IMAGERY OF A TEMPLE AND A SHIP IN THE NOVEL "OBLOMOV" BY I.A. GONCHaROV
The following article considers some peculiarities of the novel “Oblomov” by I.A. Goncharov meant to reveal its temple and liturgic plot as well as its main topoi: house-earth and ocean-outland. The image of Oblomov is rooted into Russia’s earth with its sacral, historical and cultural context. Oblomov’s lying on the sofa symbolizes his conscious choice, reflected in his freedom from the external life and the focus on observation. Oblomov’s spiritual statics is opposed to dynamics and various forms of vanity, falseness and vacuum of the “establishment”. I.A. Goncharov opposes the “hero in the dress-code” focused on the European culture to the “hero in the dressing gown” who happens to be outside the public fashion and sets his heart on the eternity. Oblomov’s pigeon heart, his heart of gold is a metaphor of tabernacle meant for the meeting with the Christ. And it is proved by Oblomov’s iconic and temple features, the motive of resurrection and the hyperbola of the image’s stability. The image of Oblomov is interpreted in the paper as a type of the “traveler-beholder”, who has chosen the straight evangelic way but who is free from the involvement in the surroundings as a Christian. Therefore he was still regarded as wiseman Plato. Nevertheless Oblomov preserved his heart-temple as breeding grounds for Oblomovka-Russia and for further Christian transformations.