Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov

Russian author. Born as the second son of a wealthy grain merchant in Simbirsk, a city on the Volga River. When he was seven years old, his father died, and he was mentored by former naval officer Tregubov. While he was endowed with the practical skills of the merchant class by his family, he also inherited the idealism of the aristocracy from this progressive intellectual. After studying at the Moscow Commercial School, a private school on the opposite bank of the Volga, he entered the Faculty of Letters at Moscow University in 1831. It was around this time that he was deeply impressed by Pushkin. After graduating in 1834, he served as secretary to the governor of his hometown for half a year, and the following spring he went to St. Petersburg and took a job as a translator at the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Finance. He soon became acquainted with the painter family of Maikov, and while he served as a tutor to their children Apollon and Valerian, he frequented their literary salon and published poems and short stories in circulating magazines. He made his literary debut in 1847 with "Ordinary Tales." Belinsky praised this novel, which depicts the process of the dreamer's nephew and the practical man's uncle transforming into a person like the former, as "a work that overthrows romanticism." From 1852 to 1855, he participated in a voyage around the world as secretary to Admiral Putyatin, an envoy to Japan, and arrived in Nagasaki in 1853 (Kaei 6). His experiences were compiled in the travelogue "Frigate Pallada" (1858), and the parts related to Japan have been translated into Japanese many times since the Meiji era, becoming a valuable historical resource for research on the history of Japanese-Russian relations. In 1856, he became a censor, and in 1862 he became editor-in-chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' newspaper "Northern Post," and in 1865 he became a member of the General Administration of Publications (senior censor), retiring in 1867 with the rank of fourth rank. Earlier, in 1859, he published "Oblomov." The significance of the criticism of serfdom was pointed out, and this became a masterpiece that made the author's name known. His third full-length novel, The Precipice (1869), was criticized for caricaturing nihilists and for the lack of structure due to the long writing period. The author later emphasized the internal connection of the trilogy, and reflected that he expressed the scenes of "dream" and "awakening" of life in Russia before the emancipation of the serfs. In his later years, he only wrote criticism and memoirs, and his best work is A Million Reproaches (1872), which discusses Griboyedov's comedy Sorrows of Wit. He died in St. Petersburg in 1891 from pneumonia. In Japan, it was introduced by Futabatei Shimei and Saganoya Omuro during the Meiji period, by Yamauchi Hosuke from the Taisho period to the early Showa period, and later by Inoue Mitsuru. Futabatei's novel "Ukigumo" shows the influence of "Dankai" in both style and philosophy.

[Kazuhiko Sawada]

"Inoue Mitsuru's translation of 'Heibon Monogatari', 2 volumes (Sogen Bunko)" ▽ "Inoue Mitsuru's translation of 'Dankai', 5 volumes (Iwanami Bunko)" ▽ "Inoue Mitsuru's translation of 'Collection of Literary Criticism' (1948, Sekai Bungakusha)" ▽ "Takano Akira and Shimada Akira's translation of 'Goncharov's Voyage to Japan' (1969, Yushodo Publishing)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ロシアの作家。ボルガ河畔のシンビルスク市の富裕な穀物商の次男に生まれる。7歳のとき父が他界し、以後元海軍軍人トレグーボフの薫陶を受けて、生家から商人階級の実践性を賦与される一方、この進歩的教養人から貴族階級の理想主義をも継承した。ボルガ対岸の私塾、モスクワ商業学校で学んだあと、1831年モスクワ大学文学部に入学。このころプーシキンに多大の感銘を受けた。34年に卒業して半年間故郷の県知事秘書を務めたあと、翌春ペテルブルグへ赴いて、大蔵省外国貿易局に翻訳官として就職。まもなく画家のマイコフ一家と知己を結び、同家の子供アポロンとバレリアンの家庭教師を務めるかたわら、その文学サロンに出入りして、回覧雑誌に詩や短編を発表した。47年に『平凡物語』で文壇にデビュー。空想家の甥(おい)と実際家の叔父を対置し、前者が後者のような人間へと変貌(へんぼう)してゆく過程を描いたこの長編小説を、ベリンスキーは「ロマン主義打倒の作」と称揚した。1852～55年に遣日使節プチャーチン提督の秘書官として世界周航に加わり、53年（嘉永6）に長崎に来航した。この体験は旅行記『フリゲート艦パルラダ号』（1858）にまとめられ、その日本関係の箇所は明治以来繰り返し邦訳されて、日露関係史研究の貴重な史料となってきた。56年に検閲官に就任し、62年に内務省の機関紙『北方の郵便』の編集長、65年には出版事務総局局員（高級検閲官）となり、67年に四等官の位で退官した。これより前の59年に『オブローモフ』を発表。農奴制批判の意義を指摘されて、作者の名を一躍高からしめる代表作となった。第三の長編『断崖(だんがい)』（1869）は、ニヒリストを戯画化し、また長期にわたる執筆のため構成の不統一をきたして不評を買った。のちに作者は三部作の内的関連を強調し、農奴解放前のロシアの生活の「夢」と「覚醒(かくせい)」の情景を表現したものと述懐している。晩年は評論や回想記にのみ手を染め、なかでもグリボエードフの喜劇『知恵の悲しみ』を論じた『百万の呵責(かしゃく)』（1872）がもっとも優れている。91年に肺炎を発してペテルブルグで他界。わが国では明治期に二葉亭四迷と嵯峨の屋(さがのや)お室(むろ)、大正から昭和初期にかけて山内封介(やまのうちほうすけ)、そののち井上満(みつる)によって紹介された。二葉亭の小説『浮雲』には、文体、思想の両面で『断崖』の影響がうかがわれる。

［澤田和彦］

『井上満訳『平凡物語』全2冊（創元文庫）』▽『井上満訳『断崖』全5冊（岩波文庫）』▽『井上満訳『文芸評論集』（1948・世界文学社）』▽『高野明・島田陽訳『ゴンチャローフ日本渡航記』（1969・雄松堂出版）』

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