Bingo Row 3 – O
If I planned this bingo here, I would have not used up books that start with O on other boxes. But I didn’t and did and I read myself into a corner.
So I read Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov.
Ilya Ilich Oblomov is a fat, lazy, spoiled rich kid. And by kid, I mean 30-something adult man. He is so lazy, he’s the origin of the word ‘oblomovism’ (which is a synonym for lazy and not a word I hear people use). If the book is famous for anything, it’s famous for starting with Oblomov in bed, staying in bed, and going in and out of sleep.
His doctor even tells him to get off his ass or die, sending poor Oblomov into despair (and a nap).
Against the odds, he has a decent social life because people visit him. In a series of increasingly unlikely events, a friend manages to drag Oblomov out of bed and introduces him to Olga. They fall in love and get engaged.
Then Oblomov’s laziness redirects the narrative. Being in love, and even being happy, takes energy that Oblomov doesn’t want to spend. He may not even be able to spend such energy, but this is unknown because he doesn’t do enough to get anywhere near his limits.
He manufactures reasons for breaking up with Olga through their entire relationship. He avoids steps needed to get married after they get engaged. He makes excuses and eventually leaves her with one option. She dumps him.
He’s too lazy to be in love, no matter how happy he is with Olga.
I’d say and then he dies, but a few other things happen before that. Not that Oblomov does anything but die of oblomovitis – which is what it sounds like.
I had to stop myself from wondering what was wrong with Oblomov. Through reading, I decided he had decision paralysis, narcolepsy, chronic fatigue, and numerous other things from a modern-day perspective. But those are irrelevant. Oblomov doesn’t have those things because not only is he fictional, I don’t think he’s supposed to be like a real person at all. He’s a spoof of Russia (according to the afterward) and just a joke of a rich person.
It was a funny joke. I enjoyed it.