scholarly journals Truths and Lies in a TV Series About “Dostoevsky Beyond the Textbook”

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 70-105
Author(s):  
Liudmila Saraskina
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Severe Illness ◽  
Human Dimension ◽  
Russian History ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Private Space ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Brothers Karamazov ◽  
History Of ◽  
Brothers Karamazov

The paper offers a detailed analysis of Dostoevsky, a historical and biographical feature TV serial (in eight episodes), produced in 2011, when the writer’s 190th anniversary was celebrated. The film was directed by V. I. Khotinenko, the script was written by E. Ya. Volodarsky. The authors of the series claimed that their objective was to create an image of “Dostoevsky beyond the textbook”, wholly (or largely) unknown to today’s audience. But the authors did not explain what they meant by “Dostoevsky beyond the textbook”, nor, for that matter, by the “textbook” version. Professional expertise had found numerous gross distortions of both Dostoevsky’s biography and Russian history in the script. Nevertheless, after certain corrections by the film director, the flawed script was accepted as the basis for the series, which, in the end, proved to be as flawed. The objective of the film, as defined by the director, was to show the “human dimension” Dostoevsky, was realized in a very peculiar manner: for the sake of pseudo-dramatization, the writers’ real experiences in the fatal moments of his life were replaced with fictitious experiences; many events, well known and well documented, were deliberately misrepresented. For the film director, Dostoevsky was chiefly interesting as a person burdened with many vices, whose biography had been full of extraordinary striking episodes. The film director, by his arbitrary will, ascribed to Dostoevsky the desires, passions and actions of some of his fictional characters; this dubious, though frequently employed, technique has been readily utilized in the series. Numerous erotic episodes were supposed to demonstrate to today’s audience that nothing human was alien to Dostoevsky. His literary activity, his public readings (which he liked so much) were presented as bait used to lure the victims of his male lust. The series showed, as it were, that the writer had rehearsed, in his private space, the would-be crimes of his characters. The real, wellknown, Dostoevsky has remained outside the series. Viewers will not find his work on the novel The Possessed, the creative history of The Brothers Karamazov, the inauguration of the monument to Pushkin in Moscow, Dostoevsky’s Pushkin speech, his dramatic relations with Pobedonostsev, his friendship with S. A. Tolstaya (the widow of Alexei K. Tolstoy), the severe illness of his last days, his death, or his funeral, unprecedented in Russia.

scholarly journals The First Production of The Brothers Karamazov on the Russian stage in the Mirror of the Press (Based on the Collections of the Vladimir Dahl State Museum of the History of Russian Literature)

2020 ◽  
pp. 219-241
Author(s):  
Pavel E. Fokin ◽  
Ilya O. Boretsky
Keyword(s):  
Russian Literature ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Theatrical Production ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The Brothers Karamazov ◽  
The Press ◽  
State Museum ◽  
History Of ◽  
Brothers Karamazov

The first Russian theatrical production of Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov premiered on the eve of Dostoevsky’s 20th death anniversary on January 26 (February 7) 1901 at the Theater of the Literary and Artistic Society (Maly Theater) in St. Petersburg as a benefit for Nikolay Seversky. The novel was adapted for the stage by K. Dmitriev (Konstantin Nabokov). The role of Dmitry Karamazov was performed by the famous dramatic actor Pavel Orlenev, who had received recognition for playing the role of Raskolnikov. The play, the staging, the actors’ interpretation of their roles became the subject of detailed reviews of the St. Petersburg theater critics and provoked controversial assessments and again raised the question about the peculiarities of Dostoevsky’s prose and the possibility of its presentation on stage. The production of The Brothers Karamazov at the Maly Theater in St. Petersburg and the controversy about it became an important stage in the development of Russian realistic theater and a reflection of the ideas of Dostoevsky’s younger contemporaries about the distinctive features and contents of his art. The manuscript holdings of the Vladimir Dahl State Museum of the History of Russian Literature includes Anna Dostoevskaya’s collection containing a set of documentary materials (the playbill, newspaper advertisements, reviews, feuilletons), which makes it possible to form a complete picture of the play and Russian viewers’ reaction to it. The article provides a description of the performance, and voluminous excerpts from the most informative press reviews. The published materials have not previously attracted special attention of researchers.

