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An Uncommon Story
Goncharov was the leading Russian writer of the 1850s and, as the author of The Same Old Story , was regarded as “the real heir to Nikolai Gogol”. But the publication of Turgenev's first full-length novel, A Nest of the Gentry , in 1859, at around the same time as Goncharov's Oblomov , which had been more than ten years in the making, suddenly changed the public's perception. Turgenev's success was eyed with suspicion by his rival, who started to believe that his work in progress, Malinovka Heights , had been plagiarized by his former friend.
Goncharov had in fact discussed in detail with Turgenev the plot of his new novel, and the latter later admitted that, being very impressionable, he may have been influenced by some of its elements, but his friend's charges went he accused the younger writer of stealing his ideas, his characters and even some of his plotlines. As Turgenev's success increased over the years, so did Goncharov's resentment, and the two novelists, although later reconciled, stopped communicating with each other. An Uncommon Story , published posthumously in 1924, contrary to its author's wishes, is an extraordinary document that lays bare the jealousies felt but rarely expressed by writers, and an eternal monument to literary paranoia.
Goncharov had in fact discussed in detail with Turgenev the plot of his new novel, and the latter later admitted that, being very impressionable, he may have been influenced by some of its elements, but his friend's charges went he accused the younger writer of stealing his ideas, his characters and even some of his plotlines. As Turgenev's success increased over the years, so did Goncharov's resentment, and the two novelists, although later reconciled, stopped communicating with each other. An Uncommon Story , published posthumously in 1924, contrary to its author's wishes, is an extraordinary document that lays bare the jealousies felt but rarely expressed by writers, and an eternal monument to literary paranoia.
- GenresClassics
256 pages, Paperback
Published February 27, 2024
About the author
Ivan Goncharov
286 books450 followersRussian novelist Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov (/ˈɡɒntʃəˌrɔːf, -ˌrɒf/; Russian: Ива́н Алекса́ндрович Гончаро́в), best known for his novels
A Common Story
(1847),
Oblomov
(1859), and
The Precipice
(1869). He also served in many official capacities, including the position of censor.
Goncharov was born into the family of a wealthy merchant, elevated as a reward for military service of his grandfather to gentry status. A boarding school, then the Moscow college of commerce, and finally Moscow State University educated him. 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. People published A Common Story , first novel of Goncharov, 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 Dostoyevsky, among others, considered Goncharov an author of high stature. Anton Chekhov is quoted as stating that Goncharov was "...ten heads above me in talent."
Goncharov was born into the family of a wealthy merchant, elevated as a reward for military service of his grandfather to gentry status. A boarding school, then the Moscow college of commerce, and finally Moscow State University educated him. 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. People published A Common Story , first novel of Goncharov, 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 Dostoyevsky, among others, considered Goncharov an author of high stature. Anton Chekhov is quoted as stating that Goncharov was "...ten heads above me in talent."
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 16, 2022
"Необыкновенная история" интересна лишь как необыкновенный факт писательской конкуренции XIX века и феномена авторских прав во времена, когда художественное заимствование было вопросом чести. Читать же ее смыла нет – это постоянно повторяющиеся заметки Гончарова о том, кто сломал его писательскую карьеру. И далее будут спойлеры.
Злым гением Гончарова был Тургенев, который будучи начинающим писателем, сознающим свою заурядность, завидел выдающийся талан у Гончарова. Воспользовавшись наивностью того, втерся к нему в доверие и выпытывал подробности планируемых и уже пишущихся его сочинений. Когда же Гончаров раскрыл коварство Тургенева, тому ничего не оставалось как подсылать шпионов воровать рукописи Гончарова, подкупать друзей Гончарова, с которыми тот был откровенен. В итоге все сочинения, прославившие Тургенева, были украдены из сочинений и идей Гончарова. Мало того, переехав во Францию, Тургенев стал продавать и передавать идеи Гончарова тамошним писателям. В следствии чего, Флобер и добрая часть европейской литературы – на самом деле всего лишь плагиат на Гончарова!
Но Тургеневу и этого было мало. Он предпринял все усилия, чтобы не допустить перевода произведений Гончарова на европейские языки (ведь это могло разоблачить его). А также стал распускать слухи, что именно Гончаров постоянно заимствует у него идеи.
Звучит бредово. Частично это вполне может быть правдой – Тургенев вполне мог быть дельцом, что было противно натуре Гончарова, а остальное же возможно досочинила его параноидальная фантазия. Хотя, глядя на людей, не удивлюсь, что для одного писателя было делом всей жизни испортить жизнь другому писателю - а для этого все способы хороши.
Интереснее тут сам предмет спора. Гончаров обвиняет Тургенева не в плагиате текстов, а в плагиате идей. Тургенев физически не мог украсть большую часть материала, т.к. она существовала лишь в устных набросках. Но ему было достаточно похожих типажей и сюжетных поворотов, которых он продолжал и продолжал находить во все новых сочинениях. По его же словам, современную литературу он читал мало. А во всей, что читал, находил идеи, схожие со своими.
