The Ontological Collapse of Meaning and the Architecture of Boredom in Roman Senchin’s "Minus"

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the dissolution of its ideological framework generated a profound crisis of orientation for individuals whose identities had been shaped by collectivist modes of existence. This article offers a new reading of Minus by the Siberian novelist Roman Senchin as a representation of existential boredom and the erosion of meaning in the post-Soviet condition. Through close readings of spatial settings, narrative structure, and characters’ behavior, the article demonstrates how the novel portrays a pervasive identity crisis marked by social dislocation and temporal stagnation. It traces the characters’ attempts to construct meaning through shifting forms of labor, routine, and spatial substitution—such as the theater and the hostel—which ultimately underscore a persistent existential impasse. While grounded in existential philosophy, particularly the works of Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus, the analysis also situates boredom and meaninglessness within broader discussions of modernity, alienation, and post-ideological disorientation. In doing so, the article argues that Minus not only presents a distinct Russian and Siberian articulation of post-Soviet reality but also participates in wider philosophical and cultural debates concerning the crisis of meaning in late modernity.