He built his first novel in a drawn-out and uneconomical manner on a whole series of intrigues unrelated to each other, and thereby deprived both the stories themselves and the characters of the women appearing in them of sufficient significance. In the other two novels, the conflicts are more complete. Here, opposing heroes compete in love for one girl, and her love must crown one of them, the most worthy, from the author’s point of view.
But Goncharov’s love conflicts are unique. If the heroes of Herzen and Turgenev call their beloved women beyond the boundaries of family and everyday interests, then the heroes of Goncharov, even the “positive” ones, cannot and do not want to do this. Only Volokhov calls on Vera to become a comrade in his cause. But this is only mentioned in general characteristics, and in the scenes of the plot, Mark only achieves Vera’s love. Therefore, it is easier for Goncharov’s heroines, although in their views they are at the level of their environment, to discover moral superiority over their fans than for the heroines of Turgenev and Herzen. Liza Adueva, and even more Olga and Vera, with their dissatisfaction, with their impulses, seem to be asking to go beyond the boundaries of that sphere of life, that circle of ideas that the author outlined for them.
All these features of plot construction were undoubtedly influenced by general view writer for life, which he sometimes expressed and the approach of the narrative. Thus, in the introduction to Part IV of Oblomov, Goncharov talks about the changes that have taken place in the world during the year of Oblomov’s illness. He has a somewhat condescending attitude towards events public life(“This year brought many changes in different places of the world: there the region was excited, and there it calmed down; there some luminary of the world set, there another shone ...”, etc.), and then turns with interest to the depiction of Oblomov’s life and Pshenitsyna. This life “changed with such slow gradualness as the geological changes of our planet.” The slow, “organic” movement of everyday life, the “physiognomy” of its everyday life attracts the writer more than the “thunderstorms” and “storms” of personal passions and, especially, political conflicts.
All this found expression in the composition of Goncharov’s novels. It is distinguished by the slowness and leisurely development of the action and the narration about it. Plot episodes that develop love conflicts and are in a causal-temporal relationship are surrounded on all sides by Goncharov with numerous episodes connected to each other only by a temporary, chronicle sequence. Such episodes serve the writer as a means of revealing the lifestyle and thoughts of the characters and are therefore written out in detail and carefully.
Especially great place occupy in the text of novels those plot episodes that play the role of exposition characters. Even in " Ordinary history“, in which the writer’s style has not yet fully developed, the Aduevs’ exposition occupies over one quarter of the entire text of the novel, and only after that does the depiction of Alexander’s love encounters begin. In “Oblomov,” the exposition of Oblomov and Stolz, along with their “backstories,” is even longer. It occupies 3/8 of the text of the work - the acquaintance of Oblomov and Olga occurs only in the middle of Chapter IV of the second part. In “The Precipice” the quantitative ratio of episodes of exposition and episodes of conflict is exactly the same - the return of Vera and the estate, after which love conflicts begin to emerge, occurs in the middle of the second part of the novel.
But the episodes developing the conflict are not only preceded by large expositions, they are further, right up to the end of the novels, interspersed with chronicle scenes, where the characterization of the characters’ lifestyle and thoughts is deepened. In Goncharov’s first novel, in parallel with Alexander’s love affairs, his meetings with his uncle and aunt take place and their disputes continue on the topic of “the ability to live.” In Oblomov both love stories end at the 4th chapter of the last part and the next 7 chapters are devoted to depicting Oblomov’s life with Pshenitsyna and Stoltsev in their cottage. In “The Precipice”, episodes revealing Vera’s relationship with Raisky and Volokhov alternate with chronicle scenes of everyday life in Malinovka, disputes between Raisky and his grandmother, Kozlov, Volokhov, etc.
But even in scenes of love conflicts, the development of the action is devoid of swiftness, sharp and unexpected turns. If in the novels of Turgenev and Herzen the main characters, who invest civil-romantic meaning in personal relationships, quickly follow the path of love relationships and soon achieve them climaxes, then in Goncharov’s novels love relationship heroes, devoid of civic pathos, take shape slowly. They gradually mature in the everyday exchange of opinions and impressions, sometimes also turning into disputes about the “ability” and “inability” to live. Their image therefore requires large number episodes and details characterizing the actions, words, thoughts of the characters. All this is especially evident in the scenes of Olga’s rapprochement with Oblomov, then with Stolz, and in Raisky’s attempts to get closer to Vera.
