On Dostoevsky's Poetics and Archaic Patterns of Mythological Thought

Abstract

and premeditated city in the whole wide (Notes from Underground, Pt. I, ch. 1); St. Petersburg there are some strange little corners ... it is as though a completely different life is led in these corners ... a life which might occur in nevernever land, but not here ... this life is a mixture of something quite fantastic, of ardent ideals, and, at the same time ... colorlessly prosaic and ordinary, not to say, impossibly vulgar Second Night, White Nights); But in passing, however, I must observe that I consider the Petersburg morning, which one would think the most prosaic in the whole earthly sphere, to be virtually the most fantastic in the world ... A hundred times amid these mists I have been overcome by a strange but persistent dream: that when this mist disperses and rises, the whole decayed and dank city will go with it, rising in the mist and disappearing like smoke (The Raw Youth and elsewhere). Fantastic (and words of the same root) can be found in Crime and Punishment around thirty times. most characteristic use is in reference to Raskolnikov: How fantastic he is ... he has a fantastic heart ... I like you for your fantastical qualities ... the matter will finish differently, in afantastic way, etc. 10 Compare from the old woman's house (the first visit); after the dream on Petrovsky island; when leaving the yard where the stolen goods are hidden, into the street in the direction of the square; when leaving home after Luzhin's visit; after Marmeladov's death; after the second visit to Porfiry; and finally, the actual rebirth, which takes place at an extreme distance from home. And on the other hand, suffering usually reaches its zenith inside the house. 11 See 'What a nasty room you have, Rodya, just like a coffin ... I'm sure it's partly the room that's made you so melancholy' . . . 'The room? Yes, the room is responsible for a great deal ... I've thought so, too.' 12 For a linguistic codification of the image, see The proximity of Sennaya ... the inhabitants crowded into these streets and alleys in the middle of St. Petersburg. tendency to stay in the middle of the room is observed and frequently associated with passive perceptions (hearing, seeing), with the involuntary surfacing of bad or generally negative thoughts. See was standing meditatively in the middle of the room. A dark and tormenting thought came to him ... He stood in the middle of the room and was looking round with tortured bewilderment. See also the moments of oblivion and depression in connection with the middle of the bridge; critical moments (the middle of the room-Sonya, Lizaveta, etc.). In contrast, walking around the room (for example, This content downloaded from 207.46.13.131 on Sun, 16 Oct 2016 05:14:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms ON DOSTOEVSKY'S POETICS 349 from the door or stove to the window, or from corner to corner) is most frequently linked with the active principle-thoughts, emotions (particularly agitation), etc., preparing for subsequent action. Cf. the behavior of Dunya, Katerina Ivanovna, Porfiry (he customarily runs, spins, and even, in the course of the artisan's evidence, skips), Lebezyatnikov, Amalia Ivanovna, etc. 13 Only a few examples will be indicated here. Cf. Raskolnikov's first dream: There was always such a crowd there, they bawled so much, laughed, swore so crudely and sang hoarsely . . . fought . . . it becomes very noisy . . . they come out shouting and singing ... there's laughter in the crowd . . . they all clamber into Mikolka's cart with laughing and joking . .. the crowd is also laughing, and indeed, how could they help it ... the laughter in the cart and in the crowd redoubles, etc. 14 Consider, for example, the yellow of the wallpaper at the old woman's place (also the yellow furniture, the yellow frames), Porfiry's yellow furniture, the yellow water in the yellow glass at the police station, the pale yellow faces of Raskolnikov and Katerina