The Landlady:A New Interpretation

Abstract

The Landlady1 is still one of Dostoevsky's most enigmatic works. Various interpretations have been offered. While they do explain some aspects of the novella, its theme has remained as ambiguous as ever. One frequently met interpretation takes its clue from discussion of the genre of The Landlady. Apart from the realistic framework, which approaches the style of the physiological school, the novella exhibits, it is said, the characteristics of the romantic Kunstmarchen and the arabesque. Aside from the fairytale trio of prince, princess, and wizard there are several fairytale plots and motifs mentioned in the story. If we add the folklorisms in the speech of the major characters, the interpretation of The Landlady as literary recreation of various folklore subjects seems quite plausible. Professor S. Gibian has approached The Landlady on this level; for him the novella is a recreation of folktale diction and imagery ... its plot is based on the three folklore motifs, man-woman dominance, the incestuous fatherdaughter relationship, and the Volga outlaw's tale. ( Gibian, 245, 248 ) . Other scholars have undertaken very detailed research in the subject matter of the novella with the aim of detecting its ultimate meaning by comparative study of Dostoevsky's characters and motifs and their literary antecedents. In the course of their research they have unearthed great number of literary sources, parallels, allusions, and the like. C. E. Passage has summarized the results of this approach to The Landlady.2 As if to justify the title of his book, Dostoevsky: