Oblómof
was somewhat ashamed of his own blunder.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v11 - Fro to Gre
' His
reading, however, was ill regulated and not well adapted for his men-
tal discipline. At twelve he was taken by his mother to Moscow,
where he had the opportunity to study English and German as well
as to continue his reading in French, in which he had already been
well grounded.
## p. 6534 (#524) ###########################################
6534
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
In 1831 he entered Moscow University, electing the Philological
Faculty. There were at that time in the University a coterie of young
men who afterwards became famous as writers, and the lectures
delivered by a number of enthusiastic young professors were admi-
rably calculated to develop the best in those who heard them. He
finished the complete course, and after a brief visit at his native place
went to St. Petersburg, where he entered the Ministry of Finance.
Gogol, and Goncharóf himself, have painted the depressing influence
of the officialdom then existing. The chinovnik as painted by those
early realists was a distinct type. But on the other hand, there was
a delightful society at St. Petersburg, and the literary impulses of tal-
ented young men were fostered by its leaders. Some of these men
founded a new journal of which Salonitsuin was the leading spirit,
and in this appeared Goncharóf's first articles. They were of a
humoristic tendency. His first serious work was entitled 'Obuikna-
vénnaya Istóriya' (An Ordinary Story), a rather melancholy tale,
showing how youthful enthusiasm and the dreams of progress and per-
fection can be killed by formalism: Aleksandr Adúyef the romantic
dreamer is contrasted with his practical uncle Peter Ivánovitch. The
second part was not completed when the first part was placed in the
hands of the critic Byelínsky, the sovereign arbiter on things literary.
Byelínsky gave it his "imprimatur," and it was published in the Sov-
reménnik (Contemporary) in 1847. The conception of his second and
by all odds his best romance, Oblómof,' was already in his mind;
and the first draft was published in the Illustrated Album, under
the title Son Oblómova' (Oblómof's Dream), the following year.
In 1852 Goncharóf received from the Marine Ministry a proposition
to sail around the world as private secretary to Admiral Putyátin.
On his return he contributed to various magazines sketches of his
experiences, and finally published a handsome volume of his travels
entitled 'Phregat Pállada' (The Frigate Pallas). In 1857 he went to
Carlsbad and completed 'Oblómof,' on which he had been working
so many years. It appeared in Otetchestvenniya Zapíski (Annals of
the Fatherland) in 1858 and 1859, and made a profound sensation.
The hero was recognized as a perfectly elaborated portrait of a not
uncommon type of Russian character: a good-natured, warm-hearted,
healthy young man, so enervated by the atmosphere of indolence into
which he has allowed himself to sink, that nothing serves to rouse
him. Love is the only impulse which could galvanize him into life.
Across his path comes the beautiful Olga, whom the Russians claim
as a poetic and at the same time a genuine representative of the
best Russian womanhood. Vigorous, alert, with mind and heart
equally well developed, she stirs the latent manhood of Oblómof; but
when he comes to face the responsibilities, the cares, and the duties
of matrimony, he has not the courage to enter upon them. Olga
## p. 6535 (#525) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6535
marries Oblómof's friend Stoltz, whom Goncharóf intended to be a no
less typical specimen of Russian manhood, and whom most critics
consider overdrawn and not true to life. The novel is a series of
wonderful genre pictures: his portraits are marvels of finish and deli-
cacy; and there are a number of dramatic scenes, although the story
as a whole lacks movement. The first chapter, which is here repro-
duced, is chosen not as perhaps the finest in the book, but as thor-
oughly characteristic. It is also a fine specimen of Russian humor.
Goncharóf finished in 1868 his third novel, entitled 'Abruíf' (The
Precipice). It was published first in the Viéstnik Yevrópui (European
Messenger), and in book form in 1870. In this he tries to portray the
type of the Russian Nihilist; but Volokhóf is regarded rather as a
caricature than as a faithful portrait. In contrast with him stands
the beautiful Viera; but just as Volokhóf falls below Oblómof, so
Viera yields to Olga in perfect realism. One of the best characters
in the story is the dilettante Raïsky, the type of the man who has an
artistic nature but no energy. One of the most important characters
of the book is Viera's grandmother: the German translation of The
Precipice is entitled 'The Grandmother's Fault. '
Goncharóf has written a few literary essays, and during the past
few years has contributed to one of the Russian reviews a series of
literary recollections. But his fame with posterity will depend princi-
pally on his 'Oblómof,' the name of which has given to the language
a new word,-oblómovshchina,* Oblómovism,- the typically Russian
indolence which was induced by the peculiar social conditions exist-
ing in Russia before the emancipation of the serfs in 1861: indiffer-
ence to all social questions; the expectation that others will do your
work; or as expressed in the Russian proverb, "the trusting in others
as in God, but in yourself as in the Devil. "
Not. Dola
*Oblómof is the genitive plural of the word oblóm or oblám, a term ex-
pressive of anything broken or almost useless, or even bad; a rude, awkward,
unfinished man.
## p. 6536 (#526) ###########################################
6536
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
OBLÓMOF
N GARÓKHAVAYA STREET, in one of those immense houses the
population of which would suffice for a whole provincial city,
there lay one morning in bed in his apartment Ílya Ílyitch
Oblómof. He was a pleasant-appearing man of two or three and
twenty, of medium stature, with dark gray eyes; but his face
lacked any fixed idea or concentration of purpose. A thought
would wander like a free bird over his features, flutter in his
eyes, light on his parted lips, hide itself in the wrinkles of his
brow, then entirely vanish away; and over his whole countenance
would spread the shadeless light of unconcern.
From his face this indifference extended to the attitudes of
his whole body, even to the folds of his dressing-gown. Occas-
ionally his eyes were darkened by an expression of weariness or
disgust, but neither weariness nor disgust could for an instant
dispel from his face the indolence which was the dominant and
habitual expression not only of his body, but also of his very
soul. And his soul was frankly and clearly betrayed in his
eyes, in his smile, in every movement of his head, of his hands.
A cool superficial observer, glancing at Oblómof as he passed
him by, would have said, "He must be a good-natured, simple-
hearted fellow. " Any one looking deeper, more sympathetically,
would after a few moments' scrutiny turn away with a smile, with
a feeling of agreeable uncertainty.
Oblómof's complexion was not florid, not tawny, and not posi-
tively pallid, but was indeterminate, or seemed to be so, per-
haps because it was flabby; not by reason of age, but by lack of
exercise or of fresh air or of both. His body, to judge by the
dull, transparent color of his neck, by his little plump hands,
his drooping shoulders, seemed too effeminate for a man. His
movements, even if by chance he were aroused, were kept under
restraint likewise by a languor and by a laziness that was not
devoid of its own peculiar grace.
If a shadow of an anxious thought arose from his spirit and
passed across his face, his eyes would grow troubled, the wrin-
kles in his brow would deepen, a struggle of doubt or pain would
seem to begin: but rarely indeed would this troubled thought
crystallize into the form of a definite idea; still more rarely
would it be transformed into a project.
## p. 6537 (#527) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6537
All anxiety would be dissipated in a sigh and settle down into
apathy or languid dreaming.
How admirably Oblómof's house costume suited his unruffled
features and his effeminate body! He wore a dressing-gown of
Persian material—a regular Oriental khalát, without the slightest
suggestion of anything European about it, having no tassels, no
velvet, no special shape. It was ample in size, so that he might
have wrapped it twice around him. The sleeves, in the invariable
Asiatic style, grew wider and wider from the wrist to the shoul-
der. Although this garment had lost its first freshness, and in
places had exchanged its former natural gloss for another that
was acquired, it still preserved the brilliancy of its Oriental color-
ing and its firmness of texture.