scholarly journals The First Production of The Brothers Karamazov on the Russian stage in the Mirror of the Press (Based on the Collections of the Vladimir Dahl State Museum of the History of Russian Literature)

2020 ◽  
pp. 219-241
Author(s):  
Pavel E. Fokin ◽  
Ilya O. Boretsky
Keyword(s):  
Russian Literature ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Theatrical Production ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The Brothers Karamazov ◽  
The Press ◽  
State Museum ◽  
History Of ◽  
Brothers Karamazov

The first Russian theatrical production of Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov premiered on the eve of Dostoevsky’s 20th death anniversary on January 26 (February 7) 1901 at the Theater of the Literary and Artistic Society (Maly Theater) in St. Petersburg as a benefit for Nikolay Seversky. The novel was adapted for the stage by K. Dmitriev (Konstantin Nabokov). The role of Dmitry Karamazov was performed by the famous dramatic actor Pavel Orlenev, who had received recognition for playing the role of Raskolnikov. The play, the staging, the actors’ interpretation of their roles became the subject of detailed reviews of the St. Petersburg theater critics and provoked controversial assessments and again raised the question about the peculiarities of Dostoevsky’s prose and the possibility of its presentation on stage. The production of The Brothers Karamazov at the Maly Theater in St. Petersburg and the controversy about it became an important stage in the development of Russian realistic theater and a reflection of the ideas of Dostoevsky’s younger contemporaries about the distinctive features and contents of his art. The manuscript holdings of the Vladimir Dahl State Museum of the History of Russian Literature includes Anna Dostoevskaya’s collection containing a set of documentary materials (the playbill, newspaper advertisements, reviews, feuilletons), which makes it possible to form a complete picture of the play and Russian viewers’ reaction to it. The article provides a description of the performance, and voluminous excerpts from the most informative press reviews. The published materials have not previously attracted special attention of researchers.

RESPONDING TO DOSTOYEVSKY? JULIO JURENITO BY ILYA EHRENBURG

2021 ◽  
pp. 30-42
Author(s):  
George S. Prokhorov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
Russian Revolution ◽  
The Novel ◽  
World War ◽  
The Brothers Karamazov ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Moral Damage ◽  
Brothers Karamazov ◽  
First World

Julio Jurenito – a 1924 Modernist novel by Ilya Ehrenburg, written hot on the heels of the 1917 Revolution and is distinguished by both a wide intertextual spectrum and an acute satirical orientation in relation to all ideological trends and factions. The article focuses on references of the novel by Ilya Ehrenburg to the legacy of Dostoevsky – primarily – The Brothers Karamazov. Ilya Ehrenburg resets Dostoevsky’s features – his protagonists and some elements of plot – into the reality of European history of the First World War, Russian Revolution and Civil War. But also, Ehrenburg goes beyond Dostoevsky’s semantic continuum, replacing the author’s sense of History as a process striving for its endpoint with a History in which an end is fundamentally impossible, and there is always at least the potential to put the flow of event on pause and rewrite their mistakes. As well, the idea important for Dostoevsky that of the moral damage of the modern atheist-minded person is transformed into a demonstration of the people’s inclination to create idols and devoutly worship the latter. Ilya Ehrenburg’s novel is grounded on an interpretation of Dostoevsky, perfected through the prism of the traditions of the Jewish Enlightenment.

scholarly journals “Hysterical Shrieks of the Cherubim” (Concerning a Textual Incident in the History of the Text of The Brothers Karamazov)

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 166-174
Author(s):  
Boris Tikhomirov
Keyword(s):  
Editorial Staff ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Cover Letter ◽  
The Brothers Karamazov ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Brothers Karamazov ◽  
The Devil

