Oblomov, Part Three, Chapter 8
He felt he was groping his way through a forest on a dark night with a bandit, a wild beast or a corpse lurking behind every tree and bush.
Ilya’s beside himself with embarrassment after Olga’s visit. He tells Agafya not to listen to the rumours Zakhar’s informed him are spreading on the ‘landlady’s side,’ and Agafya and Anisya reassure him that there are no such rumours. Of course they’re lying.
The big news in this chapter is that Ilya gets a reply from his neighbour at Oblomovka, and none of it is good news. There are challenges to be overcome and, as we know, Ilya’s not the best at rising to a challenge. It’s relatable though. We have a lot of work that needs doing on our house, some really big stuff. And what do I do? I read books as much as I can, then write and make videos about them. I know from when I painted the decking and the fences this spring that it feels good for all sorts of reasons. And the jobs that need doing really need doing. So, as I said, I can relate. It’s that delayed gratification thing again.
The chores the letter invites him to take care of lead to his feeling overwhelmed:
How’s that for a piece of writing? I love that imagery of wild beasts and bandits. It’s followed by another exquisite paragraph:
"It's outrageous, I won’t give in!" he declared, trying to look these spectres in the face the way people do when they are scared and, with their eyes screwed up tight, they make a great effort to squint through them at the surrounding ghosts, but their blood runs cold and their hands and feet go numb.
So where does that leave him? Actually in quite a decisive mood and we leave him as he heads off to have a conversation with his landlady’s brother.
Video Review
Here’s my video review of the chapter, recorded right after reading it. You readers are getting these videos before my YouTube viewers and hopefully without ads. I say hopefully as I’ve not turned on ads for these videos until they’re public on YouTube, but YouTube may very well put them in anyway for their own business needs.