The khalát had in Oblómof's eyes a multitude of precious
properties: it was soft and supple; the body was not sensible of
its weight; like an obedient slave, it accommodated itself to every
slightest motion.
Oblómof while at home always went without cravat and
without waistcoat, for the simple reason that he liked simplicity
and comfort. The slippers which he wore were long, soft, and
wide; when without looking he put down one foot from the bed
to the floor it naturally fell into one of them.
Oblómof's remaining in bed was not obligatory upon him, as
in the case of a sick man or of one who was anxious to sleep;
nor was it accidental, as in the case of one who was weary; nor
was it for mere pleasure, as a sluggard would have chosen: it
was the normal condition of things with him. When he was at
home and he was almost always at home-he invariably lay
in bed and invariably in the room where we have just found
him: a room which served him for sleeping-room, library, and
parlor. He had three other rooms, but he rarely glanced into
them; in the morning, perhaps, but even then not every day,
but only when his man came to sweep the rooms-and this,
you may be sure, was not done every day. In these rooms the
furniture was protected with covers; the curtains were always
drawn.
The room in which Oblómof was lying appeared at first
glance to be handsomely furnished There were a mahogany
bureau, two sofas upholstered in silk, handsome screens embroid-
ered with birds and fruits belonging to an imaginary nature.
There were damask curtains, rugs, a number of paintings, bronzes,
## p. 6538 (#528) ###########################################
6538
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
porcelains, and a quantity of beautiful bric-a-brac. But the expe-
rienced eye of a man of pure taste would have discovered at a
single hasty glance that everything there betrayed merely the
desire to keep up appearances in unimportant details, while
really avoiding the burden. That had indeed been Oblómof's
object when he furnished his room. Refined taste would not
have been satisfied with those heavy ungraceful mahogany chairs,
with those conventional étagères. The back of one sofa was dis-
located; the veneering was broken off in places. The same char-
acteristics were discoverable in the pictures and the vases, and
all the ornaments.
The proprietor himself, however, looked with such coolness
and indifference on the decoration of his apartment that one
might think he asked with his eyes, "Who brought you here and
set you up? " As the result of such an indifferent manner of
regarding his possessions, and perhaps of the still more indifferent
attitude of Oblómof's servant Zakhár, the appearance of the
room, if it were examined rather more critically, was amazing
because of the neglect and carelessness which held sway there.
On the walls, around the pictures, spiders' webs, loaded with
dust, hung like festoons; the mirrors, instead of reflecting objects,
would have served better as tablets for scribbling memoranda in
the dust that covered them. The rugs were rags. On the sofa
lay a forgotten towel; on the table you would generally find in the
morning a plate or two with the remains of the evening meal,
the salt-cellar, gnawed bones, and crusts of bread. Were it not
for these plates, and the pipe half smoked out and flung down
on the bed, or even the master himself stretched out on it, it
might easily have been supposed that the room was uninhabited,
it was so dusty, so lacking in all traces of human care. On the
étagères, to be sure, lay two or three opened books or a crum-
pled newspaper; on the bureau stood an inkstand with pens; but
the pages where the books were open were covered thick with
dust and had turned yellow, evidently long ago thrown aside; the
date of the newspaper was long past; and if any one had dipped
a pen into the inkstand it would have started forth only a fright-
ened, buzzing fly!
Ílya Ílyitch was awake, contrary to his ordinary custom, very
early, at eight o'clock. Some anxiety was preying on his mind.
Over his face passed alternately now apprehension, now annoy-
ance, now vexation. It was evident that an internal conflict had
----
## p. 6539 (#529) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6539
him in its throes, and his intellect had not as yet come to his
aid.
The fact was that the evening before, Oblómof had received
from the stárosta (steward) of his estate a letter filled with dis-
agreeable tidings. It is not hard to guess what unpleasant details
one's steward may write about: bad harvests, large arrearages,
diminution in receipts, and the like. But although his stárosta
had written his master almost precisely the same kind of letter
the preceding year and the year before that, nevertheless this
latest letter came upon him exactly the same, as a disagreeable
surprise.
Was it not hard? - he was facing the necessity of considering
the means of taking some measures!
However, it is proper to show how far Ílya Ílyitch was justi-
fied in feeling anxiety about his affairs.
When he received the first letter of disagreeable tenor from
his stárosta some years before, he was already contemplating a
plan for a number of changes and improvements in the manage-
ment of his property. This plan presupposed the introduction of
various new economical and protectional measures; but the details
of the scheme were still in embryo, and the stárosta's disagree-
able letters were annually forthcoming, urging him to activity and
really disturbing his peace of mind. Oblómof recognized the
necessity of coming to some decision if he were to carry out his
plan.
As soon as he woke he decided to get up, bathe, and after
drinking his tea, to think the matter over carefully, then to write
his letters; and in short, to act in this matter as was fitting. But
for half an hour he had been still in bed tormenting himself with
this proposition; but finally he came to the conclusion that he
would still have time to do it after tea, and that he might drink
his tea as usual in bed with all the more reason, because one can
think even if one is lying down!
And so he did. After his tea he half sat up in bed, but did
not entirely rise; glancing down at his slippers, he started to put
his foot into one of them, but immediately drew it back into bed
again.
As the clock struck half-past nine, Ílya Ílyitch started up.
"What kind of a man am I? " he said aloud in a tone of vex-
ation. "Conscience only knows. It is time to do something:
where there's a will-Zakhár! " he cried.
## p. 6540 (#530) ###########################################
6540
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
In a room which was separated merely by a narrow corridor
from Ílya Ílyitch's library, nothing was heard at first except the
growling of the watch-dog; then the thump of feet springing
down from somewhere. It was Zakhár leaping down from his
couch on the stove, where he generally spent his time immersed
in drowsiness.
An elderly man appeared in the room: he was dressed in a
gray coat, through a hole under the armpit of which emerged a
part of his shirt; he also wore a gray waistcoat with brass but-
tons. His head was as bald as his knee, and he had enormous
reddish side-whiskers already turning gray-so thick and bushy
that they would have sufficed for three ordinary individuals.
Zakhar would never have taken pains to change in any re-
spect either the form which God had bestowed on him, or the
costume which he wore in the country. His raiment was made
for him in the style which he had brought with him from his
village. His gray coat and waistcoat pleased him, for the very
reason that in his semi-fashionable attire he perceived a feeble
approach to the livery which he had worn in former times when
waiting on his former masters (now at rest), either to church or
to parties; but liveries in his recollections were merely representa-
tive of the dignity of the Oblómof family. There was nothing
else to recall to the old man the comfortable and liberal style of
life on the estate in the depths of the country. The older gener-
ation of masters had died, the family portraits were at home, and
in all probability were going to rack and ruin in the garret; the
traditions of the former life and importance of the house of
Oblómof were all extinct, or lived only in the memories of a few
old people still lingering in the country.
Consequently, precious in the eyes of Zakhár was the gray
coat: in this he saw a faint emblem of vanished greatness, and
he found similar indications in some of the characteristics of his
master's features and notions, reminding of his parentage, and in
his caprices, which although he grumbled at them under his
breath and aloud, yet he prized secretly as manifestations of the
truly imperious will and autocratic spirit of a born noble. Had
it not been for these whims, he would not have felt that his
master was in any sense above him; had it not been for them,
there would have been nothing to bring back to his mind his
younger days, the village which they had abandoned so long ago,
and the traditions about that ancient home, the sole chronicles
## p. 6541 (#531) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6541
preserved by aged servants, nurses, and nursemaids, and handed.
down from mouth to mouth.
