Eight top expressions of sloth in literature

"Sloth is the least human and most destructive of all the deadly sins," argues Alexandra Silverman at The Barnes & Noble Book Blog. She tagged eight top examples of the sin in literature, including:

Oblomov, by Ivan Goncharov

This guy. The titular character in Goncharov’s novel has an almost completely horizontal life (not in the Chelsea Handler way). Oblomov barely leaves his bed, and if he does, he’s usually headed for the couch. He doesn’t work or worry, and is pleased if his days pass quickly and without incident, foul or fair. Neither romance nor the deterioration of his finances rouses Oblomov from his slothful stupor. His sloth is like a sickness, and a clever, if slightly hyperbolic, metaphor for the ills of the privileged classes in nineteenth-century Russia.

Read about the other entries on the list. 

Oblomov is among Francine du Plessix Gray's five favorite fictional portraits of idleness and lassitude and Emrys Westacott's five best books on bad habits.

The Page 69 Test: Ivan Goncharov's Oblomov.

--Marshal Zeringue