去ncharov, Ivan Aleksandrovich

去ncharov, Ivan Aleksandrovich ēvän´ əlyĭksän´drəvĭch gənchərôf´ [key], 1812–91, Russian novelist. Goncharov was a government official from 1835 to 1867. His realistic and satirical novelOblomov(1858, tr. 1929, 2010) is a portrayal of the indolent nobleman common in Russia c.1860. The wordOblomovismwas coined to describe the lassitude the protagonist of the novel typified. Goncharov's other novels,A Common Story(1847, tr. 1894) andThe Precipice(1869, tr. 1915), are variations on the same theme. He also wroteThe 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).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia,6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on:Russian and Eastern European Literature: Biographies