| Description |
This senior honors project will examine the Russian nineteenth century literary character known as "Oblomov". This character, who is defined by his utter inability to act despite the great plans he conceives, is abundant in the literature of the time, and seems to spread and develop throughout Russian literature. With aid of the examples of selected novels, this text will attempt to determine the character's origin and the reason for his existence. The texts selected are Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, Lermontov's Hero of Our Time, Turgenev's Rudin, Griboyedov's The Trouble With Reason (also known as Woe from Wit), Goncharov's Oblomov and Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground. They were selected for their diversity in style, ranging from Pushkin's novel in verse to Griboyedov's play and Lermontov's diary. There is also an evident development in the structure of the character throughout the years, which is illustrated by these texts. As a basis for comparison of theses diverse texts, Dobrolyubov's article it is Oblomovitis? was used, since it is the first document to distinguish the character as unique and to make comparisons among its literary incarnations while pointing out the development which occurred between the publication of Eugene Onegin and Oblomov. In this article, society and; superficial education are cited as the main culprits for the existence of Oblomovitis, a conclusion shared in this text. But Oblomovitis goes deeper, leaving its marks even on Russia today, which is also shown here. No definite cure for Oblomovitis is being prescribed, however, since it is deemed to be still undetermined how this cure could be achieved. |
