Goncharov, Ivan Aleksandrovich [key], 1812–91, Russian novelist. Goncharov was a government official from 1835 to 1867. His realistic and satirical novel Oblomov (1858, tr. 1929, 2010) is a portrayal of the indolent nobleman common in Russia c.1860. The word Oblomovism was coined to describe the lassitude the protagonist of the novel typified. Goncharov's other novels, A Common Story (1847, tr. 1894) and The Precipice (1869, tr. 1915), are variations on the same theme. He also wrote The Frigate Pallas (1858), based on his voyage to England, Africa, and Japan.
See biographies by M. Ehre (1971) and A. and S. Lyngstad (1971); study by M. Ehre (1973) and G. Diment (1998).
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