And if Turgenev in revealing the love-romantic moods of the heroes great value landscapes play a different and much smaller role in Goncharov. Even in “The Precipice” - Goncharov’s only estate novel - the depiction of nature does not serve as a means of directly embodying the experiences of the characters. Here, as in the “prehistory” of Oblomov and Aduev, nature is only an accessory in the everyday characteristics of the estate Noble life and only emphasizes the originality of its patriarchal way of life. Therefore, Goncharov’s depiction of nature is almost devoid of any actual emotional, lyrical expressiveness.
This property of Goncharov’s style comes out especially clearly in his mature romances- “Oblomov” and “Obryv” and mainly in the images of heroes associated with the patriarchal way of life. Thus, the portrait of Oblomov includes not only the image of his good-natured and swollen face, his full body, but also his robe, and shoes, and the ability to get his feet into them without looking, and his lying on the sofa, and his tendency to eat while lying down, and helpless attempts to get dressed, and the uncleaned dishes around, and all the untidiness and dustiness of his room, etc. . So, portrait characteristic Berezhkova includes not only her short-cropped gray hair and a kind look, and the rays of wrinkles around her lips, but also her imperious manners, and her cane, and her receipts and expenditure books, and all the household items of life in a village style, with hospitality and treats.
In portraits of heroes less associated with the patriarchal-noble way of life, this principle of depiction is of less importance.
All these features of plot construction undoubtedly reflected the writer’s general view of life, which he sometimes expressed during the course of the narrative. Thus, in the introduction to Part IV of Oblomov, Goncharov talks about the changes that have taken place in the world during the year of Oblomov’s illness. He has a somewhat condescending attitude towards the events of public life (“This year has brought many changes in different places of the world: there it excited the region, and there it calmed down; there some luminary of the world set, another shone there...”, etc.), and then turns with interest to the depiction of the lives of Oblomov and Pshenitsyna. This life “changed with such slow gradualness as the geological changes of our planet.” The slow, “organic” movement of everyday life, the “physiognomy” of its everyday life attracts the writer to a greater extent than the “thunderstorms” and “storms” of personal passions and, especially, political conflicts.
This property of Goncharov’s style appears especially clearly in his mature novels – “Oblomov” and “The Precipice” and mainly in the images of heroes associated with the patriarchal way of life. Thus, the portrait of Oblomov includes not only an image of his good-natured and swollen face, his full body, but also his robe, and shoes, and the ability to get into them with his feet without looking, and his lying on the sofa, and his tendency to eat while lying down, and helpless attempts dress, and the uncleaned dishes around, and all the untidiness and dustiness of his room, etc. Thus, the portrait characteristics of Berezhkova include not only her short-cropped gray hair and a kind look, and the rays of wrinkles around her lips, but also her imperious manners, and her a cane, and its receipts and expenditure books, and all the household goods of life in a village style, with hospitality and treats.
But the episodes developing the conflict are not only preceded by large expositions, they are further, right up to the end of the novels, interspersed with chronicle scenes, where the characterization of the characters’ lifestyle and thoughts is deepened. In Goncharov’s first novel, in parallel with Alexander’s love affairs, his meetings with his uncle and aunt take place and their disputes continue on the topic of “the ability to live.” In “Oblomov” both love stories end by the 4th chapter of the last part and the next 7 chapters are devoted to depicting Oblomov’s life with Pshenitsyna and Stoltsev in their cottage. In “The Precipice”, episodes revealing Vera’s relationship with Raisky and Volokhov alternate with chronicle scenes of everyday life in Malinovka, disputes between Raisky and his grandmother, Kozlov, Volokhov, etc.
The plot and conflict of Goncharov’s “Oblomov” contain almost everything that had already been accumulated by Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century:
- The plot is based on the love of the main character and Olga Ilyinskaya,
- The conflict is based on the contradiction between the main character and the reality in which he lives.
