Oblomov, Part Two, Chapter 11
His true feelings could only be guessed at—and Olga had guessed.
Ilya’s been busy, working with an architect on plans for his estate, sacking the bailiff and appointing a new one. But there are bigger fish to fry and it’s in thinking about these things that Ilya hits a block. The neighbouring landowner at his estate wants to partner with him in some capital renovations: building roads and bridges to the market town and resettling peasants on the wasteland. It’s too much. But credit where credit’s due—he’s a changed man, and all without productivity gurus on YouTube and endless piles of notebooks and planners… cough!
And what about those nagging doubts he’s been experiencing with regard to his relationship with Olga? She’s looking out for him in that regard:
It was such lovely prose that I decided to write it out in Russian too for the practice:
Listen to the Russian text:
Crooked eyebrows
At one point, Ilya finds himself pondering where Olga finds the strength that she has and we get a nice long description of her character. He comes to the conclusion that it’s her eybrows:
It must be because one of her eyebrows was never level with the other but always cocked, with a very fine, barely perceptible fold or crease just above it…
I just love this little detail!
Speaking up for truth
There were some interesting sections in this chapter that got me thinking about fear of being judged. Goncharov is discussing Ilya’s goodness of character and paints a vivid picture or what a good person he is.
He goes on to discuss the idea that he might not always speak up for good, truth and purity for fear of others’ harsh judgement and it really got me thinking.
Olga can see into his soul and knows what a good person he is, and ofen that’s enough. There will be times when we feel incapable of standing up to bullies or of speaking up for truth, but that doesn’t make us bad people. It can make us feel that way though, so to have a partner or a friend that can see into our hearts can be a very valuable thing in life. But we must guard against the opposite: joining in with the bullies and piling on to vulnerable individuals who might express views that differ from our own.
Was Goncharov anticipating social media perchance? Indelible traces of evil vs pearls in the silt of social intercourse. I know which side of that I try to stay on!
Sonechka
Olga has referred to Sonechka a few times and does so again in this chapter when she’s feeling a bit lost.
I don’t remember having been introduced to this character in the novel, so I was curious at this outburst just who she was. Then she turns up! Olga tells Ilya that Sonechka has been lecturing her on how to behave with Ilya, and this news causes Ilya to sink into despondency. The way they’ve been acting is dangerous for a young woman’s reputation.
So when Sonechka appears out of a carriage with her husband and friends, Ilya doesn’t know where to put himself.
Oblomov felt out of place and lagged behind and inserted a foot in the fence in an attempt to slip through it and sneak off home through the field of rye…
Ilya slips into despondency, not only with doubts as to whether Olga really loves him, but whether their whole love affair was a mistake:
He could not bring himself to confide his doubts to Olga for fear of upsetting or frightening her and, if the truth be told, for his own sake, for fear of disrupting the serene, cloudless tranquillity of his life with such a profoundly unsettling question - a question no longer merely of whether Olga had fallen in love with him, Oblomov, by mistake, but whether their whole love affair, with its hole-and-corner meetings in the woods, alone and often late in the evening, was itself a mistake.
It’s all a bit of a worry really. He thinks on it some more and then his despondency lifts as the answer comes to him:
Video Review
Here’s my video review of the chapter, recorded just after reading it.