ABSTRACT

Business has always been coded ambivalently in Russia. On the one hand, foreign merchants, especially from Germany, were admired because of their efficient work; on the other hand, they were criticized for not paying attention to the important values in life. A prominent case in point is Ivan Goncharov’s novel Oblomov (1859). The novel’s eponymous hero seeks a deeper sense in his life which is not confined to merely economic benefits. His friend Stolz is a successful entrepreneur, but his life resembles the course of a hamster in a wheel.