But “Oblomov” would not have become a milestone in the development of Russian literature and in the self-knowledge of Russian national character, if only its plot and conflict had not been resolved so independently and in a new way.
Conflict in the novel"Oblomov"
The story of Ilya Ilyich’s love for Olga Ilyinskaya is solved in a unique way by the author, since the heroes have no external obstacles to happiness. They love each other, they are socially equal, love should have revived the hero to an active life.
But Olga’s love is not capable of doing this, not because such is this love, not because the heroine has a weak character, but because such is Oblomov’s character.
The hero's marriage to Agafya Matveevna, her touching love, the amazing attitude towards Ilya Ilyich also outwardly has no obstacles: the heroes are well off, there is no one who would treat them badly, who would weave intrigues. No, there are no external obstacles in the plot of the novel. But there are internal obstacles. It is they who are reflected in the conflict of the novel.
The bifurcation of the conflict line of the novel
We can say that the conflict in Oblomov seems to bifurcate.
- On the one hand, this is a confrontation between a gifted individual and Russian reality, in which this individual cannot express himself.
- On the other hand, the conflict is inherent in the character of Ilya Ilyich: a richly gifted nature and “Oblomovism” (in the expression. In the novel, both of these confrontations are interconnected, as if intertwined.
Ilya Ilyich Oblomov asks the question “Why am I...like this?” To understand the basics of the hero’s character, the writer introduces us to the world of Oblomovka. The quality that has been brought up for centuries that someone should help you, do for you what you can do yourself, forms a character that is not able to actively express itself in life. N.A. Dobrolyubov wrote:
“It started with the inability to put on stockings and ended with the inability to live.”
But Oblomovka emanates not only the labor of serfs and servants, a sleepy kingdom where everything peacefully breathes love and tranquility, but also that special poetry of Russian patriarchal silence, which gives rise to dreaminess and poetry in Ilyusha, the desire for a high ideal, an inner sense of freedom. These qualities of the Russian character
(“And to this day, Russian people, amid the strict, devoid of fiction reality that surrounds them, love to believe the seductive legends of antiquity...”),
When faced with Russian reality, they reject it. Neither in the service, where there is no human understanding, nor in friends for whom a career is more important, nor in women who are not capable of love, the hero cannot find an ideal, which is why he prefers to “lie on the couch”, not participating in this life, consciously refusing it.
In this, Oblomov’s character turns out to be the last “ extra person"in Russian literature.
The basis of the novel’s conflict is the character of Oblomov
The writer shows that the foundations of this conflict are laid in the character of the hero. He has a faithful friend - Stolz, his complete opposite, he has a beloved woman who is ready for self-sacrifice, but his character as a hero makes him unable to be reborn to life.
What are the traits of this character?
- Laziness, which the reader primarily sees in the main character, was brought up in him from childhood: work is a severe punishment, independence suppressed in childhood (“Those seeking a manifestation of power turned inward and faded away”),
- Lack of systematicity in studies, daydreaming, in which the strengths and talents inherent in Oblomov find an outlet,
- The desire to shift the solution of problems to someone else, the inability to practically resolve pressing problems (estate management).
Love in resolving this internal confrontation is a test for Ilya Ilyich. At first, this feeling changes the hero: he abandons many established habits. But this could not last long. Goncharov writes:
“To go forward means to suddenly throw off the wide robe not only from your shoulders, but from your soul, from your mind; together with the dust and cobwebs from the walls, sweep the cobwebs out of your eyes and see clearly!”
The hero is unable to do this. He refuses Olga. And in this, some see his final downfall, for which there is evidence in the novel, others - decisive self-sacrifice, the understanding that you cannot make your beloved happy. In the love of Agafya Matveevna, the hero finds a unique fulfillment of his ideal, “albeit without poetry.”
Oblomov’s figurative system in conflict resolution
The originality in resolving the conflict is also inherent in the system of images.
These are two women who loved Oblomov,
- active, charming, rich nature of Olga Ilyinskaya,
- and soft, touching in her love and devotion Agafya Matveevna.
Such love cannot be given to a negative hero.
But the main thing in understanding the internal conflict of the protagonist, of course, is the image of Stolz.