The house of the Oblómofs was rich in those days, and had
great influence in that region; but afterwards somehow or other
everything had gone to destruction, and at last by degrees had
sunk out of sight, overshadowed by parvenus of aristocratic
pretensions. Only the few gray-haired retainers of the house.
preserved and interchanged their reminiscences of the past, treas-
uring them like holy relics.
This was the reason why Zakhár so loved his gray coat. Pos-
sibly he valued his side-whiskers because of the fact that he saw
in his childhood many of the older servants with this ancient and
aristocratic adornment.
Ílya Ílyitch, immersed in contemplation, took no notice of
Zakhar, though the servant had been silently waiting for some
time. At last he coughed.
"What is it you want? " asked Ílya Ílyitch.
"You called me, didn't you? ”
"Called you? I don't remember what I called you for," he
replied, stretching and yawning. "Go back to your room; I
will try to think what I wanted. "
Zakhar went out, and Ílya Ílyitch lay down on the bed again
and began to cogitate upon that cursed letter.
A quarter of an hour elapsed.
"There now," he exclaimed, "I have dallied long enough; I
must get up. However, I must read the stárosta's letter over
again more attentively, and then I will get up-Zakhár! " The
same noise of leaping down from the stove, and the same growl-
ing of the dog, only more emphatic.
Zakhár made his appearance, but again Oblómof was sunk
deep in contemplation. Zakhár stood a few moments, looking
sulkily and askance at his master, and finally he turned to go.
"Where are you going? " suddenly demanded Oblómof.
"You have nothing to say to me, and why should I waste
my time standing here? " explained Zakhár, in a hoarse gasp
which served him in lieu of a voice, he having lost his voice,
according to his own account, while out hunting with the dogs
when he had to accompany his former master, and when a
powerful wind seemed to blow in his throat. He half turned
round, and stood in the middle of the room and glared at his
master.
## p. 6542 (#532) ###########################################
6542
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
"Have your legs quite given out, that you can't stand a min-
ute? Don't you see I am worried? Now, please wait a moment!
wasn't it lying there just now? Get me that letter which I
received last evening from the stárosta. What did you do with
it ? »
"What letter? I haven't seen any letter,” replied Zakhár.
"Why, you yourself took it from the postman, you scoun-
drel! "
"It is where you put it; how should I know anything about
it? " said Zakhár, beginning to rummage about among the papers
and various things that littered the table.
"You never know anything at all.
There, look on the bas-
ket. No, see if it hasn't been thrown on the sofa. — There, the
back of that sofa hasn't been mended yet. Why have you not
got the carpenter to mend it?
'Twas you who broke it. You
never think of anything! "
"I didn't break it," retorted Zakhár; "it broke itself; it was
not meant to last forever; it had to break some time. "
Ílya Ílyitch did not consider it necessary to refute this argu-
He contented himself with asking:
ment.
"Have you found it yet? "
"Here are some letters. "
"But they are not the right ones.
"Well, there's nothing else," said Zakhár.
"Very good, be gone," said Ílya Ílyitch impatiently. “I am
going to get up. I will find it. "
Zakhar went to his room, but he had hardly laid his hand on
his couch to climb up to it before the imperative cry was heard
again:-
>>>>
"Zakhár! Zakhár! "
«< Oh, good Lord! " grumbled he, as he started to go for the
third time to Oblómof's library. "What a torment all this is!
Oh that death would come and take me from it! "
"What do you want? " he asked, as he stood with one hand
on the door, and glaring at Oblómof as a sign of his surliness,
at such an angle that he had to look at his master out of the
corner of his eyes; while his master could see only one of his
enormous side-whiskers, so bushy that you might have expected
to have two or three birds come flying out from them.
«<
My handkerchief, quick! You might have known what I
wanted. Don't you see? " remarked Ílya Ílyitch sternly.
## p. 6543 (#533) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6543
Zakhár displayed no special dissatisfaction or surprise at such
an order or such a reproach on his master's part, regarding both,
so far as he was concerned, as perfectly natural.
"But who knows where your handkerchief is? " he grumbled,
circling about the room and making a careful examination of
every chair, although it could be plainly seen that there was
nothing whatever on them.
"It is a perfect waste of time," he remarked, opening the door
into the drawing-room in order to see if there was any sign of it.
there.
"Where are you going? Look for it here; I have not been
in that room since day before yesterday. And make haste,"
urged ĺlya Ílyitch.
"Where is the handkerchief? There isn't any handkerchief,"
exclaimed Zakhár rummaging and searching in every corner.
"Oh, there it is," he suddenly cried angrily, "under you.
There is the end of it sticking out. You were lying on it, and
yet you ask me to find your handkerchief for you! "
And Zakhár, without awaiting any reply, turned and started
to go out.
Oblómof was somewhat ashamed of his own blunder.
But he quickly discovered another pretext for putting Zakhár in
the wrong.
"What kind of neatness do you call this everywhere here!
Look at the dust and dirt! Good heavens! look here, look here!
See these corners! You don't do anything at all. ”
"And so I don't do anything," repeated Zakhár in a tone
betokening deep resentment. "I am growing old, I shan't live
much longer! But God knows I use the duster for the dust, and
I sweep almost every day. "
He pointed to the middle of the floor, and at the table where
Oblómof had dined. "Here, look here," he went on: it has all
been swept and all put in order, fit for a wedding. What more
is needed? ”
"Well then, what is this? " cried flya flyitch, interrupting
him and calling his attention to the walls and the ceiling. “And
that? and that? "
He pointed to a yesterday's napkin which had been flung
down, and to a plate which had been left lying on the table
with a dry crust of bread on it.
"Well, as for that," said Zakhár as he picked up the plate,
"I will take care of it. "
## p. 6544 (#534) ###########################################
6544
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
"You will take care of it, will you? But how about the dust
and the cobwebs on the walls? " said Oblómof, making ocular
demonstration.
"I put that off till Holy Week; then I clean the sacred
images and sweep down the cobwebs. "
"But how about dusting the books and pictures? »
"The books and pictures? Before Christmas; then Anísiya
and I look over all the closets. But now when should we be
able to do it? You are always at home. ”
"I sometimes go to the theatre or go out
might - "
"Do house-cleaning at night? "
Oblómof looked at him reproachfully, shook his head, and
uttered a sigh; but Zakhár gazed indifferently out of the window
and also sighed deeply. The master seemed to be thinking,
"Well, brother, you are even more of an Oblómof than I am
myself;" while Zakhár probably said to himself, "Rubbish! You
as my master talk strange and melancholy words, but how do
dust and cobwebs concern you? "
"Don't you know that moths breed in dust? " asked Ílya
İlyitch. "I have even seen bugs on the wall! »
"Well, I have fleas on me sometimes," replied Zakhár in a
tone of indifference.
to dine: you
"Well, is that anything to boast about? That is shameful,"
exclaimed Oblómof.
Zakhar's face was distorted by a smirking smile, which
seemed to embrace even his eyebrows and his side-whiskers,
which for this reason spread apart; and over his whole face up
to his very forehead extended a ruddy spot.
"Why, am I to blame that there are bugs on the wall? " he
asked in innocent surprise: "was it I who invented them? ”
"They come from lack of cleanliness," insisted Oblómof.
"What are you talking about? "
"I am not the cause of the uncleanliness. "
"But you have mice in your room there running about at
night - I hear them. "
"I did not invent the mice. There are all kinds of living
creatures mice and cats and fleas - lots of them everywhere. "
"How is it that other people don't have moths and bugs? "
Zakhár's face expressed incredulity, or rather a calm conviction
that this was not so.
