Raw Youth Research Articles

Grattez le russe, et vous verrez le tartar: перверсия французской поговорки в творчестве Ф.М. Достоевского

The article considers the famous saying Grattez le russe, et vous verrez le tartare (Scratch a Russian and you’ll find a Tatar) taken from A Writer's Diary and The Raw Youth by F.M. Dostoevsky. The interpretation of the cultural and historical meaning of this French saying is given, associated with the tradition of identifying Russians with barbarians, “Asians”, which is confirmed by the punning and ironic roll call of homophones barbare and tartare. The major contribution into transformation of this stereotypical belief about the nation was made by Dostoevsky in the relevant journalistic and artistic texts of 1870s. He had experienced staying in the Siberian Asia and would speak to kazakh scientist Chokan Valikhanov and other Russian orientalists. The writer used to have a Europe-centric perspective of Russia. However, he gradually transformed and started from sharp criticism of the Eurocentric view of Russia to adopt a positive interpretation of the “Asian” origins (existing along with the European ones) in the Russians’ nature. Eventually Dostoevsky shaped a trinitary Eurasian formula that he used to define the national and cultural essence of Russia. The essence includes not only Russian and European origins, but also the third origin which is Asian and no less substantial. This idea was fully explained by A Writer's Diary’s author in his late days in 1881: “Europe <…> is the mother of Russia just like Asia is”.

Literary Walks with Dostoevsky (Book Review: Tikhomirov B. N. Dostoevsky. Literary Walks Along Nevsky Prospekt. From the Winter Palace to Znamenskaya Square. Мoscow, Lingvistika Publ., Boslen Publ., 2022. 480 p.)

In B. N. Tikhomirov’s book “Dostoevsky. Literary walks along Nevsky Prospekt. From the Winter Palace to Znamenskaya Square” shows St. Petersburg in the time of F. M. Dostoevsky. In particular, it contains a description of the architectural landscape of Nevsky Prospekt, discusses Dostoevsky’s relationship with contemporary writers, critics and editors of magazines, offers historical, cultural and everyday commentary on fragments from “A Writer’s Diary,” the novels “Crime and Punishment,” “The Idiot,” “A Raw Youth,” stories “The Double,” “Notes from the Underground,” “The Crocodile,” describes the prototypes of the heroes of these works, and shows their routes. The essays and artistic miniatures included in the book recreate living images of the great writer and his contemporaries, raise acute moral and socio-political problems. The book becomes a journey for the reader in different senses — geographical, historical, artistic, and mental.

“The Dark Face of the Virgin at the Znamenskaya Church” (The Icon Before Which Dostoevsky Prayed)

Based on a cross-analysis of the memoir testimony of V. V. Timofeeva (O. Pochinkovskaya) and the materials of Dostoevsky’s creative laboratory, the article establishes the fact of the writer’s prayerful veneration of The Sign, the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, located at the St. Petersburg Znamenskaya (Entrance to Jerusalem) Church on Nevsky Prospect, as well as Dostoevsky’s intention (not realized in one of the episodes of the novel “A Raw Youth”) to portray the main character, Arkady Dolgoruky, at prayer before this miraculous image. When commenting on the draft entry of “The Dark Face of the Virgin at the Znamenskaya Church,” it was discovered there were not one, but two venerated icons of the Sign of the Mother of God in the temple on Nevsky Prospect in the 1870s, Both were replicas of the 12th-century miraculous Novgorod icon of the Sign. One of the replicas dates back to 1175 in the church historical literature, the second — to 1744. Based on an analytical review of the information about these two icons, the article substantiates the assumption regarding which of the two icons is mentioned in the drafts of “A Raw Youth,” as well as which one of them was the object of Dostoevsky’s fervent prayer. The current location of one of these icons is indicated.