This character is the complete opposite of Oblomov. But this hero, who seems to only have positive qualities, still not as attractive as Ilya Ilyich. There seems to be something missing in Stolz. He feels this himself (this is how he feels that Olga, having become his wife, has spiritually outgrown him), so he is so drawn to Oblomov, as if he has something that he does not have.
For all his rationality, orderliness, and progressiveness, Stolz seems to be devoid of dreams and imagination. And this rationality makes his character not Russian (it’s not for nothing that the writer makes the hero’s father a German). A kind of proof of this is the scene of the heroes’ last meeting. When Stolz, outraged by the situation surrounding Oblomov, expresses surprise at how the hero can live with such a woman as Agafya Tikhonovna, Ilya Ilyich, with dignity unexpected for the reader, says that this is his wife, about whom one cannot speak ill. This is where the difference in characters lies. This is it internal conflict in the hero and in his antipode.
I.A. Goncharov showed that patriarchal noble education makes a person like his main character(it’s not for nothing that Oblomov’s surname has become a household name), giving rise to both the worst and the best traits of the national character. This character comes into conflict with reality and withdraws from the struggle, preferring not to participate in it
(“...over the years, excitement and repentance appeared less and less often, and he quietly and gradually settled into a simple and wide coffin for the rest of his existence, made with his own hands”)
Even love cannot revive the hero to an active life. But at the same time, Goncharov’s novel is not just a novel about Russian reality in the mid-nineteenth century, but a novel - a warning, based on the contradictory features of the Russian national character.
Did you like it? Don't hide your joy from the world - share itThe novel was conceived in 1847 and was written over 10 years. In 1849, the chapter “Oblomov’s Dream” was published in the almanac “Literary Collection with Illustrations” at “Sovremennik” as independent work. Published in 1859, the novel was hailed as a major social event.
Like any system, the character sphere of the work is characterized through its components elements(characters) and structure –“a relatively stable way (law) of connecting elements.” This or that image receives the status of a character precisely as an element of a system, a part of the whole, which is especially clearly visible when comparing the images of animals, plants, and things in various works.
In the novel “Oblomov,” Goncharov reflected part of his contemporary reality, showed types and images characteristic of that time, and explored the origins and essence of contradictions in Russian society of the mid-19th century. The author used a number of artistic techniques that contributed to a more complete disclosure of the images, themes and ideas of the work.
Construction literary work plays an important role, and Goncharov used composition as an artistic device. The novel consists of four parts; in the first, the author describes Oblomov’s day in detail, without omitting a single detail, so that the reader gets a complete and detailed picture of the main character’s whole life, because all the days in Oblomov’s life are approximately the same. The image of Oblomov himself is carefully outlined, and when the reader’s way of life and features become clear inner world hero, the author introduces “Oblomov’s Dream” into the fabric of the work, in which he shows the reasons for the emergence of such a worldview in Oblomov, the social conditioning of his psychology. Falling asleep, Oblomov asks himself: “Why am I like this?” - and in a dream he receives an answer to his question. “Oblomov’s Dream” is an exposition of the novel, located not at the beginning, but inside the work; Using such an artistic technique, showing first the character of the hero, and then the origins and conditions of his formation, Goncharov showed the foundations and depths of the soul, consciousness, and psychology of the protagonist.
