Oblomov
Ivan Goncharov · 1812–1891 · Russia
Originally Oblomov (Russian)
Why it matters
A landowner so thoroughly incapable of action he can barely rise from bed becomes Russian literature's great study of paralysis. His name entered the language as a synonym for terminal inertia.
At a glance
satirepsychological novel
Difficulty 4/10slow pace480 pagesLeisurely, plainly narrated realism whose difficulty is its deliberately glacial pace, not its prose.
Deep dive
A landowner who can barely manage to get out of bed gets one real chance, courtesy of a woman determined to reanimate him, to prove his inertia is a phase rather than a nature.
