- A gentle, dreamy landowner who depends on Zakhar and resists his friend Stolz's efforts to stir him into action.
- Zakhar
- Oblomov's devoted, grumbling servant shares his master's settled habits and reluctance to exert himself.
- Andrei Stolz
- Oblomov's energetic boyhood friend combines German and Russian family backgrounds and urges him toward a more active life.
- Olga Ilyinskaya
- A thoughtful young woman introduced through Stolz, she loves Oblomov and hopes to awaken his neglected abilities.
- Agafya Pshenitsyna
- A kind widow who keeps house for Oblomov, she provides the domestic comfort he associates with childhood.
- Tarantiev
- A bullying acquaintance of Oblomov, he exploits the landowner's trusting nature for his own advantage.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 60,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h
- Listening time6 h 40 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about Oblómov
What is Oblomov about?
Oblomov is about a good-natured Russian landowner who lies on his sofa and cannot face practical decisions. Friends, a servant and a young woman try to change him, and the book asks why willpower fades.
What does Oblomovism mean?
Oblomovism means a habit of apathy and daydreaming that keeps a person from acting. The critic Dobrolyubov used it to describe the idle gentry class, but it is now used for anyone who drifts and delays.
When was Oblomov written and is it a true story?
Oblomov was published in 1859, shortly before serfdom ended in Russia. It is a work of fiction, though it draws on Goncharov's knowledge of provincial estates and St Petersburg life.
Is Oblomov hard to read?
It is easy to follow. The first part takes place in one morning. The humour and the childhood dream chapter help, and the pace quickens when Stolz and Olga appear.
Who is Stolz in Oblomov?
Andrei Stolz is Oblomov's childhood friend, the son of a German father and a Russian mother. He is energetic and practical, the opposite of Oblomov, and he keeps trying to help him.