person
Dolbonosov
also: Долбоносов
A provincial councillor visiting Petersburg on official business who, out of boredom at a grand party where he knows no one, condescends to a former tutor of his children -- then climbs, rung by rung, from bored contempt to fawning invitation as he learns the young man's salary, second post, and marriage connections.
Reading notes
- Up the Staircase §1 Провинциальный советник
A 'provincial councillor' -- a vague, unglamorous civil-service standing that marks Dolbonosov as a middling official from outside the capital, primed to feel his own insignificance and out-of-place status at a grand Petersburg party.