The debates on the sense of history between F.M.Dostoevsky and L.N.Tolstoy and the idea of “spiritual empire” as a form of historical development of the mankind

The article proves the hypothesis that F.M.Dostoevsky’s novel The Raw Youth expresses the conception of history directed against the model proposed by L.N.Tolstoy in his War and Peace. Tolstoy maintains that the course of history is determined by the spontaneous interactions of elementary biological powers acting within individuals and within nations; he firmly rejects the idea that individuals can influence history by means of their rational will. In his novel The Raw Youth, Dostoevsky defends totally contrary position: only few “higher personalities” can immediately influence history by means of their great ideas, among which the religious ones play especially important role. The article shows that Dostoevsky’s critique had probably an impact on Tolstoy; as a result, in his late religious teaching, he adopted the position which he had previously rejected. Now he thinks that only few “best people” living in the strong compliance with the Jesus Christ’s doctrine direct society towards the way of spiritual perfectness and thus they determine the course of history. This general model of historical development of society can be named as “spiritual Empire” which is contrary to the accepted western liberal tradition generated by the philosophy of the Enlightenment. Within the model of “spiritual Empire”, the aim of the development is represented with the more and more spiritual unity of people and with the fact that everybody serve to the highest values (the creation of culture); such society should be ruled by the “highest personalities” who achieved the highest spiritual development and influence the society rather with the help of their spiritual authority than by means of the material power.

Киномузыка Бориса Чайковского: «тембровая оптика» и «визуальная акустика»

There is something inexplicable in the fact that the film music of the greatest Russian composer of the 20th century, Boris Alexandrovich Tchaikovsky (1925–1996), hasn’t yet been seriously analyzed – not only as a part of his multifaceted legacy, but also as one of the very meaningful pages in the history of music and cinematography. The entire “literature” about the film music of the artist is limited with several synoptical essays (sometimes with gross factual errors and incredible contextual comparisons). But after all he, together with S. Prokofiev, D. Shostakovich, G. Popov, definitively changed the status of music in the Russian cinematography. It is unlikely that this gap, incomprehensible to any professional, aesthetic and moral logic, can be explained only by the fact that the composer imposed a strict ban on the making the studies devoted to his life and work during his lifetime. He was the only composer in the country awarded with the title of People’s Artist of the USSR and the USSR State Prize, who refused official appraisal, although supposed chroniclers and various interviewers always surrounded him. The need for a phenomenological understanding of musical and cinematographic logic of Boris Tchaikovsky became evident after the completion by the article’s author the first monographic study of all the orchestral scores of the composer. B. Tchaikovsky knew cinema very well, he appreciated the unique features of the cinematography, used its expressive possibilities in his symphonic and chamber music in his original way. The composer created a gallery of vivid images in the film music beloved by millions, although many don’t realize its authorship. The poetics of B. Tchaikovsky’s film music raises a number of issues primary to the holistic understanding of the composer’s style: the role of music and the sound-timbre palette in the process of film-making; the “optical” properties of musical timbres, acoustic images as visual projections; the typology of timbral extension and cinematographic chronos; the linking of musical and visual plasticity, and others. For the first time are published the judgments of B. Tchaikovsky revealing some of his views on the essence of music in cinematography and the peculiarities of the interaction between the composer and the director. As the main analytical material are used such outstanding films like “Seryozha” by G. Danelia, “Burn, O Burn, my Star” by A. Mitta, “French Lessons” and “A Raw Youth” by E. Tashkov, “Aibolit-66” by R. Bykov, “The Marriage of Balzaminov” by K. Voinov and others.

Способы применения новой экономической критики. Случай «Подростка» Ф. Достоевского

Application of The New Economic Criticism. Case of “The Raw Youth” by F. Dostoevsky. First of all Dostoevsky’s novel “The Raw Youth” attracts our attention with its abundance of themes and, as noted, big amount of research (in comparison with other works).It is interesting that in all studies and encyclopedias the main character of this novel, Arkady Dolgorukij, is said that his main idea is “to become a Rothschild.” The idea of the main character becomes a key component in understanding his actions and his main attribution. However, the idea, which is vaguely explained by the character himself at the very beginning of the work is lost not only in the further narration, but also in the generally accepted characterization of the protagonist.The article mainly analyzes the metaphorical idea of the main character of the novel “The Raw Youth” “to become a Rothschild”, and attempts to find out and show why in the history of literature the idea of the protagonist in Dostoevsky’s novel “to become a Rothschild” can be considered as a hypertextual element of entire Dostoevsky’s poetics.

