The “Resonant Space” of the Russian Classic Novel: N. S. Leskov’s “Neglected People” and F. M. Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot”
The article establishes poetic-typological correspondences between N. S. Leskov’s novel “Neglected People” (1865) and F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot” (1868–1869). The study has revealed a common theme for both of them – “hominization” of the character – going back to the creative works of V. A....
| Format: | Article |
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| Language: | Russian |
| Published: |
Ural State Pedagogical University
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Филологический класс |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://filclass.ru/en/archive/2022/vol-27-3/rezonantnoe-prostranstvo-russkogo-klassicheskogo-romana-obojdennye-n-s-leskova-i-idiot-f-m-dostoevskogo |
| Summary: | The article establishes poetic-typological correspondences between N. S. Leskov’s novel “Neglected
People” (1865) and F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot” (1868–1869). The study has revealed a common theme for
both of them – “hominization” of the character – going back to the creative works of V. A. Zhukovsky. The allusions to such works as the “Undine, an Old Novella”, the ballad “The Harp of Aeolus”, the “poetic story” “Nala and
Damaianti”, the lyrical text “Detailed Report about the Moon. Message to Her Majesty the Empress Maria Feodorovna”, which synthesizes many themes, motifs, and poetic techniques of V. A. Zhukovsky form the lyrical-philosophical subtext of Leskov’s novel. The presence of a poetical subtext metaphysically interpreting the meanings is a typological feature of the Russian classic novel (I. S. Turgenev, I. A. Goncharov, F. M. Dostoevsky). The
meaning-generating theme of the novel “The Idiot” – “a person sentenced to death” – is one of the central themes
of Leskov’s novel “Neglected People”. Prince Myshkin and Nestor Dolinsky have similar views on the truth – it is
on the side of the person who “cannot have an enemy”. The climax in the ontological tragedy of both characters
lies in the choice between “perfect beauties” capable of “understanding the truth with their hearts”. The specificity
of the artistic systems of the novels is determined by the interaction between its verbal and visual aspects. The
poetic-typological correspondences discovered by the study show the classic novel’s story in its constants and
variations and demonstrate its holisticity. The method of expressing coherence in the process of formation of
holisticity is rooted in the Russian cultural tradition. It is characterized drawing on the concepts of S. G. Bocharov – “the genetic memory of literature” and V. N. Toporov – “the resonant space” of culture. The ontological basis
of creativity, deeply felt by Leskov and Dostoevsky, and the logic of development of the “form of culture” were the
conditions under which the poetics of the novel “The Idiot” that challenged “all poetics from Aristotle to our time”
was prepared by the novel that did not pretend to be either exclusive or complete. The novels “Neglected People”
and “The Idiot” can be correlated both as sketches endowed with novel poetics and as perfect pictures. |
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| ISSN: | 2071-2405 2658-5235 |