Oblomov, the lethargic protagonist of Goncharov's novel of that title, is such a well-realized and sympathetic character that his name has become synonymous with "beautiful loser." But it's clear that Oblomov's indolence is not principled; instead, he's just a schlimazel who's idle only because he's too lazy to be as successful as he'd like to be. See: LAZY, LETHARGIC, SLUGGARD.

Oblomov (first published: 1858) is the best known novel by Russian writer Ivan Goncharov. Oblomov is also the central character of the novel, often seen as the ultimate incarnation of the superfluous man, a stereotypical character in 19th-century Russian literature. Oblomov was compared to Shakespeare's Hamlet as answering 'No!' to the question "To be or not to be?".