To reveal the characters' characters, the author also uses the technique of antithesis, which forms the basis for constructing a system of images. The main antithesis is the passive, weak-willed, dreamy Oblomov and the active, energetic Stolz. They are opposed to each other in everything, down to the details: in appearance, in upbringing, attitude to education, lifestyle. If Oblomov in childhood lived in an atmosphere of general moral and intellectual hibernation, which drowned out the slightest attempt to show initiative, then Stolz’s father, on the contrary, encouraged his son’s risky antics, saying that he would make a “good gentleman.” If Oblomov’s life proceeds monotonously, filled with conversations with uninteresting people, squabbles with Zakhar, copious amounts of sleep and food, endless lying on the sofa, then Stolz is always on the move, always busy, always in a hurry somewhere, full of energy. Actually, Stolz’s life, in his expression, is a stormy, rushing river, while Oblomov’s life is a “swamp.” These are two completely opposite characters; Goncharov uses antithesis to more fully reveal the images of Oblomov and Stolz. In general, there are many oppositions in the novel, but the main ones are Oblomov and Stolz, Oblomov and Olga, Olga and Pshenitsyna. The antithesis of Oblomov - Olga is similar to the antithesis of Oblomov - Stolz, only here the lethargy and indifference of Ilya Ilyich is contrasted with the liveliness and insatiable mind of Olga, which constantly requires new food for thought. Such curiosity and breadth of thinking, in turn, are contrasted with Pshenitsyna’s limitations and indifference. To show the sublimity of Olga and the down-to-earthness of Agafya Matveevna, in describing the heroines, Goncharov uses the following technique: speaking about Olga, he pays little attention to her appearance, dwelling in more detail on her inner world; in the description of Pshenitsyna, elbows, shoulders, neck are constantly mentioned - details of the external appearance; thus showing the insignificance and narrowness of her inner world and thinking. The comparison reveals the most typical and significant character traits; This creates a bright and relief image.
The psychologism of the novel lies in the fact that the author explores the inner world of all the characters. To do this, he introduces internal monologues - the hero's reasoning, which he does not say out loud. It’s like a dialogue between a person and himself; So, before “Dream...” Oblomov thinks about his behavior, about how someone else would behave in his place. The monologues show the hero's attitude towards himself and others, towards life, love, death - towards everything; thus again psychology is explored.
Artistic techniques, used by Goncharov, are very diverse. Throughout the novel there is a technique artistic detail, detailed and accurate description of human appearance, nature, interior decoration rooms, that is, everything that helps create in the reader full picture what's happening. How literary device The symbol is also important in the work. Many items have symbolic meaning, for example, Oblomov’s robe is a symbol of his everyday, familiar life. At the beginning of the novel, the main character does not part with his robe; when Olga temporarily “pulls Oblomov out of the swamp” and he comes to life, the robe is forgotten; at the end, "in Pshenitsyna's house, it again finds use, until the end of Oblomov's life. Other symbols - a branch of lilac (Olga's love), Oblomov's slippers (almost like a robe) and others are also of great importance in the novel.
“Oblomov” is not only a socio-historical work, but also a deeply psychological one: the author set himself the goal not just to describe and examine, but to explore the origins, reasons for the formation, characteristics, and influence of a certain social type of psychology on others. I. A. Goncharov achieved this by using a variety of artistic media, creating with their help the most suitable form for the content - composition, system of images, genre, style and language of the work.
The image of Oblomov’s family nest, Oblomovka, not only the place of the hero’s physical birth, but also his spiritual homeland, a place that to the greatest extent corresponds to the inclinations and desires of Ilya Ilyich, arose in the writer’s imagination long before the appearance of the novel. Already in 1843, the key chapter, “Oblomov’s Dream,” was published. For many years the writer nurtured an expensive plan, embodying in the work and its hero a significant part of his thoughts about life, his own spiritual world. He even said that in Oblomov he “wrote his own life and what grew into it.” The writer considered himself in many ways an Oblomovite: he loved peace, comfort, a quiet life. These, in his opinion, are essential conditions for happiness, creativity, and deep comprehension of existence. “Creativity can only appear when life is established; “It doesn’t get along with new, emerging life, because barely emerging phenomena are vague and unstable,” Goncharov thought about this.
The very first chapter of the novel recreates the main contradictions between the hero and the society in which he was forced to find himself, obeying the trends of the times. Oblomov is visited by his acquaintances and friends: Sudbinsky, Volkov, Penkin. Everyone reproaches him for inactivity and calls him to, as it seems to them, a more interesting and full life. Oblomov rightly notices how idleness appears in bustling St. Petersburg under the guise of activity, vigorous activity is essentially empty - it does not produce any tangible results, creativity is replaced by writing to please the unpretentious tastes of the crowd. Oblomov displays intelligence, observation, and the ability to make a fair moral assessment of people and society. To his friend Andrei Stolts, who managed to stir him up and force him to move around the city, do business, and have fun, he quite reasonably says: “I don’t like this life of yours in St. Petersburg! ...The eternal running around, the eternal game of trashy passions, especially greed, interrupting each other's paths, gossip, gossip, clicking on each other, this is looking from head to toe; If you listen to what they are talking about, your head will spin and you will become stupefied. It seems that people look so smart, with such dignity on their faces; All you hear is: “This one was given this, that one got the rent.” - “For mercy, for what?” - someone shouts. “This one was played yesterday at the club; he takes three hundred thousand!” Boredom, boredom, boredom!.. Where is the man here? Where is his integrity? Where did he disappear, how did he exchange for all sorts of little things?”