The article deals with a textual incident that occurred in the history of the publication of the chapter “Hell. Ivan Fedorovich’s nightmare” from the novel The Brothers Karamazov. When sending the manuscript of the chapter to “Russkiy Vestnik” (“Russian Bulletin”) for publication, in the cover letter to N. A. Lyubimov Dostoevsky expressed concern that the journal’s editorial staff might find the words “hysterical shrieks of the cherubim,” pronounced by the devil, obscene. The writer insisted on the absolute artistic justification of such an expression coming from the lips of his infernal character, begging Lyubimov to leave this version in print. However, he foresaw censorship difficulties and offered a backup version to replace the line (“if you can’t”): “joyous cries of the cherubim,” adding with regret that it will sound stylistically dissonant. As a result, the journal published the compromise version devised by N. A. Lyubimov, namely “joyful shrieks of the cherubim.” Although Dostoevsky’s letter clearly expressed his attitude to the “backup” versions, in a separate edition, which was published immediately after the magazine, he reproduced the devil’s remark exactly as it was printed in the “Russkiy Vestnik”. In the academic Complete Works of Dostoevsky, the printed version was “canonized” as an expression of the last author’s will of the writer. The article challenges this textual decision and justifies the need to revert to the version contained in the typeset manuscript, as it is reconstructed from Dostoevsky’s letter to Lyubimov: “hysterical shrieks of the cherubim”.

scholarly journals ANTHROPOLOGICAL IDEAL IN THE NOVEL BY DOSTOYEVSKY “THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV” IN THE RECEPTIONS OF RUSSIAN RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHERS OF THE FRONTIER

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-94
Author(s):  
Анастасия Николаевна Кошечко ◽  
Алина Сергеевна Шилова
Keyword(s):  
The Novel ◽  
Philosophical Thought ◽  
Research Material ◽  
The Brothers Karamazov ◽  
Christian Worldview ◽  
Grand Inquisitor ◽  
Brothers Karamazov ◽  
Historical Comparative ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
Further Development

Введение. Предпринята попытка исследования рецепции антропологического идеала в романе Ф. М. Достоевского «Братья Карамазовы» русскими религиозными философами порубежной эпохи XIX–XX вв. Аутентичное понимание и интерпретация ключевых идей писателя о человеческом идеале, его ценностях и смысле жизни возможны только в контексте православной антропологии. Важность этого материала не ограничивается осмыслением проблемы антропологического идеала и его влияния на дальнейшее развитие русской религиозно-философской мысли, позволяет исследовать особенности художественного мира романа, в том числе специфику репрезентации в идейном поле произведения авторского начала, мировоззрения писателя. Материал и методы. Материалом исследования послужили работы В. С. Соловьева «Три речи в память Достоевского», В. В. Розанова «Легенда о Великом инквизиторе», Н. А. Бердяева «Миросозерцание Достоевского», Н. О. Лосского «Достоевский и его христианское миропонимание», канонический текст романа Ф. М. Достоевского «Братья Карамазовы». Используются культурно-исторический, сравнительно-сопоставительный, структурно-типологический методы. Результаты и обсуждение. Наука о Достоевском начинается именно с трудов русских религиозных философов и мыслителей конца XIX – начала XX в., которые идеи о сущности человека, его предназначении, идеале делают содержательным ядром своих размышлений. Итоговый роман Великого Пятикнижия «Братья Карамазовы» как квинтэссенция жизненного и творческого пути Достоевского, неразрывно связанный с духовными и аксиологическими императивами православной антропологии, наиболее часто привлекается религиозными философами для рефлексии ключевых доминант собственных философских концепций, анализа и аргументации идей. Этот материал позволяет исследовать особенности художественного мира романа, специфику репрезентации в идейном поле произведения мировоззрения писателя и авторского начала, антропологического идеала, неразрывно связанного для Достоевского с такими духовными и ценностными доминантами, как Христос, Православие, святость, народность, добро и зло, и выявить его влияние на дальнейшее развитие русской религиозно-философской мысли. Заключение. Антропологический идеал Достоевского, по мысли религиозных философов, опирается на православное учение о человеке, раскрывающее как антиномичность человеческой природы (pro et contra в терминологии писателя), так и бытийную ее устремленность к Богу, Истине, потребность в добре, вне которых личность осознает свое не-бытие. Доминантами антропологического идеала писателя, которые находят отражение в трудах религиозных философов, становятся святость, красота как этическая доминанта личности, укорененность в ценностях и смыслах христоцентричной в своих основаниях русской культуры. Introduction. This article attempts to study the reception of the anthropological ideal in the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky “The Brothers Karamazov” by Russian religious philosophers of the late 19th–20th centuries. Authentic understanding and interpretation of the writer’s key ideas about the human ideal, its values and the meaning of life is possible only in the context of Orthodox anthropology. The importance of this material is not limited to comprehending the problem of the anthropological ideal and its influence on the further development of Russian religious and philosophical thought; moreover, it allows one to explore the peculiarities of the artistic world of the novel, including the specifics of the representation of the author’s principle in the ideological field of the work, the peculiarities of the writer’s worldview. Material and methods. The research material was the work of V. S. Solovyov “Three Speeches in memory of Dostoevsky”, V. V. Rozanov “The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor”, N. А. Berdyaeva “Dostoevsky’s worldview”, N. O. Lossky “Dostoevsky and his Christian worldview”, the canonical text of the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky “The Brothers Karamazov”. The work uses cultural and historical, comparative, structural and typological methods. Results and discussion. The science of Dostoevsky begins precisely with the works of Russian religious philosophers and thinkers of the late XIX – early XX centuries, which ideas about the essence of man, his purpose, ideally make him a meaningful core of his thoughts. The final novel of the Great Pentateuch “The Brothers Karamazov” as a quintessence of Dostoevsky’s life and creative path, inextricably connected with the spiritual and axiological imperatives of Orthodox anthropology, is most often attracted by religious philosophers to reflect key dominants of their own philosophical concepts, analyze and argue ideas. This material allows us to explore the features of the artistic world of the novel, the specifics of representation in the ideological field of the work of the writer’s worldview and author’s beginning, the features of the anthropological ideal, inextricably linked for Dostoevsky with such spiritual and value dominants as Christ, Orthodoxy, holiness, nationality, good and evil, and to identify its influence on the further development of Russian religious and philosophical thought. Conclusion. Dostoevsky’s anthropological ideal, according to religious philosophers, is based on the Orthodox doctrine of man, revealing both the antinomy of human nature («pro et contra» in the writer’s terminology) and its previous striving for God, Truth, the need for good, outside of which the person is aware of his non-existence. The dominants of the anthropological ideal of the writer, which are reflected in the works of religious philosophers, are holiness, beauty as the ethical dominant of the person, and reproach in the values and meanings of Christ-centered Russian culture in their foundations.

