A Common Story

Ivan Goncharov · 1812–1891 · Russia

Originally Обыкновенная история (Russian)

Why it matters

A naive young romantic arrives in St. Petersburg to seek fame and love, and is patiently, coldly disillusioned by his pragmatic uncle. Goncharov's first novel, the satirical dry run for the paralysis he perfected in Oblomov.

At a glance

A clear, linear coming-of-age plot in accessible nineteenth-century prose.