Personal time. Lyubishchev’s system, Daniil Granin’s recommendations

Abstract

The article offers an analytical review of D. Granin’s This Strange Life [ Eta strannaya zhizn ]. The author focuses on the practical application of the system devised by the protagonist, Lyubishchev, and examines the effects of time tracking on everyday life. The author focuses on various time-consuming activities: learning and education, personal needs, entertainment, and drafting of a report ‘to Time about time expenditure’. The paper highlights examples showing usability of Professor Lyubishchev’s time management system. Along with a description of the time tracking principles, the author comments on Granin’s depiction of Lyubishchev’s character, his attitude towards the protagonist, and describes Granin’s own diaries practice as productive. Therefore, the article provides a twofold vision of time: both as an object and a subject. The author comes to a conclusion that Granin’s treatment of time in his text is paradoxical.