Жаль только, что Гончаров изложил свое негодование в такой форме. Если бы он превратил это в остросюжетный роман о мировом заговоре клики успешных писателей, черпающих идеи у одного не самого известного русского, то этим мог бы опередить время.
Злым гением Гончарова был Тургенев, который будучи начинающим писателем, сознающим свою заурядность, завидел выдающийся талан у Гончарова. Воспользовавшись наивностью того, втерся к нему в доверие и выпытывал подробности планируемых и уже пишущихся его сочинений. Когда же Гончаров раскрыл коварство Тургенева, тому ничего не оставалось как подсылать шпионов воровать рукописи Гончарова, подкупать друзей Гончарова, с которыми тот был откровенен. В итоге все сочинения, прославившие Тургенева, были украдены из сочинений и идей Гончарова. Мало того, переехав во Францию, Тургенев стал продавать и передавать идеи Гончарова тамошним писателям. В следствии чего, Флобер и добрая часть европейской литературы – на самом деле всего лишь плагиат на Гончарова!
Но Тургеневу и этого было мало. Он предпринял все усилия, чтобы не допустить перевода произведений Гончарова на европейские языки (ведь это могло разоблачить его). А также стал распускать слухи, что именно Гончаров постоянно заимствует у него идеи.
Звучит бредово. Частично это вполне может быть правдой – Тургенев вполне мог быть дельцом, что было противно натуре Гончарова, а остальное же возможно досочинила его параноидальная фантазия. Хотя, глядя на людей, не удивлюсь, что для одного писателя было делом всей жизни испортить жизнь другому писателю - а для этого все способы хороши.
Интереснее тут сам предмет спора. Гончаров обвиняет Тургенева не в плагиате текстов, а в плагиате идей. Тургенев физически не мог украсть большую часть материала, т.к. она существовала лишь в устных набросках. Но ему было достаточно похожих типажей и сюжетных поворотов, которых он продолжал и продолжал находить во все новых сочинениях. По его же словам, современную литературу он читал мало. А во всей, что читал, находил идеи, схожие со своими.
Жаль только, что Гончаров изложил свое негодование в такой форме. Если бы он превратил это в остросюжетный роман о мировом заговоре клики успешных писателей, черпающих идеи у одного не самого известного русского, то этим мог бы опередить время.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 18, 2023
сначала было любопытно, но истории о том, как буквально все, вплоть до Флобера, списали свои романы с Обрыва, быстро наскучили.
Жаль хорошего писателя - очевидно, что он был душевно нездоров
Жаль хорошего писателя - очевидно, что он был душевно нездоров
February 1, 2024
This book is an experience. It shows how a brilliant writer seemingly wasted years of talent and mental space to paranoia and delusions, all because Turgenev did not admit how much he was inspired by his first novel.
After that, Goncharov went down a dark hole where he would see tons of people stealing his ideas from him, even Gustav Flaubert.
It is hard to see what really happened, it is hard to tell how many mountains were molehills but damn... We could have had so many more amazing novels if Goncharov didn't spend so long being hunted by himself. (Okay realistically maybe one more novel as he wrote very slowly)
After that, Goncharov went down a dark hole where he would see tons of people stealing his ideas from him, even Gustav Flaubert.
It is hard to see what really happened, it is hard to tell how many mountains were molehills but damn... We could have had so many more amazing novels if Goncharov didn't spend so long being hunted by himself. (Okay realistically maybe one more novel as he wrote very slowly)
February 23, 2024
Ivan Goncharov, most famous for the slacker classic Oblomov, spent his twilight years reeling against Ivan Turgenev, a colossus of the Russian canon who needs no introduction. In this acid-tongued portrait of unhinged literary rivalry, Goncharov accuses Turgenev of cribbing almost the entirety of his most famous works from his own (then-unfinished) novel The Precipice or Malinovka Heights, extending the accusation across Europe to Flaubert, who (allegedly) pinched enough scenarios from Goncharov to render Madame Bovary and Sentimental Education works of egregious literary brigandry. There is more than a kernel of truth to Goncharov’s grievance, according to the scholars, in the sense that Turgenev’s artistic development occurred in tandem with Goncharov’s and certain structures and scenarios will have occupied similar narrative space (as with all Russian novels of the period), and the ambitious Turgenev was keen to succeed sooner than his rival. But this is a tale of two monumental egos at war, with Goncharov emerging the loser—An Uncommon Story finds him a paranoid, persecuted loner, cut apart from the literary scene in which he was never comfortable, seeking to inflate his own position in the canon and take down some titans in the process. Published posthumously in 1924, the work is a fascinating little peep inside the mind of an isolated, embittered writer consumed with burning professional envy. This new Alma Classics edition is translated seamlessly by Stephen Pearl.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews