Trouble in Paradise: The Failure of Flawed Vision in Dostoevsky's "Idiot"

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off space isolating the ideal from reality, and so coheres generically1 with the Crystal Palace and other man-made structures in Dostoevsky, ideal forms housing ideal contents. Yet each of these structures omits some vital human component, and just as Will defies the rational Crystal Palace, so this intentional omission from the blueprint on the part of the idealist weakens the structural foundation and ultimately destroys the ideal. Indeed, as they retreat into the Underground, brain fever, idiocy, or death, Dostoevsky's inveterate idealists demonstrate that only a total rupture with reality can fully protect the ideal from its force: Only in eternal stasis can the ideal remain intact, can Utopia-Nowhere-exist. Idiot (1868) falls midway in Dostoevsky's major canon, between Crime and Punishment (1866) and The Possessed (1870). As it chronicles the descent of a latter-day Christ into a hell of death, destruction, and madness, the novel remains for many the author's most enigmatic work. Indeed, this very to resolve things beatifically has long sparked critical controversy, engendering veritable catalogues of the limitations in either Dostoevsky's aesthetics or his main character. I would argue, however, that when viewed as a structural-thematic whole, Idiot proves a superbly constructed, painfully cogent study of idealism. An admittedly problematic work, this novel prophetically underscores the central problem not only within its pages, but throughout contemporary history: A pervasive failure of vision which threatens the individual and society. More specifically, Idiot treats of dreamers and their dreams. While tracing their common quest for a personal Eden, a perfect form and content, the novel both mirrors the futility of idealism untempered