Socialism and/or Christianity: F.M. Dostoevsky’s Influence on S. Lagerlöf's Novel Antichrist’s Miracles

Abstract

In the 1880s. F.M. Dostoevsky was perceived in Sweden as a revolutionary writer, therefore there was great attention to his political views, which influenced among others S. Lagerlf, who read Dostoevsky in Swedish, Danish and, possibly, in French. In the novel Antichrists Miracles (1897) S. Lagerlf talks about Italy, a Catholic country where the church has much more power than in Protestant lands. In this regard, Lagerlf actualizes F.M. Dostoevskys reflections on the connection between the state and the church, presented in Brothers Karamazov and other novels. The key question that interests both F.M. Dostoevsky and S. Lagerlf is whether people can build the kingdom of Christ on earth when Christ said: My kingdom is not of this world. F.M. Dostoevsky examines this problem in most detail in the unfinished article Socialism and Christianity , which S. Lagerlf could not read, but she was undoubtedly familiar with Dostoevskys thoughts on this matter put into the mouths of Zosima and Prince Myshkin. In S. Lagerlf's novel Antichrists Miracles , the main character becomes a socialist, though he dreamed of becoming a priest in childhood, like Alyosha Karamazov. A fake image of Christ with the words My kingdom is only on earth becomes a banner of socialism in Lagerlf's novel. This image works wonders but only related to earthly goods. At the end of the novel, Lagerlf comes to the conclusion (put into the mouth of the Pope) that this image should not be destroyed, but the earth should be reconciled with heaven. This conclusion is consistent with Dostoevskys ideas about the universal church realized on earth.