Ivan Goncharov
Ivan Goncharov | |
---|---|
Simbirsk, Russian Empire | |
Died | 27 September 1891 Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire | (aged 79)
Occupation | Novelist |
Alma mater | Imperial Moscow University (1835) |
Period | 1847–1871 |
Notable works | The Same Old Story (1847) Oblomov (1859) The Precipice (1869) |
Signature | |
Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov (
Goncharov was born in
Goncharov's second and best-known novel,
Biography
Early life
Goncharov was born in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk). His father Aleksander Ivanovich Goncharov was a wealthy grain merchant and a state official who served several terms as mayor of Simbirsk.[4] The family's big stone manor in the town center occupied a large area and had all the characteristics of a rural manor, with huge barns (packed with wheat and flour) and numerous stables.[5] Alexander Ivanovich died when Ivan was seven years old. He was educated first by his mother, Avdotya Matveevna, and then his godfather Nikolay Nikolayevich Tregubov, a nobleman and a former Russian Navy officer.[4]
Tregubov, a man of liberal views and a secret
Education
In 1820–1822 Goncharov studied at a private
At the University, with its atmosphere of intellectual freedom and lively debate, Goncharov's spirit thrived. One episode proved to be especially memorable: when his then idol Aleksander Pushkin arrived as a guest lecturer to have a public debate with professor Mikhail T. Katchenovsky on the authenticity of
In 1834, Goncharov graduated from the University and returned home to enter the chancellery of Simbirsk governor A. M. Zagryazhsky. A year later, he moved to Saint Petersburg and started working as a translator at the
Literary career
His first piece of prose appeared in an issue of Snowdrop, a satirical novella called Evil Illness (1838), ridiculing romantic sentimentalism and fantasizing. Another novella, A Fortunate Blunder, a "high-society drama" in the tradition set by
The Same Old Story
Goncharov's first novel, The Same Old Story, was published in Sovremennik in 1847. It dealt with the conflict between the excessive romanticism of a young Russian nobleman who has recently arrived in Saint Petersburg from the provinces, and the sober pragmatism of the emerging commercial class of the capital. The Same Old Story polarized critics and made its author famous. The novel was a direct response to Vissarion Belinsky's call for exposing a new type, that of the complacent romantic, common at the time; it was lavishly praised by the famous critic as one of the best Russian books of the year.[5] The term aduyevschina (after the novel's protagonist Aduyev) became popular with reviewers who saw it as synonymous with vain romantic aspirations. Leo Tolstoy, who liked the novel, used the same word to describe social egotism and the inability of some people to see beyond their immediate interests.[6]
In 1849 Sovremennik published Oblomov's Dream, an extract from Goncharov's future second novel Oblomov, (known under the working title The Artist at the time), which worked well on its own as a short story. Again it was lauded by the Sovremennik staff.
In 1852 Goncharov embarked on a long journey through England,
In 1858, Frigate "Pallada" was published as a separate book; it received favourable reviews and became very popular. For the mid-19th century Russian readership the book came as a revelation, providing new insights into the world, hitherto unknown. Goncharov, a well-read man and a specialist in the history and economics of the countries he visited, proved to be a competent and insightful writer.[5] He warned against seeing his work as any kind of political or social statement, insisting it was a subjective piece of writing, but critics praised the book as a well-balanced, unbiased report, containing valuable ethnographic material, but also some social critique. Again, the anti-romantic tendency prevailed: it was seen as part of the polemic with those Russian authors who tended to romanticize the "pure and unspoiled" life of the uncivilized world. According to Nikolay Dobrolyubov, The Frigate Pallada "bore the hallmark of a gifted epic novelist."[6]
Oblomov
Throughout the 1850s Goncharov worked on his second novel, but the process was slow for many reasons. In 1855 he accepted the post of censor in the Saint Petersburg censorship committee. In this capacity, he helped publish important works by Ivan Turgenev,
In the summer of 1857, Goncharov went to
In his essay What Is Oblomovshchina? Nikolay Dobrolyubov provided an ideological background for the type of Russia's 'new man' exposed by Goncharov. The critic argued that, while several famous classic Russian literary characters –
The Precipice
A moderate conservative[11] at heart, Goncharov greeted the Emancipation reform of 1861, embraced the well-publicized notion of the government's readiness to "be at the helm of [social] progress", and found himself in opposition to the revolutionary democrats. In the summer of 1862 he became an editor of Severnaya Potchta (The Northern Post), an official newspaper of the Interior Ministry, and a year later returned to the censorship committee.[5]
In this second term Goncharov proved to be a harsh censor: he created serious problems for Nekrasov's Sovremennik and
In 1867, Goncharov retired from his censorial position to devote himself entirely to writing The Precipice, a book he later called "my heart's child", which took him twenty years to finish. Towards the end of this tormenting process Goncharov spoke of the novel as a "burden" and an "insurmountable task" that blocked his development and made him unable to advance as a writer. In a letter to Turgenev he confessed that, after finishing Part Three, he had toyed with the idea of abandoning the whole project.[5]
In 1869, The Precipice, a story of the romantic rivalry among three men, condemning nihilism as subverting the religious and moral values of Russia, was published in Vestnik Evropy.[6] Later critics came to see it as the final part of a trilogy, each part introducing a character typical of Russian high society of a certain period: first Aduev, then Oblomov, and finally Raisky, a gifted man, his artistic development halted by "lack of direction". According to scholar S. Mashinsky, as a social epic, The Precipice was superior to both The Same Old Story and Oblomov.[5]
The novel had considerable success, but the leftist press turned against its author.