At the same time, the very appearance of the hero “lying on his side” in an oriental robe and slippers, his eternal squabbles with Zakhar, on whom he is completely dependent, like him, make us think about the contradictions of the character’s inner world. Oblomov is not free from deeply, in the very foundations of his nature, ingrained ideas about his own superiority over all other people on the grounds that he is a Russian gentleman, a descendant of an ancient family. The aristocratic pretensions of the hero are portrayed by the author with humor and irony. But the pathos of ideological anti-serfdom is not characteristic of Goncharov’s novel. The basis of his attitude is the sober understanding that serfdom in Rus' it was not introduced by someone and once, one-time, directively. Social structure society was formed in the process of centuries-long grinding individual parts and institutions to each other. Despite all the obvious shortcomings and even vices, the way of lordly-peasant life that existed for many decades was familiar and viable.
The reader sees the real relationship between the servants and the gentlemen in a kind of everyday psychological refraction, observing the relationship between Zakhar and Ilya Ilyich. In essence, the worldview, life needs, psychological characteristics The master and the servant differ little. And how convincing further development actions, still a feeling of affection and even love, but habitual, allowing for disputes, dissatisfaction with each other, quarrels, firmly binds them. They are both Oblomovites, relatives, people of the same roots.
The writer not only shows Oblomov’s life and his relationships with people, but also gives his internal monologues, in which the hero reproaches himself for inaction, lordship, and laziness. He himself understands his own imperfection more than others. After a detailed introduction and prologue, a leisurely and thorough study begins of the phenomenon that the writer himself designated with the word “Oblomovism”, the hero who embodied it to the fullest extent.
“Oblomov’s Dream” is of utmost importance for understanding the philosophy of existence and way of life on which Ilya Ilyich’s worldview is based. The oppressive lordship that had taken root in Oblomov was absorbed by him from the first steps in life. Idleness, isolation and even all kinds of protection from worries and worries real life accompanied the first steps of a lively, inquisitive, naturally active child. At the same time, there is a lot of poetry in Oblomovka. Love inspires relationships between people here more than anywhere else. With a nostalgic feeling, the author talks about the purity of souls and the absolute moral purity of the Oblomovites. It is true that such a blissful, unclouded state is possible only in a closed, fenced-off great life patriarchal world. It is also true that a person here does not prepare specifically for trials and struggle, and may remain an eternal undergrowth. But the writer cannot help but sigh about the former idyllic harmony, and regret about what is irretrievably gone.
Let us also note such an important fact for understanding the generalized image of Oblomovka in the work that only from there, you never know, regularly or with delays, completely or partially stolen by cunning managers and elders, but flow into the capital, to to the prodigal son, a fragment of Oblomovka, Ilya Ilyich, through him - to numerous clients, well-wishers, parasites, well-wishers, intriguers, businessmen material resources, turning into money so beloved by the capitals. Passions are boiling around them and a struggle is unfolding, requiring any qualities except the calmness, love, and connection of one’s soul with the cycles of the day, year, and life that take place according to the eternal laws. To some this seems monotonous and boring, but the artist unobtrusively emphasizes that only here, in this life, is the true source of the still unshakable, despite all the efforts of the village and city Tarantievs, material wealth and spiritual well-being of the world and man . Here the life-giving springs of national strength still flow from the hidden depths of Mother Earth. The writer’s anxiety is associated with the gradual loosening and unbalance of the traditional person and the world.
This complex set of attitudes toward “Oblomovism” determines the author’s assessments of the hero.
