Is Dostoevsky immortal?

Abstract

The article sets out to trace F. Dostoevsky's presence in Russian literature over a broader period: from the 1960s until the present time. According to Amusin, his article especially focuses on the more empirically evident forms of such presence, namely film adaptations of Dostoevsky's works, critical reviews devoted to the writer, and, lastly, the dialogue between Dostoevsky and Russian writers of the late 20th — early 21st cc. Amusin argues that Dostoevsky's ‘background' influence (mostly of the philosophical or religious variety) was most perceived in the Russian village prose movement, whereas the ‘urban prose' writers, notably A. Bitov, Y. Trifonov, and V. Makanin, moved beyond that ‘background' to interact with Dostoevsky on the level of specific matches and parallels in the text. In the end, the critic finds that Dostoevsky is a constant presence in literature: the idiosyncratic aesthetic ideas and a high degree of spirituality that define his oeuvre give it enough power to penetrate time, stimulate our sensibility and occasionally administer a curative ‘acupuncture' treatment.