Later years
Goncharov planned a fourth novel, set in the 1870s, but it failed to materialize. Instead he became a prolific critic, providing numerous theater and literature reviews; his "Myriad of Agonies" (Milyon terzaniy, 1871) is still regarded as one of the best essays on
Towards the end of his life Goncharov wrote an unusual memoir called An Uncommon Story, in which he accused his literary rivals, first and foremost Ivan Turgenev, of having plagiarized his works and prevented him from achieving European fame. Some critics claimed that the book was the product of an unstable mind,[13] while others praised it as an eye-opening, if controversial piece of writing.[14] It wasn't published until 1924.[15]
Goncharov, who never married, spent his last days absorbed in lonely and bitter recriminations because of the negative criticism some of his work had received.
Selected bibliography
- The Same Old Story (Обыкновенная история, 1847)[18]
- Ivan Savich Podzhabrin (1848)[19]
- Frigate "Pallada" (Фрегат "Паллада", 1858)
- "Oblomov's Dream. An Episode from an Unfinished Novel", short story, later Chapter 9 in the 1859 novel as "Oblomov's Dream" ("Сон Обломова", 1849)[20]
- Oblomov (1859)[21]
- The Precipice (Обрыв, 1869)[22]
References
- ^ "Goncharov". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Oblomov, Penguin Classics, 2005. p. ix.
- ^ a b c Potanin, G.N. "Remembering I.A.Goncharov. Commentaries. Pp. 263–265". I.A.Goncharov Remembered by Contemporaries. Leningrad, 1969. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Mashinsky, S. Goncharov and His Legacy. Foreword to The Works of I.A.Goncharov in 6 Volumes. Ogonyok's Library. Pravda Publishers. Moscow, 1972. pp. 3–54
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "I.A.Goncharov. Biobibliography". Russian Writers. Biobibliographical dictionary. Ed. P.A. Nikolayev. Vol. 1 Moscow, Prosveshcheniye Publishers. 1990. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ Goncharov, I.A. The Works of... Moscow, 1980. Vol. 7. pg. 241).
- ^ Moskvityanin. 1849. No.11. Vol.1. Section 4.
- ^ Gayla Diment's introduction to Stephen Pearl's translation of Oblomov. New York: Bunim & Brown, 2006)
- ^ Quoted in N. F. Budanova's "The confessions of Goncharov. The Unfinished Story. Literaturnoe Nasledstvo, 102 (2000), p. 202.
- ^ Pritchett, V.S. (7 March 1974). "Saint of Inertia". New York Review of Books.
- ^ Utin, Ye.I. Literature Debates of Our Times. Vestnik Evropy. 1869, No. 11.
- ^ "Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov". Gale Encyclopedia of Biography. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ "The Uncommon Story. The True Facts. Preface be ed. N.F.Budanova". feb-web.ru. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ D. S. Mirsky, A History of Russian Literature (New York: Vintage, 1958)
- ISBN 978-1-884964-10-7.
- ISBN 9783598108341. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
- ^ Goncharov, Ivan Aleksandrovich (27 September 2018). "A common story, a novel". London, London Book Co. – via Internet Archive.
- ISBN 9780521425674. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
- JSTOR 2492118.
- ^ Goncharov, Ivan Aleksandrovich (27 September 2018). "Oblomov". Macmillan – via Google Books.
- ^ Goncharov, Ivan Aleksandrovich (27 September 2018). "The precipice". London, Hodder and Stoughton – via Internet Archive.
External links
- Works by Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Ivan Goncharov at Internet Archive
- Works by Ivan Goncharov at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Petri Liukkonen. "Ivan Goncharov". Books and Writers.