## p. 6545 (#535) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6545
« One
"I have plenty of them," he said without hesitation.
can't look after every bug and crawl into the cracks after
them. "
It seemed to be his thought, "What kind of a sleeping-room
would that be that had no bugs in it? "
"Now do you see to it that you sweep and brush them out
of the corners; don't let there be one left," admonished Oblómof.
"If you get it all cleaned up it will be just as bad again to-
morrow," remonstrated Zakhár.
"It ought not to be as bad," interrupted the master.
"But it is," insisted the servant; "I know all about it. "
"Well then, if the dust collects again, brush it out again. "
"What is that you say? Brush out all the corners every
day? " exclaimed Zakhár. "What a life that would be! Better
were it that God should take my soul! "
"Why are other people's houses clean? " urged Oblómof.
"Just look at the piano-tuner's rooms: see how neat they look,
and only one maid—»
"Oh, these Germans! " exclaimed Zakhár suddenly interrupt-
ing. "Where do they make any litter? Look at the way they
live! Every family gnaws a whole week on a single bone. The
coat goes from the father's back to the son's, and back from the
son's to the father's. The wives and daughters wear little short
skirts, and when they walk they all lift up their legs like ducks
- where do they get any dirt? They don't do as we do - leave
a whole heap of soiled clothes in the closet for a year at a time,
or fill up the corners with bread crusts for the winter. Their
crusts are never flung down at random: they make zweiback out
of them, and eat them when they drink their beer! "
Zakhár expressed his disgust at such a penurious way of liv
ing by spitting through his teeth.
"Say nothing more," expostulated Ílya Ílyitch. "Do better
work with your house-cleaning. "
"One time I would have cleaned up, but you yourself would
not allow it," said Zakhár.
"That is all done with! Don't you see I have entirely
changed? »
“Of course you have; but still you stay at home all the time:
how can one begin to clean up when you are right here? If you
will stay out of the house for a whole day, then I will have a
general clearing-up. ”
XI-410
## p. 6546 (#536) ###########################################
6546
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
"What an idea! Get out of here. You had better go to your
own room. "
"All right! " persisted Zakhár; "but I tell you, the moment
you go out, Anísiya and I will clear the whole place up. And
we two would finish with it in short metre; then you will want
some women to wash everything. "
"Oh, what schemes you invent! Women! away with you! "
cried ĺlya Ílyitch.
He was by this time disgusted with himself for having led
Zakhár into this conversation. He had quite forgotten that the
attainment of this delicate object was at the expense of consider-
able confusion. Oblómof would have liked a state of perfect
cleanliness, but he would require that it should be brought about
in some imperceptible manner, as it were of itself; but Zakhár
always induced a discussion as soon as he was asked to have any
sweeping done, or the floors washed, and the like. In such a
contingency he was sure to point out the necessity of a terrible
disturbance in the house, knowing very well that the mere sug-
gestion of such a thing would fill his master with horror.
Zakhar went away, and Oblómof relapsed into cogitation.
After some minutes the half-hour struck again.
"What time is it? " exclaimed Ílya Ílyitch with a dull sense
of alarm. "Almost eleven o'clock! Can it be that I am not up
yet nor had my bath? Zakhár! Zakhár! ”
"Oh, good God! what is it now? " was heard from the ante-
room, and then the well-known thump of feet.
"Is my bath ready? " asked Oblómof.
"Ready? yes, long ago,” replied Zakhár. "Why did you not
get up? "
"Why didn't you tell me it was ready? I should have got up
long ago if you had. Go on; I will follow you immediately.
have some business to do; I want to write. "
I
Zakhar went out, but in the course of a few minutes he
returned with a greasy copy-book all scribbled over, and some
scraps of paper.
]
"Here, if you want to write-and by the way, be kind enough
to verify these accounts: we need the money to pay them. "
"What accounts? what money? » demanded Ílya Ílyitch with
a show of temper.
"From the butcher, from the grocer, from the laundress, from
the baker; they all are clamoring for money. "
## p. 6547 (#537) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6547
"Nothing but bother about money," growled Ílya Ílyitch.
"But why didn't you give them to me one at a time instead of
all at once? "
"You see you always kept putting me off: To-morrow,'
always To-morrow. >>
"Well, why shouldn't we put them off till to-morrow now? "
"No! they are dunning you; they won't give any longer
credit. To-morrow's the first of the month. "
Well, why
I will get
"Akh! " cried Oblómof in vexation, "new bother!
are you standing there? Put them on the table.
up immediately, take my bath, and look them over," said Ílya
Ílyitch. "Is it all ready for my bath? "
-'ready'? " said Zakhár.
"What do you mean
"Well, now
With a groan he started to make the preliminary movement
of getting up.
>>>
――
"I forgot to tell you," began Zakhár, "while you were still
asleep the manager sent word by the dvórnik that it was imper-
atively necessary that you vacate the apartment: it is wanted. "
"Well, what of that? If the apartment is wanted of course
we will move out. Why do you bother me with it? This is the
third time you have spoken to me about it. "
"They bother me about it also. "
"Tell them that we will move out. "
"He says, 'For a month you have been promising,' says he,
'and still you don't move out,' says he: 'we'll report the matter
to the police. »»
"Let him report,” cried Oblómof resolutely: "we will move
out as soon as it is a little warmer, in the course of three
weeks. "
"Three weeks, indeed! The manager says that the workmen
are coming in a fortnight: everything is to be torn out. 'Move,'
says he, either to-morrow or day after to-morrow. "
"Eh eh eh- that's too short notice: to-morrow? See here,
what next? How would this minute suit? But don't you dare
speak a word to me about apartments. I have already told you
that once, and here you are again. Do you hear? »
"But what shall I do? " demanded Zakhár.
"What shall you do? Now how is he going to get rid of
me? " replied Ílya Ílyitch. "He makes me responsible! How
Don't you trouble me any further, but
does it concern me?
## p. 6548 (#538) ###########################################
6548
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
make any arrangements you please, only so that we don't have
to move yet. Can't you do your best for your master? "
"But Ílya Ílyitch, little father [bátiushka], what arrangements
shall I make? " began Zakhár in a hoarse whisper. "The house
is not mine; how can we help being driven out of the place if
they resort to force? If only the house were mine, then I would
with the greatest pleasure"
"There must be some way of bringing him around: tell him
we have lived here so long; tell him we'll surely pay him. ”
"I have," said Zakhár.
"Well, what did he say? "
"What did he say? He repeated his everlasting Move out,'
says he; we want to make repairs on the apartment. ' He wants
to do over this large apartment and the doctor's for the wedding
of the owner's son. "
"Oh, my good Lord! " exclaimed Oblómof in despair; "what
asses they are to get married! "
He turned over on his back.
"You had better write to the owner, sir," said Zakhár. “Then
perhaps he would not drive us out, but would give us a renewal
of the lease. "
Zakhár as he said this made a gesture with his right hand.
"Very well, then; as soon as I get up I will write him. You
go to your room and I will think it over. You need not do
anything about this," he added; "I myself shall have to work at
all this miserable business myself. "
Zakhár left the room, and Oblómof began to ponder.
But he was in a quandary which to think about,-his stárosta's
letter, or the removal to new lodgings, or should he undertake.
to make out his accounts? He was soon swallowed up in the
flood of material cares and troubles, and there he still lay turn-
ing from side to side. Every once in a while would be heard
his broken exclamation, "Akh, my God! life touches everything.
reaches everywhere! "
No one knows how long he would have lain there a prey to
this uncertainty, had not the bell rung in the ante-room.
"There is some one come already! " exclaimed Oblómof,
wrapping himself up in his khalát, “and here I am not up yet;
what a shame! Who can it be so early? "
And still lying on his bed, he gazed curiously at the door.
