scholarly journals “Crime and Punishment”: A Mystical Novel about Saving the World through the Love of Jesus Christ and Sophia

2020 ◽  
pp. 136-150
Author(s):  
I.I. Evlampiev
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Spiritual Power ◽  
Natural Explanation ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Imitation Of Christ ◽  
The World ◽  
Material Power

This article is a continuation of the interpretation of F.M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment”. A detailed analysis of the central episode of the novel, Raskolnikov's visit to Sonya Marmeladova, Is here offered, and, as a result, many hidden allusions to the story of Jesus Christ are revealed. Attention is drawn to the dual meaning of Raskolnikov's statements about the need to gain power over the world: this is either material power, based on the laws of the evil world (in imitation of Napoleon), or spiritual power, canceling the laws of the world (in imitation of Christ), which includes serving people and accepting suffering for everyone. It is proved that all the mysterious and incomprehensible details of the narration receive a natural explanation when the Gnostic myth of the salvation of the world through the love union (sizigiya) of Jesus Christ and Sophia is put at the basis of the symbolic plan of the novel. This connection takes place in the epilogue of the novel, where the symbolic plan completely prevails over the realistic, which allows to explain the change in the style of the narrative, which was paid attention to by many researchers.

scholarly journals «Crime and Punishment»: mystical novel about the birth of the Savior in the world of the evil Demiurge

2020 ◽  
pp. 140-156
Author(s):  
I.I. Evlampiev
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Full Responsibility ◽  
Tragic Consequence ◽  
The World ◽  
New Interpretation

The article proposes a new interpretation of F.M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment”. It is shown that in addition to realistic and socio-psychological plans, the novel contains a symbolic and mystical plan, which is the main one. A detailed analysis of the text of the novel and the preparatory manuscripts for it suggests that Dostoevsky used as the basis of the novel the Gnostic myth of our world as the creation of the evil God the Demiurge and of the fallen Sophia (lower divine aeon), who was captured by matter and awaiting the Savior (Jesus Christ), who is to be born in the world itself, to realize his destiny and, having found Sophia, unite with her in an act of mystical love (syzygy). The mythological image of the Savior, Jesus Christ, expresses Raskolnikov, the main character of the novel. The article proves that the murder committed by a hero can be explained as an inevitable and tragic consequence of the dual nature of any person: he has not only a higher principle, arising from a connection with the good God the Father, but also a lower, dark beginning, created by the evil Demiurge. Therefore, in his action, man inevitably brings not only good, but also evil. Raskolnikov in his fate reveals the tragedy of a man who seeks to change the world of evil by his actions, and shows a universal way out of this tragedy - the acceptance of the full responsibility for what is happening in the world and the all suffering. In this sense, it exactly matches the image of Jesus Christ in its Gnostic understanding.

The Problem of “Higher Individuals” in the Works of F.M. Dostoevsky

2021 ◽  
pp. 119-134
Author(s):  
Li Xiaoyu ◽  
I.I. Evlampiev
Keyword(s):  
Personal Accomplishment ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Traditional Church ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Existential Crisis ◽  
Kingdom Of Heaven ◽  
The World ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Ideal

This article deals with the controversial issue of F.M. Dostoevsky’s concept of “Higher Individuals.” The latter are people who rise above other people and have a special influence on society and on history. The authors argue that this concept is most clearly expressed in “The Diary of a Writer” (1876) as well as in the story “The Sentence”, along with Dostoevsky’s commentaries on this story. By means of a detailed analysis of Raskolnikov’s “theory” within the novel “Crime and Punishment”, it is demonstrated that only a superficial version of the concept of “higher individuals” is refuted in the heroes’ argumentations; at the same time, the novel’s characters – Marmeladov, his wife Katerina Ivanovna, and Raskolnikov – can be viewed as examples of different degrees in the personal accomplishment of this “higher personality” state. In conclusion, it is observed how a person must go through three stages of development in order to become a “higher character”: firstly, the experience of an existential crisis and the understanding of the lack of meaning in one’s life; secondly, the “rebellion” against the Creator of the world and its laws along with the rejection of the traditional church faith, whose rejection leads this person on the edge of suicide; thirdly, the acquisition of a new faith, first of all, a faith in one’s immortality, which happens in an unusual, unorthodox form, as is well demonstrated by the character of Svidrigailov in Dostoevsky’s novel. According to Dostoevsky’s doctrine, the meaning ofimmortality lies in the continuation of a person’s existence in a new form in the earthly world or in a “parallel” world similar to the earthly one, and not in the ideal Kingdom of Heaven, as the church claims. Finally, the authors maintain that the process of a character’s transformation into a “higher individual” was consistently and fully described by Dostoevsky in the stories of Raskolnikov and Ivan Karamazov.

scholarly journals FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT: REMBRANDT'S LIGHTING IN THE NOVEL “CRIME AND PUNISHMENT” BY F.M. DOSTOEVSKY

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-308
Author(s):  
S.I. Yermolenko ◽  
O.I. Kadushina
Keyword(s):  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Main Function ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
The World ◽  
Direction Of Movement

The F. M. Dostoevsky’s special art of chiaroscuro at different times was repeatedly drawn to the attention of researchers. However the observations of Dostoevsky scholars about one of Dostoevsky’s methods of the art of chiaroscuro - the so-called “Rembrandt lighting” - are still fragmentary, which does not allow us to fully assess its significance in the poetics of the writer and the implementation of the ideological and philosophical intention of the works. The authors of the article are guided by the principles of the «slow reading», which allows you to gradually immerse yourself in the meaning of a work or some of its separate episodes, without losing sight of the details and particulars, without which a deep understanding of the text cannot be achieved. The article analyzes three episodes of the novel “Crime and Punishment” (the death of Marmeladov, Raskolnikov’s half-confession to Razumikhin in the corridor, Sonya’s reading of the Gospel to Raskolnikov), in which F. M. Dostoevsky uses the Rembrandt lighting technique. The author establishes not only the significance of these episodes in the text of the novel, but also their internal correlation: they constitute a kind of “Rembrandt plot”, characterized by the invariable direction of movement from darkness to light. As a result of the analysis, a conclusion is made about the multifunctionality of this technique in “Crime and Punishment” (social, psychological, ideological and compositional functions). The main function in the novel is the religious and philosophical function of the Rembrandt illumination as a form of expressing the author’s position: the assertion of the inevitability of the final triumph of the Spiritual Light over the “slum” darkness in the world and the hearts of people.

Augustus’ Erlass und Gottes Macht: Überlegungen zur Charakterisierung der Augustusfigur und ihrer erzählstrategischen Funktion in der lukanischen Erzählung

2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Blumenthal
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Recent Discussion ◽  
Roman Emperor ◽  
The World

It has long been noted by interpreters of Luke 2.1–3 that by the reference to Caesar Augustus and his decree Luke opens up a worldwide horizon in order to underline the universal importance of Jesus’ birth. While the recent discussion of this short passage is largely concerned with explaining the historical background of the decree and its initiator Augustus, the present study, in which Luke-Acts is read as a narrative, provides a detailed analysis of the Lukan picture of Caesar Augustus. By use of a narratological approach it examines how Luke characterizes the figure of this Roman emperor and what role he and the decree play in the narrative in Luke 1–2, especially in relation to the characterization of God and Jesus Christ. At the end of this study its results are related to the geographical orientation of the world presented by Luke in the first two chapters of his Gospel.

scholarly journals Crime, punishment, and death: Reading finitude and the self in David Malouf’s ‘The Conversations at Curlow Creek’

Coolabah ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 32-42
Author(s):  
Chinmaya Lal Thakur
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
New South ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Historical Representation ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
South Wales ◽  
The World ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
Historical Accounts

The present paper reads David Malouf’s 1996 novel The Conversations at Curlow Creek as portraying a vivid and realistic picture of events relating to crime and punishment in colonial Australia in the early nineteenth century. The depiction of death penalty accorded to the bushranger Daniel Carney under the supervision of the Irish sheriff Michael Adair in New South Wales thus resonates with numerous historical accounts of incidents that actually happened. The novel, however, does more than only provide accurate historical representation as it also presents Adair as having undergone a rather dramatic transformation in the process of conversing with Carney before the latter’s execution. The paper, drawing on the views of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger, argues that a realization of inevitable mortality, of facing certain death characterizes this change in Adair’s nature and worldview. It concludes by suggesting that Adair’s acceptance of his finitude intimates of a way of being in the world that not only subverts procedures of administering punishment to convicts in colonial Australia but also indicates the limits of polarized identity politics that shapes the country in the present times.

scholarly journals GOD APPEARS IN ALL: JULIAN BARNES’ A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 10½ CHAPTERS

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-26
Author(s):  
Pradeepa M ◽  
Shobha Ramaswamy
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Julian Barnes ◽  
Presence Of God ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe

The creator of nature, the God is the Father of all, the Creator of the Universe and the Supreme Deity.He is also the Father of Jesus Christ and Saviour to His followers. God is seen in many ways, through miacles, such as the appearance of the butterfly when a crew is desperately lost at sea, the rainbow as a covenant toNoah, the actions of the raven and the dove. The present paper focuses on the presence of God in The History of the World in 10½ Chapters by the contemporary British novelist, Julian Patrick Barnes. The novel with ten and a half chapters represents the trust and faith towards the Supreme Power by means of water. Barnesrefers Him directly, indirectly or through the use of metaphor in every story of the novel. The paper draws attention on the actions of the God in the chapters of the novel with regard to nature.