“The Former Prince” Vsevolod Dolgorukov as a Prototype and Reader of Dostoevsky’s Novel The Raw Youth

The article deals with the biographical, real and historical-literary aspects of the novel The Raw Youth that are related to the life and work of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Vsevolod Dolgorukov. The latter was a “former prince,” who possessed literary talents and was a member of the “Jacks of hearts” gang, which was involved in the “case of the Kumanin inheritance.” He first became the prototype of the characters of the novel The Raw Youth, and then an epigone of its author. After sinking very low in his youth, he experienced a new life surge in Siberian exile, due to sincere repentance and moral purification. Correction and “restoration” of Vsevolod Dolgorukov is confirmed by his subsequent charitable and creative activities. Like Dostoevsky, he was the “Russian youth” type from a “random family,” which, along with the heroes of Dostoevsky’s novel Arkady Dolgoruky and Sergei Sokolsky, included the young Count Nagorov, the main character of the saga novel Literary Bohemia (1890) by Vs. Dolgorukov. The memoir notes of the “former prince,” who was twice stripped of his title, largely echo the notes of The Raw Youth in narrative and ideology due to the influence of Dostoevsky’s novel on Vs. Dolgorukov. It is also evidenced by his convict-themed short story Mishka the Flea, which is typologically similar to Notes from the Dead House and the Easter short story The Peasant Marey. Based on the above, the author concludes that Dostoevsky’s hope for an encounter of “Russian youths” with the Orthodox idea was embodied in the life and work of Vsevolod Dolgorukov.

THE IDEA OF KINDRED LOVE IN F. M. DOSTOEVSKY’S THE RAW YOUTH

The article clarifies the genre content of the novel The Raw Youth as a novel of education, reveals the philosophical and pedagogical ideas of F. M. Dostoevsky regarding the principles and content of spiritual and moral upbringing in the Orthodox environment. The connection between the artistic presentation of the upbringing process in the novel and the author's ideas, which are essentially similar to the ideas of the Christian anthropology school in late 19th century pedagogy, is outlined. In contrast with and in overcoming the “accidental family,” which is extralegal in the spiritual and civil sense, Dostoevsky offers society the idea of kindred love, which is manifested in the “mind of the heart” (emotional intelligence), the unity of value and moral grounds, mutual respect and support and non-violent relations. Depicting the story of the “accidental family,” which was the result of God's indulgence of human infirmity and lack of reason, F. M. Dostoevsky allows the heroes and the reader to see the human relations ideal in the phenomenon of the family. The former correlates with the will of God and the essential world order. The novel is understood as a representation of a person’s spiritual path. The interpretation of the negative role of Versilov in the spiritual formation of Arkady Dolgoruky undergoes a critical examination. Positive changes in the soul of the Raw Youth are determined by the desire to know and the knowledge of the father’s spiritual make-up. The space of kindred love and family is revealed to be instrumental in the emergence of the collective personality of the Raw Youth and in the spiritual enrichment of all family members. The author concludes that the development of a young person is conditioned both by his own search for the ideal, which is typical for youth, and by the joint efforts of the family that moves towards its ideal through overcoming the separation, which is a source of suffering.

CHURCH CALENDAR, GOSPEL AND LITURGICAL TEXT IN THE NOVEL THE RAW YOUTH AND A WRITER'S DIARY (1876) BY FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

F. M. Dostoevsky's novel The Raw Youth (1874-1875) and A Writer's Diary (1876) were created in the tradition of Christian calendar prose, which is aligned with sacred time. The two works are united by the idea of the religious transformation of personality, the salvation of the soul and unification around the Gospel Truth, the search for ideal foundations in the Russian people, and reflections on their purpose. Dostoevsky introduces Easter narratives into the novel and into A Writer's Diary in 1876: the story of Makar Dolgoruky about the merchant Skotoboinikov, the opera by Trishatov, the story The Peasant Marey. The plot and storyline motives of these works and the novel go back to the parable of the Prodigal Son and the Book of Job. They share the motives of suffering, redemption and resurrection. A Writer's Diary of 1876, which utilizes a system of references to the novel, starts from January and contains a reference to the celebration of the Nativity (the Christmas story The Beggar Boy at Christ's Christmas Tree, quotes from a Christmas worship service), and ends in December, at the beginning of advent. A Writer's Diary contains an appeal to Christmas and Easter as the most significant dates of the church calendar and the writer's personal biographical time. In the chapter More on a simple but tricky case (December), Dostoevsky recalls how he survived the December 22 execution on the Semyonovsky parade ground and a revival on Christmas Eve; in the Easter story The Peasant Marey (February), he tells the story of how he acquired faith in the Russian people in penal servitude during Easter. The author's position in the novel The Raw Youth and A Writer's Diary of 1876 can’t be comprehended without referring to the gospel and liturgical text. The Gospel parable of the Prodigal Son and the Book of Job, which are referenced in the novel and A Writer's Diary, are read in church before and during Great Lent.