## p.
reading, however, was ill regulated and not well adapted for his men-
tal discipline. At twelve he was taken by his mother to Moscow,
where he had the opportunity to study English and German as well
as to continue his reading in French, in which he had already been
well grounded.
## p. 6534 (#524) ###########################################
6534
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
In 1831 he entered Moscow University, electing the Philological
Faculty. There were at that time in the University a coterie of young
men who afterwards became famous as writers, and the lectures
delivered by a number of enthusiastic young professors were admi-
rably calculated to develop the best in those who heard them. He
finished the complete course, and after a brief visit at his native place
went to St. Petersburg, where he entered the Ministry of Finance.
Gogol, and Goncharóf himself, have painted the depressing influence
of the officialdom then existing. The chinovnik as painted by those
early realists was a distinct type. But on the other hand, there was
a delightful society at St. Petersburg, and the literary impulses of tal-
ented young men were fostered by its leaders. Some of these men
founded a new journal of which Salonitsuin was the leading spirit,
and in this appeared Goncharóf's first articles. They were of a
humoristic tendency. His first serious work was entitled 'Obuikna-
vénnaya Istóriya' (An Ordinary Story), a rather melancholy tale,
showing how youthful enthusiasm and the dreams of progress and per-
fection can be killed by formalism: Aleksandr Adúyef the romantic
dreamer is contrasted with his practical uncle Peter Ivánovitch. The
second part was not completed when the first part was placed in the
hands of the critic Byelínsky, the sovereign arbiter on things literary.
Byelínsky gave it his "imprimatur," and it was published in the Sov-
reménnik (Contemporary) in 1847. The conception of his second and
by all odds his best romance, Oblómof,' was already in his mind;
and the first draft was published in the Illustrated Album, under
the title Son Oblómova' (Oblómof's Dream), the following year.
In 1852 Goncharóf received from the Marine Ministry a proposition
to sail around the world as private secretary to Admiral Putyátin.
On his return he contributed to various magazines sketches of his
experiences, and finally published a handsome volume of his travels
entitled 'Phregat Pállada' (The Frigate Pallas). In 1857 he went to
Carlsbad and completed 'Oblómof,' on which he had been working
so many years. It appeared in Otetchestvenniya Zapíski (Annals of
the Fatherland) in 1858 and 1859, and made a profound sensation.
The hero was recognized as a perfectly elaborated portrait of a not
uncommon type of Russian character: a good-natured, warm-hearted,
healthy young man, so enervated by the atmosphere of indolence into
which he has allowed himself to sink, that nothing serves to rouse
him. Love is the only impulse which could galvanize him into life.
Across his path comes the beautiful Olga, whom the Russians claim
as a poetic and at the same time a genuine representative of the
best Russian womanhood. Vigorous, alert, with mind and heart
equally well developed, she stirs the latent manhood of Oblómof; but
when he comes to face the responsibilities, the cares, and the duties
of matrimony, he has not the courage to enter upon them. Olga
## p. 6535 (#525) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6535
marries Oblómof's friend Stoltz, whom Goncharóf intended to be a no
less typical specimen of Russian manhood, and whom most critics
consider overdrawn and not true to life. The novel is a series of
wonderful genre pictures: his portraits are marvels of finish and deli-
cacy; and there are a number of dramatic scenes, although the story
as a whole lacks movement. The first chapter, which is here repro-
duced, is chosen not as perhaps the finest in the book, but as thor-
oughly characteristic. It is also a fine specimen of Russian humor.
Goncharóf finished in 1868 his third novel, entitled 'Abruíf' (The
Precipice). It was published first in the Viéstnik Yevrópui (European
Messenger), and in book form in 1870. In this he tries to portray the
type of the Russian Nihilist; but Volokhóf is regarded rather as a
caricature than as a faithful portrait. In contrast with him stands
the beautiful Viera; but just as Volokhóf falls below Oblómof, so
Viera yields to Olga in perfect realism. One of the best characters
in the story is the dilettante Raïsky, the type of the man who has an
artistic nature but no energy. One of the most important characters
of the book is Viera's grandmother: the German translation of The
Precipice is entitled 'The Grandmother's Fault. '
Goncharóf has written a few literary essays, and during the past
few years has contributed to one of the Russian reviews a series of
literary recollections. But his fame with posterity will depend princi-
pally on his 'Oblómof,' the name of which has given to the language
a new word,-oblómovshchina,* Oblómovism,- the typically Russian
indolence which was induced by the peculiar social conditions exist-
ing in Russia before the emancipation of the serfs in 1861: indiffer-
ence to all social questions; the expectation that others will do your
work; or as expressed in the Russian proverb, "the trusting in others
as in God, but in yourself as in the Devil. "
Not. Dola
*Oblómof is the genitive plural of the word oblóm or oblám, a term ex-
pressive of anything broken or almost useless, or even bad; a rude, awkward,
unfinished man.
## p. 6536 (#526) ###########################################
6536
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
OBLÓMOF
N GARÓKHAVAYA STREET, in one of those immense houses the
population of which would suffice for a whole provincial city,
there lay one morning in bed in his apartment Ílya Ílyitch
Oblómof. He was a pleasant-appearing man of two or three and
twenty, of medium stature, with dark gray eyes; but his face
lacked any fixed idea or concentration of purpose. A thought
would wander like a free bird over his features, flutter in his
eyes, light on his parted lips, hide itself in the wrinkles of his
brow, then entirely vanish away; and over his whole countenance
would spread the shadeless light of unconcern.
From his face this indifference extended to the attitudes of
his whole body, even to the folds of his dressing-gown. Occas-
ionally his eyes were darkened by an expression of weariness or
disgust, but neither weariness nor disgust could for an instant
dispel from his face the indolence which was the dominant and
habitual expression not only of his body, but also of his very
soul. And his soul was frankly and clearly betrayed in his
eyes, in his smile, in every movement of his head, of his hands.
A cool superficial observer, glancing at Oblómof as he passed
him by, would have said, "He must be a good-natured, simple-
hearted fellow. " Any one looking deeper, more sympathetically,
would after a few moments' scrutiny turn away with a smile, with
a feeling of agreeable uncertainty.
Oblómof's complexion was not florid, not tawny, and not posi-
tively pallid, but was indeterminate, or seemed to be so, per-
haps because it was flabby; not by reason of age, but by lack of
exercise or of fresh air or of both. His body, to judge by the
dull, transparent color of his neck, by his little plump hands,
his drooping shoulders, seemed too effeminate for a man. His
movements, even if by chance he were aroused, were kept under
restraint likewise by a languor and by a laziness that was not
devoid of its own peculiar grace.
If a shadow of an anxious thought arose from his spirit and
passed across his face, his eyes would grow troubled, the wrin-
kles in his brow would deepen, a struggle of doubt or pain would
seem to begin: but rarely indeed would this troubled thought
crystallize into the form of a definite idea; still more rarely
would it be transformed into a project.
## p. 6537 (#527) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6537
All anxiety would be dissipated in a sigh and settle down into
apathy or languid dreaming.
How admirably Oblómof's house costume suited his unruffled
features and his effeminate body! He wore a dressing-gown of
Persian material—a regular Oriental khalát, without the slightest
suggestion of anything European about it, having no tassels, no
velvet, no special shape. It was ample in size, so that he might
have wrapped it twice around him. The sleeves, in the invariable
Asiatic style, grew wider and wider from the wrist to the shoul-
der. Although this garment had lost its first freshness, and in
places had exchanged its former natural gloss for another that
was acquired, it still preserved the brilliancy of its Oriental color-
ing and its firmness of texture.
