Oblomov Read-along Announcement

Classic Russian novel by Ivan Goncharov, published in 1859.

I will be reading this classic 19th century Russian novel in May and June. Of all the novels I read during four years of my Russian language and literature degree at St Andrews, this was my favourite. It follows the story of Oblomov, a landowner who struggles to engage with the world in a rather modern way. He hides away on his sofa like a typical introvert and never seems to get to his to-do list, despite all his good intentions and constant cajoling by his friend, Stolz. His condition, Oblomivism or Oblomovitis (Russian: обломовщина) made its way into the Russian language after the novel to refer to someone who was lazy.

Translations

The Penguin Classics copy I have here is translated by David Magarshak. This is my copy from when I first read it in the 90s, so the cover now is different. I will be reading the Stephen Pearl translation by Alma Books. It’s a more recent translation and one which I haven’t read. Others are available, but I haven’t seen them. These are affiliate links to Amazon / Bookshop.org / Waterstones / Blackwells. I make a small commission from purchases at no cost to you.

• Penguin Classics edition

• Alma Books edition

Schedule

The novel is in four parts, so we’ll read parts 1 and 2 in May and parts 3 and 4 in June. That’s as much of a schedule as I can deal with. I know from experience that a chapter-by-chapter schedule triggers my avoidance mechanisms. I’m still figuring out what works best for me when leading these read-alongs in a way that doesn’t leave me wracked with guilt.

I anticipate hosting a discussion on Zoom at the end of part two and again on completion of the novel. I’ve never tried that before and it sounds fun.

Subscribe

If you wish to follow along, please subscribe to the Oblomov section in your settings. This video clip shows how to get there:

Chat Threads

I’ll experiment with chat threads for each chapter as I’ve seen Simon Haisell and Dana • Dostoevsky Bookclub using them to good effect.

Movie Adaptation

There is an excellent Russian movie adaptation available on YouTube with English subtitles. It doesn’t cover the whole novel, just a part of it. I’d love to host a watch party when we’re done reading the novel, but if you can’t wait, you can watch it here: