Ivan Goncharov

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Aleksandrovich and the family name is Goncharov.

Ivan Goncharov
Portrait of Goncharov by Ivan Kramskoi,1874
Portrait of Goncharov by Ivan Kramskoi,1874
BornIvan Aleksandrovich Goncharov
(1812-06-18)18 June 1812
Simbirsk, Russian Empire
Died27 September 1891(1891-09-27) (aged 79)
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
OccupationNovelist
Alma materImperial Moscow University (1835)
Period1847–1871
Notable worksThe Same Old Story (1847)
Oblomov (1859)
The Precipice (1869)
Signature

Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov (/ˈɡɒntʃərɒf/,also US: /-rɔːf/;[1] Russian: Ива́н Алекса́ндрович Гончаро́в, romanized: Iván Aleksándrovich Goncharóv, IPA: [ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ ɡənʲtɕɪˈrof]; 18 June [O.S. 6 June] 1812 – 27 September [O.S. 15 September] 1891[2]) was a Russian novelist best known for his novels The Same Old Story (1847, also translated as A Common Story), Oblomov (1859), and The Precipice (1869, also translated as Malinovka Heights). He also served in many official capacities, including the position of censor.

Goncharov was born in Simbirsk into the family of a wealthy merchant; as a reward for his grandfather's military service, they were elevated to Russian nobility status.[3] He was educated at a boarding school, then the Moscow College of Commerce, and finally at Moscow State University. After graduating, he served for a short time in the office of the Governor of Simbirsk, before moving to Saint Petersburg where he worked as government translator and private tutor, while publishing poetry and fiction in private almanacs. Goncharov's first novel, The Same Old Story, was published in Sovremennik in 1847.

Goncharov's second and best-known novel, Oblomov, was published in 1859 in Otechestvennye zapiski. His third and final novel, The Precipice, was published in Vestnik Evropy in 1869. He also worked as a literary and theatre critic. Towards the end of his life Goncharov wrote a memoir called An Uncommon Story, in which he accused his literary rivals, first and foremost Ivan Turgenev, of having plagiarized his works and prevented him from achieving European fame. The memoir was published in 1924. Fyodor Dostoevsky, among others, considered Goncharov an author of high stature. Anton Chekhov is quoted as stating that Goncharov was "...ten heads above me in talent."

  1. ^ "Goncharov". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
  2. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Goncharov, Ivan Alexandrovich" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  3. ^ Oblomov, Penguin Classics, 2005. p. ix.