The Theme of Nostalgia

Oblomov is the second novel by Russian writer Ivan Goncharov which was first published in 1859 Oblomov’s Dream is chapter nine of part one of the novel. The main protagonist in this novel is Ilya Ilyich Oblomov who has been portrayed as the ultimate incarnation of the superfluous man. Oblomov is a young and noble gentleman who is seen as a character who experiences difficulties when it comes to making important and serious decisions. All throughout the novel he rarely leaves his room and bed and in the first 50 pages he only manages to move from his bed to the chair. The Death of Ivan Ilyich was first published in 1886 by Leo Tolstoy and has been considered as a masterpiece of his late fiction that were composed shortly after his religious conversion. This novel tells the story of a high court judge in the 19^th century Russia and his suffering and death from a terminal illness.  Nostalgia is a theme common enough in Russian literature, in Oblomov’s Dream the protagonist is not able to adapt to the realities of life and new times and he is nostalgically clinging to an idealistic world and memories from his past.  The Death of Ivan Ilyich mostly concerns the protagonist and the fear for his mortal life. The protagonist of these two fictional works are the orchestrators of their own undoing, their reflection on the past is as a result of the actions that happened back then.

In Oblomov’s Dream the protagonist is constantly dwelling in a world he has partly invented, this literature master piece conveys the deep meaning of a tragedy of a person who has been at the junction of time and has refused to exist in the real world and find salvation from his own fantasies and dreams.  The protagonist sets his mind in an idyllic world (Jones, 48). This can be referred to as nostalgic of him. It is in the dream that the protagonist asks the question “why am I like this?”. In the dream he also sees wonderful pictures from his childhood. The art of relieving his childhood memories is sign enough that he is longing for those past days. The Death of Ivan Ilyich explores the inevitability of death. The heart of the novel explores the denial of the main protagonist and the ways he refuses to accept his mortality (Tolstoy, n.p). The act of failing to accept that his death means that the main protagonist is still clinging to the memories of the past and wants to relieve those days despite the fact that he cannot go back to those days (Tolstoy, n.p). Instead he has to face his own death that is right in front of him.

According to the social standards that were set in the 19^th century in the novel The Death of Ivan Ilyich, it can be concluded that the protagonist can be perceived as a role model for others in the society. In the whole story up to a certain point the author portrays the protagonist as someone who is contented with his life nevertheless his terminal illness forces his to reassess his whole world to an extent the novel show the protagonist lived a shallow life, particularly “he only amused himself pleasantly and decorously” the author quotes (Tolstoy, n.p). Despite this the protagonist continues to view himself as a successful individual who has achieved every goal he set out to achieve; nonetheless, as the story continues to unravel he discovers that he has been a shallow person who has failed to bring value into the lives of others. This moment of self reflection can be termed nostalgic in his mind he is longing for the days that have passed and how things would have been done different if he had added value into people’s life. His reflection on the life he lived is the reason he is afraid of his mortality.

In Oblomov’s Dream the whole chapter can be referred to as nostalgic since it has been set as a dream which transports him to his childhood memories since this dreams brings with it the potent presence of nostalgia, dream and fantasy (Wigzell ,96). Types of dreams that have often been identified include nostalgic dreams, which transports the dreamer back to a certain point in his life, the dream is senseless and contradictory, nearly forty pages have been dedicated to the dream where the protagonist recounts his spoiled childhood which he longs for.  The pastoral theme invoked in Oblomov’s dream is in form of nostalgia in the lost idyllic world of childhood (Jones, 49). The present the protagonist is in the fixated urban world of St. Petersburg; however, duty demands that he goes back to his rural scene to embrace the responsibility of looking after the neglected lands that he has inherited. The Nostalgia of the return can be referred to as less pure and can be seen as an effort on the side of the author as he tries the show the pathological and overprotective childhood the protagonist had to explain the indolence of Oblomov’s mature years.

In conclusion, the theme of Nostalgia is a very common theme in Russian literature.  Oblomov’s dream is a whole chapter in the novel Oblomov written by Ivan Gocharov, the main protagonist is transported to his childhood memories to manage the neglected lands that he has now inherited. In the dream the protagonist is dwelling in a world which he has partly invented. The protagonist is nostalgically clinging to his childhood memories. The Death of Ivan Ilyich was first published in 1886 by Leo Tolstoy, the novel revolves around the main protagonist who has discovered that he has a terminal illness and cannot come to terms with his own death that is ahead. The protagonist reflects on his life and is nostalgically wishing that he had added value to the life of people in the past. The main difference between these two works of literature is that the protagonist in one is in an idealistic world while the other protagonist is in the real world. These two protagonist look back at various memories in their lives that have led to their current state.

Works Cited

Wigzell Faith. (1990) Dream and Fantasy in Goncharov’s Oblomov. In: McMillin A. (eds) From Pushkin to             Palisandriia. Palgrave Macmillan, London

Jones, Malcolm V. The Cambridge Companion to the Classic Russian Novel. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ.             Press, 1998. Internet resource.

Tolstoy, Leo, Richard Pevear, and Larissa Volokhonsky. The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories. New             York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Print.