Oblomov - Part 1 (chapters 1-5)

[Amalie]

Chapters 1 to 5. The fifth chapter is rather long, if you are commenting on something beyond Part 1 please use "spoiler alerts" where they are necessary.

Enjoy!

[Janith]

This's one of my all time favorite Russian novels. A very unique story. Have never come across a protagonist like Oblamov before. Such a lazy, spoiled character.. It takes about 70 - 80 pages or so for him to get out of his bed. To me, first couple of chapters are mostly about enjoying the conversations between Oblamov, his crazy servant , his bosom friend Stoltz and the evil friend Taranteyev. See how badly Stoltz tries to convince Oblamov just to get off his bed !! This book is loads of fun !

[Shahistha]

Janith wrote: "This's one of my all time favorite Russian novels. A very unique story. Have never come across a protagonist like Oblamov before. Such a lazy, spoiled character.. It takes about 70 - 80 pages or..."

Just started reading. It surely seems different from the other Russian novels I've enjoyed so far. And like you said, the conversations are really interesting. I hate this Taranteyev.. hope Stoltz will punch him in the face !

[Dmitry]

I'm Russian and I'm reading Oblomov in Russian. The novel is included to obligatory program in the last classes of secondary school. This time is the first one that I'm reading this book. During school times when I had a summer assignment to read Oblomov I was simply so bored! Tens of pages how main character gets up. Reading now I find it really fascinating and it is extremely interesting for me. Especially when I permanently relocated from my birthplace to St.Petersburg, where the main plot takes place.

Two things that made me smile. When Oblomov is adviced to relocate from Gorokhovaya street to 'Vyborgskaya storona' he replies that it is a dull suburb and in winter the wolves come up there. Nowadays instead of wolves there are 20+ storey buildings, A+ class business centers and huge shopping malls. The second thing that made me smile is the description of Oblomov's apartment in Gorokhovaya. It is said that it was robbed only once. This fact is presented as a special advantage of that flat :)

[Rachel]

Will there be a separate thread for the rest of Part 1? My version (translated by Pearl, 2006) says that there are 9 chapters total. Just want to be sure, this isn't the first time different versions have been split differently.

[Rachel]

Just finished chapter 1. If you want a deep thought as to how Oblomov relates to us today, then I would say that he represents how we're all perpetually busy and how dangerous it is to fall behind, thus trapped by our business. But seriously, Oblomov and his equally lazy servant Zakhar crack me up.

[hythm]

Rachel wrote: "Will there be a separate thread for the rest of Part 1? My version (translated by Pearl, 2006) says that there are 9 chapters total. Just want to be sure, this isn't the first time different vers..."

mine has 11 chapters
didnt find it very long read though
it is ok not that long and the writing or the translation makes it a very easy read

[hythm]

been a while since had fun reading something
it is an interesting story and oblomov is quite alive
i did find -more than i am willing to admit- between him and myself
kinda troubling

[Wes]

I was somewhat drawn to the book for the first two chapters. But then in chapter three (or close to it), I was hit with Oblomov's dreams about Utopian worlds and metaphysical thoughts about life. That's when I put the book down, because I was interested in more practical or matter-of-fact ways to look at the materialistic that Oblomov lived. The chapter on the dreams was such a disconnect from reality, and I didn't quite like that. I thought the book had potential, but unless someone tells me there's a lot of merit towards the middle or end of the book, I don't see myself finishing it.

[hythm]

well brace yourself, you still will have a few chapters about slotz childhood uas well
those are Awful
then the book pick up the pace

[Dmitry]

I liked the chapter about Stolz childhood. Especially the ending. Found it really strong :)

[Rachel]

So, I know that I'm super late, but now that I have time to get back to reading this, I'll post some of my thoughts. I don't think that I mentioned this earlier, but when I first read about Zahkar, I felt a bit of sympathy for him in terms of how far the family, and he, had fallen. Which disappeared when he started talking.

[Rachel]

A few thoughts after reading about Volkov's visit:

I feel like we have all been Oblomov at some point - in that someone comes to visit and we just aren't prepared. Maybe (probably) our places don't look as bad as Oblomov's did, but the dishes weren't washed, the floor needed to be swept, or something in general was in disarray.

I said above that Oblomov can be a symbol of "busyness" versus "laziness," but I'd like to take that even further to say that it could even be extended to introversion versus extroversion. I know that those concepts weren't around back then, but the concept still stands: what introvert wasn't exhausted just reading Volkov's schedule of visiting days? Or his remark about having to make ten more stops to visit people after leaving Oblomov? Oblomov said that sounded exhausting - I was exhausted just reading about it! But I'm sure that there are people who would love to have that kind of schedule. Chalk it up to different strokes for different folks.

And last but not least: I find it interesting that Volkov can put a time frame to exactly when he fell in love. I feel like in Russian literature, characters tend to start loving someone, as opposed to the American idea of falling in love with someone. It reminds me of an article written by an Indian-American woman - she asked her father, who was in an arranged marriage with her mother, how he felt about that affected their relationship. He said that they were lucky because, unlike Americans, they got to choose to learn to love each other - a stark contrast to "falling in love," which is usually presented as something outside of a person's control. Honestly, I think it's a bit of both - you can find yourself, unconsciously, starting to love someone and choosing to learn to love them. I just think it's interesting how both ideals are expressed in the arts.