Oblomov, Part One, Chapter 5

"It doesn't leave a moment for living!"

In chapter 5 we learn about Oblomov’s background. He wasn’t always a sloth, but he seemed to have the capacity for it in his character. There’s an interesting scene that I didn’t cover in the video, and that’s when we’re told that the reaction of the others terrified Oblomov. This is at the moment when he’s worried about the impending reprimand from his boss after sending an urgent document to Archangel instead of Astrakhan. This fear of judgement is certainly relatable and I understand how it can trigger that fight or flight mode. Oblomov chooses flight. And once he’s in his safe space, he never really comes out again. Until then, he’d been managing just fine. Was he masking?

I also love the scene where Oblomov is introduced into the world of work and he discovers that it’s not what he was expecting. It reminds me of when I made the decision to quit my job as a freelance translator in Luxembourg and buy a post office on a Scottish island. It sounded idyllic. It wasn’t. So too with Oblomov, a man who was used to the warmth of the family bosom, used to human connection in the best way, all of a sudden to find himself subjugated to the boss and having to take care of what seems like pointless busywork, copying notes that were urgent for reasons that he doesn’t understand. It’s an example of our modern day, at least what I see of it in the business world, where deadlines are marked as urgent but you just know that these urgent documents are going to sit unread in inboxes for days or weeks, and perhaps never be used at all.

“It doesn’t leave a moment for living!”, he complained.

Indeed. I can relate to that. Unless you’re lucky enough to make a living from something that you love, the time spent working just gets in the way. It’s a universal problem. And it’s not a problem that can always be solved by making a job out of the thing that you love either. Not that Oblomov really has a chance of doing that, but there is a question that I don’t know the answer to, and that is: why is he working in the first place? Does he not have enough income that he doesn’t need to work? Is he doing it because it’s expected of him? Is there something to be said about finding meaning and purpose in an honest day’s work? Is that meaning and purpose available by other means? Maybe raising a family? These are all questions that I think lie at the heart of this novel: whence come meaning and purpose? And how does—or can—one live without them, I mean really live without spiralling down into depression and ennui? In ADHD 2.0, we’re told:

boredom is kryptonite; the ADHD mind recoils from boredom, disappearing into a fervent search for stimulation while the trash sits forlornly unemptied.¹

And what is Oblomov feeling if not boredom? He’s not stimulated by society, by his job, by his family or friends. He’s wallowing in his room, feeling bored and hiding in sleep.

Video discussion

Questions

1. How do you see Oblomov finding meaning and purpose?

2. Why did he go to work if his heart wasn’t in it?

See you on Friday! (I’m travelling tomorrow).

1. ADHD 2.0, New Science and Essential Strategies for Thriving with Distraction—from Childhood Through Adulthood Edward M. Hallowell, M.D., and John J. Ratey, M.D.

Hallowell, Edward M.; Ratey, John J.. ADHD 2.0: New Science and Essential Strategies for Thriving with Distraction - from Childhood through Adulthood (p. 7). John Murray Press. Kindle Edition.