Boredom and Procrastination as Modes of Res(ex)istance in the Contemporary

Abstract

In this theoretical study, we seek to reflect on the meaning of boredom and procrastination in the postmodern context, especially after the incidence of collective trauma resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. In dialogue with the thought of Foucault, Heidegger, and Han, we analyze the protagonist of the homonymous Russian novel, Oblómov, to problematize the individual’s refusal to face the imperative of productivity, specifically within the transitioning social world of the late 19th century, marked by rapid urbanization and increasing industrialization. We point out that, after a century and a half, in the process of expansion of capitalism, the relationship of humanity with time and space has changed significantly. Time has become an enemy of the individual, an obstacle to be eliminated in a period dominated by globalization, which intensifies the flows of production and circulation of goods. We take the character Oblómov as an allegorical representation of the subject who feels crushed by time and tries to defend himself from the pressure to produce, to the limit of extracting power from his body, through boredom and infinite procrastination. Deprived of the means to manage his existence, Oblómov epitomizes the quintessential subject of contemporary capitalism: his individualistic strategy of resistance ultimately weakens his strength and drains his daily life of meaning.