The khalát had in Oblómof's eyes a multitude of precious
properties: it was soft and supple; the body was not sensible of
its weight; like an obedient slave, it accommodated itself to every
slightest motion.
Oblómof while at home always went without cravat and
without waistcoat, for the simple reason that he liked simplicity
and comfort. The slippers which he wore were long, soft, and
wide; when without looking he put down one foot from the bed
to the floor it naturally fell into one of them.
Oblómof's remaining in bed was not obligatory upon him, as
in the case of a sick man or of one who was anxious to sleep;
nor was it accidental, as in the case of one who was weary; nor
was it for mere pleasure, as a sluggard would have chosen: it
was the normal condition of things with him. When he was at
home and he was almost always at home-he invariably lay
in bed and invariably in the room where we have just found
him: a room which served him for sleeping-room, library, and
parlor. He had three other rooms, but he rarely glanced into
them; in the morning, perhaps, but even then not every day,
but only when his man came to sweep the rooms-and this,
you may be sure, was not done every day. In these rooms the
furniture was protected with covers; the curtains were always
drawn.
The room in which Oblómof was lying appeared at first
glance to be handsomely furnished There were a mahogany
bureau, two sofas upholstered in silk, handsome screens embroid-
ered with birds and fruits belonging to an imaginary nature.
There were damask curtains, rugs, a number of paintings, bronzes,
## p. 6538 (#528) ###########################################
6538
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
porcelains, and a quantity of beautiful bric-a-brac. But the expe-
rienced eye of a man of pure taste would have discovered at a
single hasty glance that everything there betrayed merely the
desire to keep up appearances in unimportant details, while
really avoiding the burden. That had indeed been Oblómof's
object when he furnished his room. Refined taste would not
have been satisfied with those heavy ungraceful mahogany chairs,
with those conventional étagères. The back of one sofa was dis-
located; the veneering was broken off in places. The same char-
acteristics were discoverable in the pictures and the vases, and
all the ornaments.
The proprietor himself, however, looked with such coolness
and indifference on the decoration of his apartment that one
might think he asked with his eyes, "Who brought you here and
set you up? " As the result of such an indifferent manner of
regarding his possessions, and perhaps of the still more indifferent
attitude of Oblómof's servant Zakhár, the appearance of the
room, if it were examined rather more critically, was amazing
because of the neglect and carelessness which held sway there.
On the walls, around the pictures, spiders' webs, loaded with
dust, hung like festoons; the mirrors, instead of reflecting objects,
would have served better as tablets for scribbling memoranda in
the dust that covered them. The rugs were rags. On the sofa
lay a forgotten towel; on the table you would generally find in the
morning a plate or two with the remains of the evening meal,
the salt-cellar, gnawed bones, and crusts of bread. Were it not
for these plates, and the pipe half smoked out and flung down
on the bed, or even the master himself stretched out on it, it
might easily have been supposed that the room was uninhabited,
it was so dusty, so lacking in all traces of human care. On the
étagères, to be sure, lay two or three opened books or a crum-
pled newspaper; on the bureau stood an inkstand with pens; but
the pages where the books were open were covered thick with
dust and had turned yellow, evidently long ago thrown aside; the
date of the newspaper was long past; and if any one had dipped
a pen into the inkstand it would have started forth only a fright-
ened, buzzing fly!
Ílya Ílyitch was awake, contrary to his ordinary custom, very
early, at eight o'clock. Some anxiety was preying on his mind.
Over his face passed alternately now apprehension, now annoy-
ance, now vexation. It was evident that an internal conflict had
----
## p. 6539 (#529) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6539
him in its throes, and his intellect had not as yet come to his
aid.
The fact was that the evening before, Oblómof had received
from the stárosta (steward) of his estate a letter filled with dis-
agreeable tidings. It is not hard to guess what unpleasant details
one's steward may write about: bad harvests, large arrearages,
diminution in receipts, and the like. But although his stárosta
had written his master almost precisely the same kind of letter
the preceding year and the year before that, nevertheless this
latest letter came upon him exactly the same, as a disagreeable
surprise.
Was it not hard? - he was facing the necessity of considering
the means of taking some measures!
However, it is proper to show how far Ílya Ílyitch was justi-
fied in feeling anxiety about his affairs.
When he received the first letter of disagreeable tenor from
his stárosta some years before, he was already contemplating a
plan for a number of changes and improvements in the manage-
ment of his property. This plan presupposed the introduction of
various new economical and protectional measures; but the details
of the scheme were still in embryo, and the stárosta's disagree-
able letters were annually forthcoming, urging him to activity and
really disturbing his peace of mind. Oblómof recognized the
necessity of coming to some decision if he were to carry out his
plan.
As soon as he woke he decided to get up, bathe, and after
drinking his tea, to think the matter over carefully, then to write
his letters; and in short, to act in this matter as was fitting. But
for half an hour he had been still in bed tormenting himself with
this proposition; but finally he came to the conclusion that he
would still have time to do it after tea, and that he might drink
his tea as usual in bed with all the more reason, because one can
think even if one is lying down!
And so he did. After his tea he half sat up in bed, but did
not entirely rise; glancing down at his slippers, he started to put
his foot into one of them, but immediately drew it back into bed
again.
As the clock struck half-past nine, Ílya Ílyitch started up.
"What kind of a man am I? " he said aloud in a tone of vex-
ation. "Conscience only knows. It is time to do something:
where there's a will-Zakhár! " he cried.
## p. 6540 (#530) ###########################################
6540
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
In a room which was separated merely by a narrow corridor
from Ílya Ílyitch's library, nothing was heard at first except the
growling of the watch-dog; then the thump of feet springing
down from somewhere. It was Zakhár leaping down from his
couch on the stove, where he generally spent his time immersed
in drowsiness.
An elderly man appeared in the room: he was dressed in a
gray coat, through a hole under the armpit of which emerged a
part of his shirt; he also wore a gray waistcoat with brass but-
tons. His head was as bald as his knee, and he had enormous
reddish side-whiskers already turning gray-so thick and bushy
that they would have sufficed for three ordinary individuals.
Zakhar would never have taken pains to change in any re-
spect either the form which God had bestowed on him, or the
costume which he wore in the country. His raiment was made
for him in the style which he had brought with him from his
village. His gray coat and waistcoat pleased him, for the very
reason that in his semi-fashionable attire he perceived a feeble
approach to the livery which he had worn in former times when
waiting on his former masters (now at rest), either to church or
to parties; but liveries in his recollections were merely representa-
tive of the dignity of the Oblómof family. There was nothing
else to recall to the old man the comfortable and liberal style of
life on the estate in the depths of the country. The older gener-
ation of masters had died, the family portraits were at home, and
in all probability were going to rack and ruin in the garret; the
traditions of the former life and importance of the house of
Oblómof were all extinct, or lived only in the memories of a few
old people still lingering in the country.
Consequently, precious in the eyes of Zakhár was the gray
coat: in this he saw a faint emblem of vanished greatness, and
he found similar indications in some of the characteristics of his
master's features and notions, reminding of his parentage, and in
his caprices, which although he grumbled at them under his
breath and aloud, yet he prized secretly as manifestations of the
truly imperious will and autocratic spirit of a born noble. Had
it not been for these whims, he would not have felt that his
master was in any sense above him; had it not been for them,
there would have been nothing to bring back to his mind his
younger days, the village which they had abandoned so long ago,
and the traditions about that ancient home, the sole chronicles
## p. 6541 (#531) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6541
preserved by aged servants, nurses, and nursemaids, and handed.
down from mouth to mouth.