Роман-эксперимент Н. А. Некрасова и Ф. М. Достоевского в свете этнопоэтики

The article considers novels The Life and Adventures of Tikhon Trostnikov (1843) by N. A. Nekrasov and Humiliated and Insulted (1861) by F. M. Dostoevsky as experimental works in which the authors sought to combine European and national traditions. The reference to biographical material, the use of the structural method allowed to discover the similarity in genre content of the works and the difference of ideological attitudes of the authors. Both novels were created as autobiographical works, adventurous and satiric, included elements of “natural essay”, but each of the authors sought to use national genre content: Nekrasov's is a folk drama, and Dostoevsky refers to the traditions of Old Russian calendar literature, a literary story that shows the verification of the Holy Scriptures. Nekrasov failed to create a complete work, largely due to the narrative form, in which in some cases the parody begins to appear. But Dostoevsky managed to bring the novel to a new level, especially in his last works The Raw Youth and The Brothers Karamazov. Performing the task of “restoring the lost man”, Dostoevsky turns to the church calendar, Gospel allusions and parable plot.

“The Jack of Hearts Club” in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel The Raw Youth

The article examines the criminal storyline in The Raw Youth by F. M. Dostoevsky as part of real-life and historical and literary commentary on the novel. The matter has significant links to the facts and persons associated with the “Kumanin inheritance case.” It turned out to be “unfortunate” and “haunted” because of the initial criminal background associated with the activities of the famous criminal community of the 1870s, namely, “The Jack of Hearts Club”. Among its members was Alexander Timofeevich Neofitov, the first executor of the will of A. F. Kumanina. We can presume that he became the prototype of the leader of the “gang,” which included Lambert, Stebelkov and other “cunning scammers” depicted in the novel. Vsevolod Alekseevich Dolgorukov, a prince and tradesman, was also one of the “red jacks,” which could have led Dostoevsky to endow the hero of his novel with a similar surname. The article provides new facts confirming that the typical features of V. A. Dolgorukov are reflected in the characteristics of the young prince Sokolsky. Secondly, two previously unrecognized literary sources of Dostoevsky’s work, namely, novels by the French writer Ponson du Terrail, The Jack of Hearts Club and Secrets of Paris, which were popular in Russia at that time. Their characters, Mrs. St. Alphonse, or Alfonsina, involved in scheming with incriminating papers, and Captain Lambert, depicted as the embodiment of all human vices, are the prototypes of the namesake heroes in Dostoevsky’s novel. All of the above made it possible to conclude that intentional artistic contamination of the historical and biographical narrative, criminal chronicle and literary tradition occurred in The Raw Youth.

«Математическая» проблема в «Подростке» Достоевского

<p>Dostoevsky’s novel <em>The Raw Youth</em> repeatedly refers a reader to mathematics. This fact favors analysis and interpretations of the “mathematical” problem in the novel. Mathematics as an exact science is for Arkady Dolgoruky the main guarantor that his idea of becoming a “Rothschild” is achievable and true. This idea is based on “mathematics”, as it involves the calculation of income. “Mathematical validity” is authoritative for Kraft and other members of Dergachev’s circle,as well as Stebelkov, Lambert, Olya. The plot of the novel is based on “mathematical validity”. It is Katerina Nikolaevna’s fateful letter. The idiom “as simple as twice two makes four” appears six times in <em>The Raw Youth</em>. The debunking of this formula is a characteristic motif for Dostoevsky’s work. The motif of vulnerability of “mathematics” increases with the development of the plot. The Raw Youth’s “mathematical” idea collides with his feelings and impulsive actions. The “mathematical validity” turns out to be irrational. It basis is not logic, but conviction. The opposition to “mathematics” and rationality is “living life” in Dostoevsky’s work. It contributes to the rebirth of Arkady Dolgoruky. He evolves from Rothschild to Christ, from accumulation to self-sacrifice, from Law to Grace.</p>