First of all, it should be noted that Oblomov is organically incapable of evil, meanness, and morally unacceptable actions. It is no coincidence that his soul is called the “dove.” The only time the hero is portrayed as truly angry, but for this the vile Tarantiev had to work a lot, ruining Oblomov and his loved ones, spreading lies, plotting, and intriguing. By his very existence, Oblomov does not so much resist evil as clearly removes it from himself and has nothing in common with it. According to the fair remark of one of the contemporary critics of the writer A.V. Druzhinina, childishness and simplicity in an adult open “to us the realm of truth and at times place the inexperienced, dreamy eccentric both above the prejudices of his age and above the whole crowd of businessmen surrounding him.”
This is what happened in Goncharov’s novel, perhaps even against the will of the author. The writer himself wanted to contrast his alien activity with the hero of Andrei Stolz, a new Russian man with a German vein. From his Russian mother he inherited kindness, humanity, sensitivity, from his German father - determination and efficiency. But the writer still failed to truly organically embody the combination of these qualities in one image. What does all Stolz’s diverse and turbulent activity boil down to, what is its goal? The hero achieves wealth and position in society, what Ilya Ilyich Oblomov possesses by right of birth and inheritance. So was it worth it for him to make the effort, to fuss, to which his friend always encourages him? Having achieved his desired goals, Stolz is quite pleased with himself. Doubts and thoughts about his own imperfection do not bother him like Oblomov. Strange, unanswerable, painful and blessed Russian questions about the meaning of existence and the purpose of man never occur to him. Is this why a strange and inexplicable melancholy settles into Stolz’s respectable and comfortable house? And Olga still feels a certain dissatisfaction in a completely prosperous marriage; she is tormented by some strange internal illness.
The role of this heroine, who was developed and mentored by Stolz, in the fate of Oblomov, her behavior in relations with him is ambiguous. The source of her initial interest in Ilya Ilyich was a head idea, a desire to take the couch potato out into the air, to take off his eternal robe and slippers. “She loved the role. guiding star, a ray of light that it will pour over the stagnant lake and be reflected in it.” True, later she responded to Oblomov’s sincere and bright feeling; for some time the charm of his soul overshadowed her task, her goal. But she could not and did not want to completely abandon the role of mentor and savior, the idea of transforming him, changing his personality according to some “progressive” model, pattern.
In this regard, the simple and deep feeling of Agafya Matveevna Pshenitsyna seriously benefits. She responded to Ilya Ilyich’s lazy attention, some of his enthusiasm for the genuine and selfless love. I gave him my whole life. Even after the death of her husband, the widow considers herself not to have the right to use Oblomov’s title and inheritance. In her heart and home he found the one who had suffered, who had been broken off from home world a hero, that corner of peace and love that St. Petersburg life, always in a hurry, deprived him of.
The concept of “Oblomovism” in the context of Goncharov’s entire artistic novel is filled with a deep and very ambiguously colored meaning. Going to long journey, painfully parting with his home and people, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov vaguely hoped that in his new life his remarkable strengths and abilities would find a field for application, unconscious, but kind and humane desires and dreams would be embodied and concretized in deeds and accomplishments. There was clearly not enough room for the hero in the cute, but small and closed own life Oblomovka. So epic peasant son Ilya Muromets, who had been sitting in prison for thirty and three years, got up and went from his native threshold to great things, preserving his memory, love for the world he was leaving behind, protected by his parental blessing.
It is not so much the guilt as the misfortune and tragedy of the hero Goncharov, that the world into which he found himself turned out to be escheated, boiling, but not with living, but with dead passions. There could be no place for Oblomov in it. Again, Ilya Ilyich himself understands this best: “I began to fade away over writing papers in the office; I died out later, reading truths in books that I didn’t know what to do with in life, I died out with my friends, listening to talk, gossip, mimicry... Either I didn’t understand this life, or it’s no good... Twelve years in me the light was locked, which was looking for a way out, but only burned its prison, did not break free and went out.”
Goncharova's novel and his hero are rightfully included in the classical fund of Russian literature. Folk character, the Russian soul and life are embodied here by the writer deeply, originally, soberly and poetically at the same time.