tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post3319791238294388619..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Oblomov and Oblomovism - some contrasting charactersAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-11629266696849449602013-06-19T14:22:44.763-05:002013-06-19T14:22:44.763-05:00Yes, Oblomovism is quite close to Do Nothing.
I...Yes, Oblomovism is quite close to <a href="http://zhiv.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/the-core-philosophy/" rel="nofollow">Do Nothing</a>. <br /><br />I have actually read quite a bit about Babel, which is part of why it is a shame I have not read him.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-14808848852916569082013-06-19T11:01:42.608-05:002013-06-19T11:01:42.608-05:00Catching up, good to be here and see great stuff. ...Catching up, good to be here and see great stuff. I like the way this book and character and author--which I haven't read--managed not to slip away. It sounds like this is all very much Core Philosophy (wish I knew how to link here, very early post in my Zhiv Philosophy section, sort of holds up I guess) and Far Niente, the sweet nothingness of affluent ease.<br /><br />Kind of funny to compare 1859 Oblomovism (affluent immobility) to 1862 Bazarovism (science and nihilism), characters who become things/isms. Both in the wake of the giant, 1856 Bovaryism. The great thing is the way that Chekhov manages to put all of these things together.<br /><br />My Soviet cred is weak as well, but Day in the Life of I.D. was really great, an easy and fun starter text--great reading for high schoolers I would think, along with fading, flickering semi-intellects like myself. Remember loving Bulgakov a long time ago, really fun. The big one that I had never heard much about, and still haven't explored, is Isaak Babel. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-25083384028786540702013-06-17T22:04:13.310-05:002013-06-17T22:04:13.310-05:00Cement, I would have to be pretty dedicated to a S...<i>Cement</i>, I would have to be pretty dedicated to a Soviet literature project to read that.<br /><br />More Dostoevsky, including the bog ones I missed (<i>Idiot</i>, <i>Devils</i>. Reread Tolstoy. Chekhov, Chekohv, Chekhov. Silver Age & contemporaries. Then Soviet. Not until then.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-6145595768499254282013-06-17T14:28:13.361-05:002013-06-17T14:28:13.361-05:00You really should read Bulgakov's Master and M...You really should read Bulgakov's <i>Master and Margarita</i>. It is rewardingly kee-razy.<br /><br />I know we have the Zamyatin and Olesha on the shelf. And lots of Bulgakov, some Babel, something by Platonov. Some day I'll get to it. I worry that it will be dreadful, political heavy going. Ma femme has warned me away from Gladkov's <i>Cement</i>, for example.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-21851628107445028682013-06-17T14:05:12.930-05:002013-06-17T14:05:12.930-05:00I am pretty sure my complete list is: Zamyatin, We...I am pretty sure my complete list is: Zamyatin, <i>We</i>; Olesha, <i>Envy</i>; <a href="http://wutheringexpectations.blogspot.com/search/label/AITMATOV%20Chingiz" rel="nofollow">Aitmatov</a>, <i>The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years</i>; the Stragatsky brothers, <i>Roadside Picnic</i>. So half in the life of the blog.<br /><br />No Solzhenitsyn, no Bulgakov, no Babel. No Platonov, the hot new old thing. Embarrassing.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-87512156756755013562013-06-17T13:55:12.313-05:002013-06-17T13:55:12.313-05:00Ma femme has shelves of Soviets. I've read two...Ma femme has shelves of Soviets. I've read two Solzhenitsyn, one Bulgakov and one post-Soviet Russian novel that was so bad I can't recall the writer's name. I am sure that I'm forgetting some stuff that's obviously forgettable, right?scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-25406711798261585692013-06-17T13:35:36.527-05:002013-06-17T13:35:36.527-05:00I believe Oblomovism is a common condition, in my ...I believe Oblomovism is a common condition, in my case most often caused by mowing the lawn or writing a post on Goncharov. But the new one is somehow finished and posted.<br /><br />I barely know the Soviet stuff at all. Four novels, I think. I'll get that Silver Age reading going sometime.<br /><br /><i>Oblomov</i> is hardly <i>Anna Karenina</i> in its aristyr or <i>Karamazov</i> in its - in whatever Dostoevsky does - and without a less great Oblomov character it might well have slipped away into literary history. But that character really is that good.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-76019687763001646162013-06-17T13:23:33.161-05:002013-06-17T13:23:33.161-05:00Oblomov has been on my TBR list for some time. We ...<i>Oblomov</i> has been on my TBR list for some time. We have it on the shelf at home, even. It looks like a real hoot, as the literary critics all say. I look forward to today's post.<br /><br />The more Russian novels I read, the more I want to read Russian novels. At some point I'll make a serious go of reading Soviet-era novels. That will prove interesting.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-51991576435187847422013-06-16T09:36:31.197-05:002013-06-16T09:36:31.197-05:00It sounds as if Oblomovism is a perfect descriptio...It sounds as if Oblomovism is a perfect description of malady that I sometimes become afflicted with!Brian Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15139559400312336791noreply@blogger.com