The house of the Oblómofs was rich in those days, and had
great influence in that region; but afterwards somehow or other
everything had gone to destruction, and at last by degrees had
sunk out of sight, overshadowed by parvenus of aristocratic
pretensions. Only the few gray-haired retainers of the house.
preserved and interchanged their reminiscences of the past, treas-
uring them like holy relics.
This was the reason why Zakhár so loved his gray coat. Pos-
sibly he valued his side-whiskers because of the fact that he saw
in his childhood many of the older servants with this ancient and
aristocratic adornment.
Ílya Ílyitch, immersed in contemplation, took no notice of
Zakhar, though the servant had been silently waiting for some
time. At last he coughed.
"What is it you want? " asked Ílya Ílyitch.
"You called me, didn't you? ”
"Called you? I don't remember what I called you for," he
replied, stretching and yawning. "Go back to your room; I
will try to think what I wanted. "
Zakhar went out, and Ílya Ílyitch lay down on the bed again
and began to cogitate upon that cursed letter.
A quarter of an hour elapsed.
"There now," he exclaimed, "I have dallied long enough; I
must get up. However, I must read the stárosta's letter over
again more attentively, and then I will get up-Zakhár! " The
same noise of leaping down from the stove, and the same growl-
ing of the dog, only more emphatic.
Zakhár made his appearance, but again Oblómof was sunk
deep in contemplation. Zakhár stood a few moments, looking
sulkily and askance at his master, and finally he turned to go.
"Where are you going? " suddenly demanded Oblómof.
"You have nothing to say to me, and why should I waste
my time standing here? " explained Zakhár, in a hoarse gasp
which served him in lieu of a voice, he having lost his voice,
according to his own account, while out hunting with the dogs
when he had to accompany his former master, and when a
powerful wind seemed to blow in his throat. He half turned
round, and stood in the middle of the room and glared at his
master.
## p. 6542 (#532) ###########################################
6542
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
"Have your legs quite given out, that you can't stand a min-
ute? Don't you see I am worried? Now, please wait a moment!
wasn't it lying there just now? Get me that letter which I
received last evening from the stárosta. What did you do with
it ? »
"What letter? I haven't seen any letter,” replied Zakhár.
"Why, you yourself took it from the postman, you scoun-
drel! "
"It is where you put it; how should I know anything about
it? " said Zakhár, beginning to rummage about among the papers
and various things that littered the table.
"You never know anything at all.
There, look on the bas-
ket. No, see if it hasn't been thrown on the sofa. — There, the
back of that sofa hasn't been mended yet. Why have you not
got the carpenter to mend it?
'Twas you who broke it. You
never think of anything! "
"I didn't break it," retorted Zakhár; "it broke itself; it was
not meant to last forever; it had to break some time. "
Ílya Ílyitch did not consider it necessary to refute this argu-
He contented himself with asking:
ment.
"Have you found it yet? "
"Here are some letters. "
"But they are not the right ones.
"Well, there's nothing else," said Zakhár.
"Very good, be gone," said Ílya Ílyitch impatiently. “I am
going to get up. I will find it. "
Zakhar went to his room, but he had hardly laid his hand on
his couch to climb up to it before the imperative cry was heard
again:-
>>>>
"Zakhár! Zakhár! "
«< Oh, good Lord! " grumbled he, as he started to go for the
third time to Oblómof's library. "What a torment all this is!
Oh that death would come and take me from it! "
"What do you want? " he asked, as he stood with one hand
on the door, and glaring at Oblómof as a sign of his surliness,
at such an angle that he had to look at his master out of the
corner of his eyes; while his master could see only one of his
enormous side-whiskers, so bushy that you might have expected
to have two or three birds come flying out from them.
«<
My handkerchief, quick! You might have known what I
wanted. Don't you see? " remarked Ílya Ílyitch sternly.
## p. 6543 (#533) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6543
Zakhár displayed no special dissatisfaction or surprise at such
an order or such a reproach on his master's part, regarding both,
so far as he was concerned, as perfectly natural.
"But who knows where your handkerchief is? " he grumbled,
circling about the room and making a careful examination of
every chair, although it could be plainly seen that there was
nothing whatever on them.
"It is a perfect waste of time," he remarked, opening the door
into the drawing-room in order to see if there was any sign of it.
there.
"Where are you going? Look for it here; I have not been
in that room since day before yesterday. And make haste,"
urged ĺlya Ílyitch.
"Where is the handkerchief? There isn't any handkerchief,"
exclaimed Zakhár rummaging and searching in every corner.
"Oh, there it is," he suddenly cried angrily, "under you.
There is the end of it sticking out. You were lying on it, and
yet you ask me to find your handkerchief for you! "
And Zakhár, without awaiting any reply, turned and started
to go out.
Oblómof was somewhat ashamed of his own blunder.
But he quickly discovered another pretext for putting Zakhár in
the wrong.
"What kind of neatness do you call this everywhere here!
Look at the dust and dirt! Good heavens! look here, look here!
See these corners! You don't do anything at all. ”
"And so I don't do anything," repeated Zakhár in a tone
betokening deep resentment. "I am growing old, I shan't live
much longer! But God knows I use the duster for the dust, and
I sweep almost every day. "
He pointed to the middle of the floor, and at the table where
Oblómof had dined. "Here, look here," he went on: it has all
been swept and all put in order, fit for a wedding. What more
is needed? ”
"Well then, what is this? " cried flya flyitch, interrupting
him and calling his attention to the walls and the ceiling. “And
that? and that? "
He pointed to a yesterday's napkin which had been flung
down, and to a plate which had been left lying on the table
with a dry crust of bread on it.
"Well, as for that," said Zakhár as he picked up the plate,
"I will take care of it. "
## p. 6544 (#534) ###########################################
6544
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
"You will take care of it, will you? But how about the dust
and the cobwebs on the walls? " said Oblómof, making ocular
demonstration.
"I put that off till Holy Week; then I clean the sacred
images and sweep down the cobwebs. "
"But how about dusting the books and pictures? »
"The books and pictures? Before Christmas; then Anísiya
and I look over all the closets. But now when should we be
able to do it? You are always at home. ”
"I sometimes go to the theatre or go out
might - "
"Do house-cleaning at night? "
Oblómof looked at him reproachfully, shook his head, and
uttered a sigh; but Zakhár gazed indifferently out of the window
and also sighed deeply. The master seemed to be thinking,
"Well, brother, you are even more of an Oblómof than I am
myself;" while Zakhár probably said to himself, "Rubbish! You
as my master talk strange and melancholy words, but how do
dust and cobwebs concern you? "
"Don't you know that moths breed in dust? " asked Ílya
İlyitch. "I have even seen bugs on the wall! »
"Well, I have fleas on me sometimes," replied Zakhár in a
tone of indifference.
to dine: you
"Well, is that anything to boast about? That is shameful,"
exclaimed Oblómof.
Zakhar's face was distorted by a smirking smile, which
seemed to embrace even his eyebrows and his side-whiskers,
which for this reason spread apart; and over his whole face up
to his very forehead extended a ruddy spot.
"Why, am I to blame that there are bugs on the wall? " he
asked in innocent surprise: "was it I who invented them? ”
"They come from lack of cleanliness," insisted Oblómof.
"What are you talking about? "
"I am not the cause of the uncleanliness. "
"But you have mice in your room there running about at
night - I hear them. "
"I did not invent the mice. There are all kinds of living
creatures mice and cats and fleas - lots of them everywhere. "
"How is it that other people don't have moths and bugs? "
Zakhár's face expressed incredulity, or rather a calm conviction
that this was not so.
## p. 6545 (#535) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6545
« One
"I have plenty of them," he said without hesitation.
can't look after every bug and crawl into the cracks after
them. "
It seemed to be his thought, "What kind of a sleeping-room
would that be that had no bugs in it? "
"Now do you see to it that you sweep and brush them out
of the corners; don't let there be one left," admonished Oblómof.