Семантика и функция афоризма «Победи себя и победишь мир» в произведениях Ф. М. Достоевского

<p>The repeated usage of the aphorism “Win yourself and you will conquer the world” in the works of F. M. Dostoevsky emphasized his words. Using different linguistic means the Russian writer compiled the message of a moral character striving for conveying it to his contemporaries, now with irony by putting it into mouth of Foma Fomich and Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky (the characters of the novels <em>The Village of Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants </em>and <em>Demons </em>respectively), now as an admonition by including it directly and indirectly into “The Life of a Great Sinner” and the novels <em>Demons</em>, <em>The Brothers Karamazov </em>and <em>The Raw Youth</em>. The dictum “Win yourself and you will conquer the world” echoes also on some pages of <em>A Writer’s Diary</em>, where an ethical and philosophical feature of Dostoevsky<em>’</em>s journalistic style manifests itself to the maximum. Modern researcher B. N. Tikhomirov has put forward a hypothesis that the saying “Win yourself and you will conquer the world” is based on quotations from the New Testament. The writer distilled this sententia from the writings of Saint Tikhon. The author of this article wondering who this aphorism belongs to and where it derives from, supposed and proved that it comes from the 57th sermon of St. Augustine or from the treatise “On the imitation of Christ” (“Imitatio Christi”) attributed to the Augustinian monk Thomas of Kemp. A copy of this treatise was kept in the library of Dostoevsky. After analyzing the hypothesis of B. N. Tikhomirov and her own assumption, the researcher has made both a philological analysis and the content one. As a result, she came to the conclusion that both these assumptions are possible and do not contradict each other. Given the fact that Saint Tikhon was well familiar with the writings of Saint Augustine, both these sources complement each other in the study of the aphorism? Win yourself and you will conquer the world”.</p>

"Червонный валет" А. Т. Неофитов из окружения Ф. М. Достоевского

The article reconstructs the life path of Alexander Timofeevich Neofitov, the first legal representative of A. F. Kumanina. The recreation is based on the memorial, epistolary, biographic and historic resources introduced into scientific discourse. They include the testimonies from the unpublished memoirs of A. M. Dostoevsky, an unreleased letter by A. G. Dostoevskaya to N. N. Strakhov dated October 18, 1881, which characterizes the Kumanin case as “wretched and bewitched” (Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts. Fund 1159. List 6. File 6. Page 1), materials of the well-known Moscow trial of false-coiners, and other criminal cases (“The Jack of Hearts Club. Criminal trial.” 1877). It also comprises the details from the history of Moscow Academy of Commercial Studies, which Aleksei Alekseevich Kunanin had founded and where he served as a trustee. As a professor of World History at the Academy, A. T. Neofitov became one of the key members of the Jack of Hearts Club criminal network. His involvement in various illegal schemes with the Kumanin inheritance was described in Dostoevsky’s novels <i>Crime and Punishment</i> and <i>The Raw Youth</i>. As a result of the inquiry, we can deduce that due to the fraud conducted by Neofitov, who was the ‘enfant terrible’ among the writer’s relatives, the Kumanin inheritance case turned out to be not only “wretched” and “bewitched,” but highly criminalized.

Образ незаконнорожденного в романах Ф. М. Достоевского «Подросток» и И. С. Тургенева «Новь»

Образ незаконнорожденного в романах Ф. М. Достоевского «Подросток» и И. С. Тургенева «Новь»

The Emergence of ‘Estate Culture’ in 18th Century Russia in the Works of F.M. Dostoyevsky and Other Writers

Traditionally considered a specifically urban writer, F.M. Dostoevsky has actually devoted many pages of his works (Poor Folk, The Village of Stepanchikovo, Demons, The Raw Youth [Adolescent], Diary of a Writer) to the representation of a noble estate and to the understanding of its role in Russian history and culture. In his creative writing, the autobiographical experience of the writer, who spent his childhood at the Darovoye family estate near the town of Zaraisk in the province of Ryazan, has also been reflected. This paper explores the role of “estate culture” in the writings of Dostoevsky and other writers (A.S. Pushkin, L. Tolstoy, I. Bunin, A. Chekhov and I. Kireyevsky) and their representation of the nobility (dvorianstvo).

