Oblomov, Part Two, Chapter 12

Sometimes love isn't patient

Okay, confession time. I had a migraine last week and composed the text for the chapter 11 review when I should really have left it alone and gone to bed. I also started writing this chapter 12 review on Friday but finally saw sense and went to bed. I ended up conflating chapters 11 and 12 in the chapter 11 review that went out, so if you were following along and got a bit confused, that’s why. I’ve since edited it, so head over there if you’d like to read the fixed version. And if you’re saving the emailed version in your inbox until you’ve got time to read it, go ahead and delete it and read the online version. Most of it was fine; it was just that I ended it by reviewing the end of chapter 12 instead of chapter 11. Apologies!

Right, chapter 12—for real this time!

Remember that Ilya was in a quandary. He’d become aware that spending time with Olga unaccompanied could damage her reputation irreparably. The solution? A marriage proposal! Then seeing less of each other, lest tongues wag and reputations be damaged.

The Abyss

Ilya mentions the abyss a few times in this chapter, as he has done previously in the novel. He's talking of Olga's reputation and his power to damage it by continuing as they have been. He sees an image of himself at the bottom while Olga flies overhead. From his letter in chapter 10:

I am talking only about myself, but not out of selfishness, but because when I am lying at the bottom of that abyss you will still be flying high above it like an angel…

It’s an image that comes up again and again. In this chapter it’s with reference to a young man’s passion. He’s thinking back to his requesting a kiss in chapter 10, to which Olga responded with her first ‘never! He’s now explaining how a young man’s passion might get the better of him, which will lead perhaps to another response for a kiss, and that’s the ‘abyss’ opening up.

He stops thinking clearly and his respect for innocence, for chastity, is swept away by a tornado; he forgets himself, he is in the grip of passion, he loses command of himself—that’s when the abyss opens up under his feet!

Olga doesn’t seem perturbed and isn’t really sure what Ilya’s driving at. She’s already been lectured by Sonehcka and isn’t bothered; she doesn’t have a mother and apparently she tells her aunt every time she has a liaison with Ilya.

Ilya finds himself at a loss. He’s trying to protect Olga’s reputation and she’s not bothered, so he doesn’t know how to respond.

He remained silent; it was like a ripe apple that could not fall from the tree of its own accord — someone had to pluck it; Oblomov simply could not formulate a thought or intention without being prompted.

Olga pretends to have had enough and walks off while Ilya hides his eyes behind his hands in despair, but then he looks up and she’s still there. He’s tongue-tied but finds a way round it to utter his proposal:

Olga’s two ‘nevers’.

We’ve discussed Olga’s first ‘never’, when she refused to kiss Ilya. The second one comes after she’s accepted Ilya’s proposal and he has talked with her about there being ‘another path to happiness’. This other path involves continuing to see one another outside of marriage without a chaperone, so when Olga says ‘never’ to that, I admit to feeling a bit confused, as it was fine before.

It’s when a woman is ready to make any sacrifice, her peace of mind, her reputation, respect — all for the sake of love, her only recompense.

Her response:

Never! I have no wish to die or waste away! You’ve got it wrong; one’s love can be ever stronger without taking that road…

They kiss, and Ilya cries out in joy before falling to the grass at her feet.

Bless.

Video Review

Here’s my video review of the chapter, recorded right after reading it.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll catch you in the next chapter!