scholarly journals Felix Culpa: Salvific Sin in the Play The Satin Slipper and in the Novel The Brothers Karamazov

2020 ◽  
pp. 169-179
Author(s):  
Tatiana Kashina
Keyword(s):  
Human Freedom ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Garden Of Eden ◽  
New Man ◽  
Spiritual Change ◽  
The Brothers Karamazov ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The World ◽  
Brothers Karamazov

The article attempts to compare the soteriological ideas of the play The Satin Slipper and the novel The Brothers Karamazov, two texts in which the authors express themselves most fully as theologians. For both texts, the theme of sin and atonement is central. The epigraphs to Paul Claudel’s play are two statements about the saving potential of sin. In Dostoevsky’s novel, it can be seen how sin becomes the most important starting point for further positive spiritual change of heroes. However, in his play, Claudel not only shows the possibility for sin to become the starting point for the conversion of protagonists, but also shows that in a certain sense the salvation of the world needs sin. For example, the main characters of the Satin Slipper make a kind of symbolic escape from paradise (Don Rodrigo leaves the Jesuit novitiate, Dona Prouhèze escapes from the “Garden of Eden” planted for her by her husband) and this allows them to reveal themselves in fullness and to realize their vocation, which is salvific for the world. Mitya Karamazov at the end of Dostoevsky’s novel says that the “new man” in him “would never have come to the surface” if certain things had not happened (and what happened includes a series of Mitya’s sins). This reminds of the idea of “happy guilt”, a term from the Latin hymn Exultet, which refers to the need for sin for the redemption. However, as Claudel shows, even by the very name of his play (Dona Prouhèze, before making her escape, donates her satin slipper as a gift to the Mother of God so that the Blessed Virgin would prevent her from taking the path of evil) suggests that sin becomes salvation only thanks to human freedom.

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