The Problem of “Nationality” in Dostoevsky's Concept of "Pochvennichestvo"

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the problem of nationality in the concept of "pochvennichestvo" by F. M. Dostoevsky. The object of the study was the writer’s views on the people and their role in the formation of culture, the subject was the category “nationality”, presented in the journalistic and artistic works of F. M. Dostoevsky. The purpose of the article is to identify the historical context in which the writer’s ideas about nationality were formed and developed, and to highlight various aspects of the problem of nationality in the works of F. M. Dostoevsky. The scientific novelty of this study lies in the fact that the author is the first to consider the problem of nationality in the aspect of Dostoevsky’s attitude to utilitarianism and the formula “the environment is stuck.” The work, along with general scientific methods of analysis, synthesis and generalization, uses descriptive, biographical and cultural-historical research methods. As a result of the scientific research, the author points out the inevitability of the emergence of pochvennichestvo in Russian social life of the second half of the 19th century and analyzes the writer’s position in the dispute between Westerners and Slavophiles, coming to the conclusion that F. M. Dostoevsky did not oppose Western, essentially material, civilization, but resolutely rejected its inevitable by-product - spiritual degeneration. The writer asserted the power inherent in Russian Orthodox culture to resist the erosion of Western culture and called on the Russian people to take upon themselves the mission of the messiah. Dostoevsky’s ideas about nationality, like his pochvenism, prove the writer’s confidence of Russian people and Russian culture. The results of the research work can be used in further study of the work of F.M. Dostoevsky, as well as in teaching the history of Russian literature at school.