"The transfomation of the novel Crime and punishment in the V. Pietzuch’s remake The new Moskow philosophy (axiologisation of Russian classics) "

Lyuboslovie ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 151-163
Author(s):  
Dehka Chavdarova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Russian Literature ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Cultural Consciousness ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
The World ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Impact

The idea of literariness of Russian culture, of the impact of literature on Russian life, is an axiom of Russian cultural consciousness, which however doesn’t cease to draw the attention of researchers. Russian literature itself, from the 19th century on to this day, manifests this idea, altering the semantics of the life-literature relationship. In Pietzuch’s story the attention is drawn to the metatextual commentary about the role and value of Russian classics (and literature in general), and about the literariness of Russian consciousness – a commentary close to scientific discourse. The writer conceptualises literature as an invariant embodying the spiritual experience of humanity, and reality as an imitation of literature, deprived of structure and meaning. He creates an image of contemporary Soviet reality, which is a travestied variant of the world of Dostoevsky in the novel “Crime and punishment”. The conclusion refers to the development of similar axiologisation of Russian classics in the post-modernist remakes from the 1990s to this day.

scholarly journals CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN THE CHAPTER “REBELLION”, IN THE NOVEL “THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV” OF F. M. DOSTOEVSKY (Problems of the suffering of the innocent)

2021 ◽  
Vol XII (38) ◽  
pp. 147-160
Author(s):  
Marina Koprivica
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Unconditional Love ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
The Brothers Karamazov ◽  
The World ◽  
Brothers Karamazov

F. M. Dostoevsky is one of the world's great writers who, while preserving the autonomy of a literary work, incorporated into his works issues of an ethical-philosophical and religious character. He permeated his works with echoes of these topics, but, in addition to the literary stamp, in some chapters he concretized ethical-philosophical and religious issues, for example, in the novel "The Brothers Karamazov", in the chapters "Rebellion" and "The Grand Inquisitor”. Concerning his spirituality and his perspective on life and society, Dostoevsky belongs to writers whose moral norms are the foundation and imperative of their poetics. He paid special attention to those who were "insulted and humiliated, ", the so-called "little people", especially children who suffer in the world of adults. In this light, we can also say that the title of the chapter "Rebellion" is a seal of Dostoevsky's work, and our work focuses on the central theme of "Rebellion" - the relationship of adult characters to the suffering of children in the world, and the very purpose of punishment for crimes which cannot adequately be redeemed. By analyzing this key chapter of the novel, through concrete images of the suffering of children and the attitudes of Ivan Karamazov, we emphasize the motif of crime and punishment in "The Brothers Karamazov": the question of freedom, that is, free will, but also love towards people who are close, which Dostoevsky problematizes, especially in the parent-child relationship. We also point out the creative task of this Russian writer; his effort to solve the eternal enigma of man as a being, through which the writer wants to solve the riddle of God. Ivan's rebellion against such an arrangement of God is also shown, in which the suffering of the innocent is allowed, with the hero's rejections of future harmony at the expense of the suffering of the innocent and powerless. In this chapter, which has so far received little attention in literary criticism, Dostoevsky also questioned the eternal questions of man through the experience of lived truth, with the view that there is no goal worthy of a single human life or a child's tears. In his complex task, synthesizing in the sphere of literature, ethical-philosophical and religious attitudes, Dostoevsky determines the essence of man and his moral values, opposing the postulates of the notion of unconditional love to rational will, determined by social, generally accepted factors. Based on a wider range of contrasts and contradictory attitudes of Dostoevsky's heroes, especially Ivan Karamazov in "Rebellion", from atheism, faith and agnosticism, to rebellion and preaching, we conclude that these categories are strongly intertwined in the rich literary amplitude of Dostoevsky - writer and ethicist, philosopher, and preacher in literature - and not only permeate, but always end with the apotheosis of a love for man, especially for the so-called "little man", and for unprotected children, indicating the author’s strong compassion for the suffering of the innocent.

scholarly journals Christian Motives in Ch. T. Aitmatov’s Novel The Scaffold

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 194-201
Author(s):  
Ekaterina I. Shevchugova
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Motif Analysis ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
The World ◽  
Life Journey ◽  
Ultimate Outcome ◽  
End Of The World

In the following article, we identify the Christian motifs in the novel Plakha (The Scaffold) by Ch. T. Aitmatov, describe them and offer our interpretations. The novelty of our analysis stems from the fact that Ch. T. Aitmatov’s body of work is still underresearched, particularly the religious components of this novel. Within our study, we employ the historical-literary, comparative, and motif analysis. We summarize the worldview of Avdii Kallistratov as a system and show that his image and life journey as someone who experiences choice, solitude, fate, recognition of his predestination and mission resemble the image and earthly life of Jesus Christ. His Old Testament name, his origins, the course of his life, and the crucifixion as the ultimate outcome are all important. According to the author, the mankind has reached the critical mark; the end of the world, the Apocalypse is advancing. We conclude that The Scaffold is a literary warning about the coming end of times, which is being drawn closer by the evils of modern humans. Only the tragic and heroic feats of people like Avdii can possibly slow this process down. At the same time the Christian doctrine is not the only correct one: the second half of the novel is based on pantheistic views, demonstrating the syncretism of the author’s worldview.

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