Ivan Goncharov

Nora Malone (Independent Scholar - North America)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.1.00: Slavic and Russian Writing and Culture: Old, Medieval and Tsarist, 700-1917.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Dates

Born 18 Jun 1812
Died 27 Sep 1891
Activity 1832-1891

Places

Born in Russia
Active in Russia

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Goncharov's Works

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Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov (1812-1891) stands out as an anomaly in the Golden Age of Russian literature. Unlike many of his famous contemporaries, such as Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy, he was not a member of the landed gentry, was not devoted to romantic ideals, and did not promote liberal social change. If it were not for his literary works, and his novel

Oblomov

in particular, Goncharov’s life would have very few interesting facets. Like Oblomov, his famous protagonist, Goncharov was more comfortable adhering to the status quo than pursuing change, setting him apart from his contemporaries and many of the intellectual movements of his time.

Goncharov was born in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk) in 1812. Located nearly 100 kilometers from Moscow in the Volga valley, this picturesque,

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2397 words

Citation: Malone, Nora. "Ivan Goncharov". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 January 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1797, accessed 22 November 2024.]