Schismatics in F. M. Dostoyevsky’s The House of the Dead: The Interaction of an Artistic Text with Political Essays

This article is devoted to the motif of Schism in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The House of the Dead . The analysis marks the interaction of The House… with the essays of the 1860s. While depicting the meek image of an old schismatic (Rus . raskolnik ), Dostoyevsky exaggerated the seriousness of his crime in order to emphasise his rebellious potential. This echoes Dostoyevsky’s controversy with the Westernisers and Slavophiles in his essay Two Camps , where in the advocates of the Schism, he sees aspiration for truth, which he considers a pledge of hope for the future in Russian life. In the depiction of prison runaways (Rus. beguny ) in The House… , one can see the possible impact of A. P. Shchapov’s article on sectarian runaways: in both works, escape is understood in the first place as a form of popular protest. The need for suffering in The House… is not characteristic of the runaways, but of the old schismatic and another prisoner. Moreover, nothing is said about the purifying function of suffering, which is one of the most important topics of Dostoyevsky’s later works. The schismatic and runaways in The House… foreshadow Makar Dolgoruky in Dostoyevsky’s The Raw Youth . However, the schismatic’s ambivalent image is still far from Makar’s ideal image. The paradoxical image of the latter became the basis of a series of characters of Dostoyevsky’s later works, in whom “haughtiness” is combined with “meekness”.

ИСПОВЕДАЛЬНОСТЬ ДОСТОЕВСКОГО И СОВРЕМЕННЫЙ АМЕРИКАНСКИЙ РОМАН О ПОДРОСТКЕ

American critics have recognized the adolescent novel as a formative subgenre of the national literature since the middle of the 20 th century, and some have found that Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground are as important for it as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . However, analysis of J. Salinger’s classic The Catcher in the Rye and Donna Tartt’s recent The Goldfinch shows that The Karamazov Brothers and The Raw Youth (The Adolescent) seem to be even more important for American first-person novels about a young hero as they draw a lot from Dostoevsky’s confessional narratives. The comparison of classic Russian and contemporary American adolescent novels demonstrates parallels in Christian symbolism (Salinger) and urban imagery (Tartt) to reveal the protagonist’s inner self. As in Dostoevsky, confessions in Salinger and Tartt perform both self-analytical and narrative functions. Following Dostoevsky’s model, Salinger and Tartt bring their characters to some reconciliation with the reality thanks to the development of a great theory, or idea. For Salinger’s hero it is a savior-like mission; for Tartt’s it is a discovery of special “middle zone” where he can find both beauty and love. Writing a sincere confession helps both Russian and American adolescents arrive at this relatively peaceful state of mind.

Аллюзия и реминисценция в рукописях романа Ф. М. Достоевского «Подросток» (элегия В. А. Жуковского «Сельское кладбище»)

The article examines the intertextual relations in the manuscript and the printed text of Fyodor Dostoevsky s novel The Raw Youth, using an example of the allusion to the Vasily Zhukovsky's elegy A Country Churchyard and analyzing the specifics of its functioning in the context of the novel's narration. The main objective of the work was to establish the internal trends of the author's ideas' development in the novel. The task was to investigate the problem of studying intertextual relations in the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky (since the theoretical aspects of the problem were not specifically addressed in previous studies) and to analyze the literary material using the textual approach. The source text, which is important for the formation of intertextual relations, is examined not as an individual piece of writing but in the context of the The Raw Youth manuscripts, which helps to clarify the nature of its artistic interpretation and the conjunction of folklore and biblical concepts in the novel.

The Action and the Idea in “A Raw Youth” : On the Autobiographical Narrative in F. M. Dostoevskyʼs Works

The Action and the Idea in “A Raw Youth” : On the Autobiographical Narrative in F. M. Dostoevskyʼs Works