Written with sympathetic humor and compassion, this masterful portrait of upper-class decline made Ivan Goncharov famous throughout Russia on its publication in 1859. Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is a member of Russia's dying aristocracy-a man so lazy that he has given up his job in the Civil Service, neglected his books, insulted his friends, and found himself in debt. Too apathetic to do anything about his problems, he lives in a grubby, crumbling apartment, waited on by Zakhar, his equally idle servant. Terrified by the activity necessary to participate in the real world, Oblomov manages to avoid...

Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov (1812 - 1891), was a Russian author, best known for his novels. Oblomov, published in 1859, is widely recognized as his best work. Centered around a character named Oblomov, the novel was inspirited by a short story written by Goncharov ten years prior titled Oblomov's Dream. An Episode from an Unfinished Novel.

A Common Story is a debut novel by Ivan Goncharov, written in 1844-1846 and first published in 1847. The novel had an immediate effect upon its readers. Critic Aleksander Skabichevsky remembered: "Instantly I recognized myself in its main hero, Aleksander Aduev, for as him, I used to be sentimentally complacent, and was taking great care to keep hair locks, flowers and other 'material symbols of immaterial relations'. And so ashamed was I of this similarity as to gather all the little souvenirs that I was keeping at my house, threw them into the fire and give on oath to myself never to fall...

The Precipice is the third novel by Ivan Goncharov, first published in January-May 1869 issues of Vestnik Evropy magazine. The novel, conceived in 1849, took twenty years to be completed and has been preceded by the publication of the three extracts. The author considered it to be his most definitive work, in which he fully realized his grand artistic ambition. Less successful than its predecessor Oblomov (1859), The Precipice is still regarded as one of the Russian literature's classics.

Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov (18 June O.S. 6 June] 1812 - 27 September O.S. 15 September] 1891) was a Russian novelist best known for his novels A Common Story (1847), Oblomov (1859), and The Precipice (1869). He also served in many official capacities, including the position of censor. (wikipedia.org)