Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov

Filled with dreams of pursuing a career as a poet, the young Alexander Aduev moves from the country to St Petersburg, where he takes up lodgings next to his uncle Pyotr, a shrewd and world-weary businessman. As his ideals are challenged by disappointment in the fields of love, friendship and poetical ambition, Alexander must decide whether to return to the homely values he has left behind or adapt to the ruthless rules and morals of city life.

"In The Precipice Goncharov combines various genres: novel about the artist, political novel, and romance. This work contrasts the then new ideas of philosophical positivism, utilitarianism and atheism with romantic idealism and traditional values. These various views are examined through the characters of three men laboring to win the love of the heroine, Vera: Boris Raisky, an artist-dilettant; Mark Volokhov, a nihilist in the tradition of Turgenev's Bazarov; and Ivan Tushin, a traditional, yet enlightened landowner.". "The Precipice is especially notable for its women. The heroine, Vera, is one of Russian literature's most independent and intelligent female characters, and the full-blooded portrait of Raisky's wise and strong grandmother is no less remarkable."--BOOK JACKET.

A comedic story about a member of the landed gentry of nineteenth-century Russia whose indolence destroys his life.

"Advanced notice of the power of what would be the Russian novel was given in 1847 when Goncharov's An Ordinary Story started to come out in a Petersburg journal. It was immediately acclaimed by critics as an answer to what they saw as the unrealistic worlds portrayed in the romantic literature of the period. This novel has kept its place in the literary pantheon of Russian literature due to its modern psychological perceptiveness, especially concerning relations between the sexes, as well as its artistry. All in all, it is a delightful work, providing charming characters and an almost classical balance of scenes and types.". "Goncharov himself had vast experience in the world of bureaucratic career and disillusionment he describes in the course of telling the story of his hero, Alexander Aduyev, the romantic young man who makes the trip from the provinces to the capital, and searches for love and a career. The young Alexander's foil in the novel is his sophisticated uncle, an unsentimental rational man who is a successful bureaucrat and entrepreneur. The dialogue between these two contrasting types provides much of the novel's energy and humor. No less important, however, is the contribution of Alexander's aunt, who has compassion for her nephew's situation, and understands the problem of relying too much on reason as well as the perils of romanticism. The key to this novel is its humanity and thorough knowledge of both people and the life they lived in this period. Alexander's coming of age is indeed an "ordinary story," but it is told in an extraordinary way."--BOOK JACKET.