Dostoevsky's 'The Idiot' and the Ethical Foundations of Narrative: Reading, Narrating, Scripting by Sarah Young

Abstract

MLR, I03.1, 2oo8 305 isa suspicion that twoobjects of enquiry are being conflated: thegenreofwriting about St Petersburg and thediscipline (field,pursuit-call itwhat you will) of local studies. In this light, it is somewhat disappointing that the second half of the twentieth century, the timewhen kraevedenie seems to have attained mass appeal among both practitioners and readers, and tohave played a genuine and as yet understudied role in thegrowth of national and regional identities, receives short shrift. Here, one feels, iswhere the phenomenon can yield its richest historical insights. But the lastmain chapter ofHow Petersburg Learned toStudy Itself offers instead a discussion of the synergies between literature and kraevedenie: while interesting on itsown terms, this section of thebook perhaps reflects more the research interestsof theauthor than the salient qualities of kraevedenie. KING'S COLLEGE LONDON STEPHEN LOVELL Dostoevsky's 'The Idiot' and the Ethical Foundations of Narrative: Reading, Narrating, Scripting. By SARAHYOUNG. London: Anthem. 2004. iX+226 pp. j39.99. ISBN 978-I-8433I-II4-0. Sarah Young's book is interesting to read throughout. Focusing on one of Dosto evsky's most problematic novels, The Idiot, Young proposes a fresh and original approach which provides a new technique forexamining a literarywork. It consists of 'concentrating on the role of character in the text, examining the protagonists' actions, words, attitudes to theother and, inparticular, theirdialogic interactivity,as the locus of both the events and ideas ofwhich the text is built, and itsmeaning', which allows theauthor 'todefine how they influence the shape andmovement of the novel as awhole' (p. 7). Such an analysis facilitates a consideration of characters, very much in linewith Dostoevsky's own view, as 'the foundation of theethical orientation of fiction' (pp. 7-8) and as responsible, in their autonomy in the narrative, for the structuring of thenovel. Simply put, Young develops, as it were, a theoryof scripting (whereby heroes themselves create and impose on others theirown 'scripts', largely through narratological means of theirown, which in turndrives and shapes thewhole narrative, forming itsethical basis). This approach allows amulti-sided perception of the textand overcomes thepre vious difficulty faced by attempts to establish a straightforward categorization of the main hero, Prince Myshkin, aswell as of the narrative structuring. It also fills in the gaps in the study of the novel's loss of form,of the dynamics of narratingMyshkin inevolution, and of theproblems of temporality inThe Idiot. The firsttwochapters are dedicated respectively to the main protagonists, Nastas'ia Filippovna and Myshkin, and aim to understand their collision through examining both sides of the relationship in the lightofYoung's innovative approach. The third chapter examines the fundamental problematics ofDostoevsky's euvre through the case study of The Idiot-of self coming intobeing through dialogic interactivity with theother-and addresses the questions of temporality and the changing role of the narrator.As a result of this analysis Young convincingly demonstrates 'thecentrality of character as the structural dominant inDostoevsky's fictionalworld' (p. I85). In a sense, Young's examination leads toDostoevsky's novel being regarded as a self-shaping universe of the psychological theatricals that his characters play-as a battlefield of conflicting scripts enacted throughmultiple narrative devices ('not only in the splitting of thenarrative voice, but also through theuse of inserted narratives, which endow the characters with the freedom of self-expression, and place them on an equal footingwith thenarrator' (p. I84)). For a cultural consumer this interpreta tion of the novel-through disentangling the clashes of scripts and superimpositions 306 Reviews of self-willswith theirhidden motives and subconscious drives-makes for a fasci nating reading, reminiscent of the illuminating finale of a detective novel where all the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle are put together by a skilful sleuth. Using a 'descend ing'metaphor, Young's book brings tomind Eric Berne's best-selling Games People Play: The Psychology ofHuman Relationships (Harmondsworth: Penguin, I964) by demonstrating the theatre of lifebehind Dostoevsky's characters' multi-levelled in teractions. However, while Berne's book results in schematizing and simplification of human interactions for the general audience, Young's work, with itsmeticulous attention to detail and penetrating insights, sustains the highest level of scholarly research and inscribes human psychology into a complex...