SOURCE: "Oblomov and Oblomovism," and "The Ravine," in Goncharov, Yale University Press, 1954, pp. 27-37, 37-47.

In the following excerpt, Lavrin studies style, theme, plot, and character in Oblomov and The Ravine, and provides a critical summary of both works.

Oblomov and Oblomovism

1

The general theme of Goncharov's Oblomov is similar to that of A Common Story, but here it is deepened into a tragedy of passivity and of that peculiar type of indolence which soon became connected with the name of Oblomov not only in Russia but also in other parts of the world. There were several Russian authors, including Gogol, who had tried to portray the lazybones in fiction, yet none of them was able to endow him with the roundness and reality typical of Goncharov's hero. For Oblomov is not only a picture of a passive, vegetative existence—it is also a great character study of...