"If you get it all cleaned up it will be just as bad again to-
morrow," remonstrated Zakhár.
"It ought not to be as bad," interrupted the master.
"But it is," insisted the servant; "I know all about it. "
"Well then, if the dust collects again, brush it out again. "
"What is that you say? Brush out all the corners every
day? " exclaimed Zakhár. "What a life that would be! Better
were it that God should take my soul! "
"Why are other people's houses clean? " urged Oblómof.
"Just look at the piano-tuner's rooms: see how neat they look,
and only one maid—»
"Oh, these Germans! " exclaimed Zakhár suddenly interrupt-
ing. "Where do they make any litter? Look at the way they
live! Every family gnaws a whole week on a single bone. The
coat goes from the father's back to the son's, and back from the
son's to the father's. The wives and daughters wear little short
skirts, and when they walk they all lift up their legs like ducks
- where do they get any dirt? They don't do as we do - leave
a whole heap of soiled clothes in the closet for a year at a time,
or fill up the corners with bread crusts for the winter. Their
crusts are never flung down at random: they make zweiback out
of them, and eat them when they drink their beer! "
Zakhár expressed his disgust at such a penurious way of liv
ing by spitting through his teeth.
"Say nothing more," expostulated Ílya Ílyitch. "Do better
work with your house-cleaning. "
"One time I would have cleaned up, but you yourself would
not allow it," said Zakhár.
"That is all done with! Don't you see I have entirely
changed? »
“Of course you have; but still you stay at home all the time:
how can one begin to clean up when you are right here? If you
will stay out of the house for a whole day, then I will have a
general clearing-up. ”
XI-410
## p. 6546 (#536) ###########################################
6546
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
"What an idea! Get out of here. You had better go to your
own room. "
"All right! " persisted Zakhár; "but I tell you, the moment
you go out, Anísiya and I will clear the whole place up. And
we two would finish with it in short metre; then you will want
some women to wash everything. "
"Oh, what schemes you invent! Women! away with you! "
cried ĺlya Ílyitch.
He was by this time disgusted with himself for having led
Zakhár into this conversation. He had quite forgotten that the
attainment of this delicate object was at the expense of consider-
able confusion. Oblómof would have liked a state of perfect
cleanliness, but he would require that it should be brought about
in some imperceptible manner, as it were of itself; but Zakhár
always induced a discussion as soon as he was asked to have any
sweeping done, or the floors washed, and the like. In such a
contingency he was sure to point out the necessity of a terrible
disturbance in the house, knowing very well that the mere sug-
gestion of such a thing would fill his master with horror.
Zakhar went away, and Oblómof relapsed into cogitation.
After some minutes the half-hour struck again.
"What time is it? " exclaimed Ílya Ílyitch with a dull sense
of alarm. "Almost eleven o'clock! Can it be that I am not up
yet nor had my bath? Zakhár! Zakhár! ”
"Oh, good God! what is it now? " was heard from the ante-
room, and then the well-known thump of feet.
"Is my bath ready? " asked Oblómof.
"Ready? yes, long ago,” replied Zakhár. "Why did you not
get up? "
"Why didn't you tell me it was ready? I should have got up
long ago if you had. Go on; I will follow you immediately.
have some business to do; I want to write. "
I
Zakhar went out, but in the course of a few minutes he
returned with a greasy copy-book all scribbled over, and some
scraps of paper.
]
"Here, if you want to write-and by the way, be kind enough
to verify these accounts: we need the money to pay them. "
"What accounts? what money? » demanded Ílya Ílyitch with
a show of temper.
"From the butcher, from the grocer, from the laundress, from
the baker; they all are clamoring for money. "
## p. 6547 (#537) ###########################################
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
6547
"Nothing but bother about money," growled Ílya Ílyitch.
"But why didn't you give them to me one at a time instead of
all at once? "
"You see you always kept putting me off: To-morrow,'
always To-morrow. >>
"Well, why shouldn't we put them off till to-morrow now? "
"No! they are dunning you; they won't give any longer
credit. To-morrow's the first of the month. "
Well, why
I will get
"Akh! " cried Oblómof in vexation, "new bother!
are you standing there? Put them on the table.
up immediately, take my bath, and look them over," said Ílya
Ílyitch. "Is it all ready for my bath? "
-'ready'? " said Zakhár.
"What do you mean
"Well, now
With a groan he started to make the preliminary movement
of getting up.
>>>
――
"I forgot to tell you," began Zakhár, "while you were still
asleep the manager sent word by the dvórnik that it was imper-
atively necessary that you vacate the apartment: it is wanted. "
"Well, what of that? If the apartment is wanted of course
we will move out. Why do you bother me with it? This is the
third time you have spoken to me about it. "
"They bother me about it also. "
"Tell them that we will move out. "
"He says, 'For a month you have been promising,' says he,
'and still you don't move out,' says he: 'we'll report the matter
to the police. »»
"Let him report,” cried Oblómof resolutely: "we will move
out as soon as it is a little warmer, in the course of three
weeks. "
"Three weeks, indeed! The manager says that the workmen
are coming in a fortnight: everything is to be torn out. 'Move,'
says he, either to-morrow or day after to-morrow. "
"Eh eh eh- that's too short notice: to-morrow? See here,
what next? How would this minute suit? But don't you dare
speak a word to me about apartments. I have already told you
that once, and here you are again. Do you hear? »
"But what shall I do? " demanded Zakhár.
"What shall you do? Now how is he going to get rid of
me? " replied Ílya Ílyitch. "He makes me responsible! How
Don't you trouble me any further, but
does it concern me?
## p. 6548 (#538) ###########################################
6548
IVÁN ALEKSANDROVITCH GONCHARÓF
make any arrangements you please, only so that we don't have
to move yet. Can't you do your best for your master? "
"But Ílya Ílyitch, little father [bátiushka], what arrangements
shall I make? " began Zakhár in a hoarse whisper. "The house
is not mine; how can we help being driven out of the place if
they resort to force? If only the house were mine, then I would
with the greatest pleasure"
"There must be some way of bringing him around: tell him
we have lived here so long; tell him we'll surely pay him. ”
"I have," said Zakhár.
"Well, what did he say? "
"What did he say? He repeated his everlasting Move out,'
says he; we want to make repairs on the apartment. ' He wants
to do over this large apartment and the doctor's for the wedding
of the owner's son. "
"Oh, my good Lord! " exclaimed Oblómof in despair; "what
asses they are to get married! "
He turned over on his back.
"You had better write to the owner, sir," said Zakhár. “Then
perhaps he would not drive us out, but would give us a renewal
of the lease. "
Zakhár as he said this made a gesture with his right hand.
"Very well, then; as soon as I get up I will write him. You
go to your room and I will think it over. You need not do
anything about this," he added; "I myself shall have to work at
all this miserable business myself. "
Zakhár left the room, and Oblómof began to ponder.
But he was in a quandary which to think about,-his stárosta's
letter, or the removal to new lodgings, or should he undertake.
to make out his accounts? He was soon swallowed up in the
flood of material cares and troubles, and there he still lay turn-
ing from side to side. Every once in a while would be heard
his broken exclamation, "Akh, my God! life touches everything.
reaches everywhere! "
No one knows how long he would have lain there a prey to
this uncertainty, had not the bell rung in the ante-room.
"There is some one come already! " exclaimed Oblómof,
wrapping himself up in his khalát, “and here I am not up yet;
what a shame! Who can it be so early? "
And still lying on his bed, he gazed curiously at the door.
## p.
