Download PDF: http://studlit.ru/images/2018-3-4/Buyanovskaya.pdf
For citation:

Buyanovskaya V.I. Poor Folk by Fyodor Dostoevsky as a Dialogue between the Old and the New Word. Studia Litterarum, 2018, vol. 3, no 4, pp. 152–169. (In Russ.)

DOI: 10.22455/2500-4247-2018-3-4-152-169

Author: Victoria I. Buyanovskaya
Information about the author:

Victoria I. Buyanovskaya, student, National Research University “The Higher School of Economics”, Staraya Basmannaya St, 21/4, 105066 Moscow, Russia.

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: January 27, 2018
Published: December 25, 2018
Issue: 2018 Vol. 3, №4
Department: Russian Literature
Pages: 152-169
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2018-3-4-152-169

UDK: 821.161.1
BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)52
Keywords: Dostoyevsky, Poor Folk, epistolary novel, dialogic narrative.

Abstract

Although Poor Folk, the first novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, has been thoroughly studied, the correlation between its characters’ epistolary styles is not yet clarified. Varvara Dobroselova’s language usually escapes critical attention, albeit her “verbal” function in the novel might even exceed her “plot” function. Makar Alekseyevich’s style develops itself in the endless dialogue with “pattern” style and can be only understood in comparison. The article focuses on the major differences in the narrative strategies of the characters. It reveals the opposition of Varvara Alekseyevna’s “ready-made” word deeply enrooted in the sentimental tradition and Devushkin’s language which is intensely forming at the moment of writing and shifts constantly from one level of discourse to another. The topics selected by the characters, time orientation of their letters, and their style are closely analyzed in comparative perspective. The analysis reveals an important regularity: the expressiveness in Varvara Alekseyevna’s letters is attained through paralipsis, while Devushkin’s letters are expressive precisely as they speak even the most obscure and painful things. Devushkin’s language, as the article shows, tends to appropriate and combine diverse elements of the style of the other and to explore new thematic and stylistic spheres. As a result, the problems and techniques of the Natural School emerge in his letters. The study of Devushkin’s speech strategy with its effusive and even aggressive nature allows us to conclude that the character not only “unbosoms his feelings,” but also tries to assert himself in the new word, as it were, when arguing with Varvara Alekseyevna (read: old literature).

References

1 Barsht K.A. Literaturnyi debiut F.M. Dostoevskogo: tvorcheskaia istoriia romana “Bednye liudi” [The literary debut of F. Dostoevskii: the creative history of the novel Poor Folk]. Dostoevskii F.M. Bednye liudi [Poor Folk]. Moscow, Ladomir Publ., 2015, pp. 379–515. (In Russ.)

2 Bakhtin M.M. Problemy poetiki Dostoevskogo [Problems of Dostoyevsky’s Poetics]. Moscow, Sov. Rossiia Publ., 1979. 320 p. (In Russ.)

3 Bakhtin M.M. Epos i roman (O metodologii issledovaniia romana) [Epic and Novel: Towards a Methodology for the Study of the Novel]. Bakhtin M.M. Epos i roman [Bakhtin M.M. Epic and novel]. St. Petersburg, Azbuka Publ., 2000, pp. 194–232. (In Russ.)

4 Belinskii V.G. Vzgliad na russkuiu literaturu 1846 goda [A glance at the Russian literature in 1846]. Belinskii V.G. Sobranie sochinenii: v 3 t. [Collected works: in 3 vols.]. Moscow, OGIZ Publ., 1848, vol. 3, pp. 64–683. (In Russ.)

5 Belinskii V.G. Peterburgskii sbornik [St. Petersburg Collection]. Belinskii V.G. Sobranie sochinenii: v 3 t. [Collected works: in 3 vols.]. Moscow, OGIZ Publ., 1848, vol. 3, pp. 61–100. (In Russ.)

6 Bocharov S.G. Perekhod ot Gogolia k Dostoevskomu [Transition from Gogol to Dostoevsky]. Bocharov S.G. O khudozhestvennykh mirakh [On the artistic worlds]. Moscow, Sov. Rossiia Publ., 1985, pp. 161–209. (In Russ.)

7 [Brant L.V.] [Retsenziia na:] “Peterburgskii sbornik”, izdannyi N. Nekrasovym. St. Petersburg, 1846 [[Review on]: the Petersburg Collection, published by N. Nekrasov. St. Petersburg, 1846]. Dostoevskii F.M. Bednye liudi [Poor Folk]. Moscow, Ladomir, Nauka Publ., 2015, pp. 261–264. (In Russ.)

8 Vetlovskaia V.E. Roman F.M. Dostoevskogo “Bednye liudi” [F. Dostoevsky’s novel Poor Folk]. Leningrad, Khudozh. lit. Publ., 1988. 208 p. (In Russ.)

9 Vinogradov V.V. Shkola sentimental’nogo naturalizma (Roman Dostoevskogo “Bednye liudiˮ na fone literaturnoi evoliutsii 40-kh godov) [The school of sentimental naturalism (Dostoevsky’s novel Poor Folk by against the background of the literary evolution of the 1840s)]. Vinogradov V.V. Izbr. trudy. Poetika russkoi literatury [Selected works. Poetics of Russian Literature]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1976, pp. 141–195. (In Russ.)

10 Vladimirtsev V.P. Opyt fol’klorno-etnograficheskogo kommentariia k romanu “Bednye liudiˮ [The essay on the folklore-ethnographic commentary to the novel The Poor Folk]. Dostoevskii: Materialy i issledovaniia [Dostoevsky: Materials and studies]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1983, vol. 5, pp. 74–89. (In Russ.)

11 Dostoevskii F.M. [Pis’mo M.M. Dostoevskomu ot 1 fevralia 1846 g.] [The letter to M.M. Dostoevsky from February 1, 1846]. Dostoevskii F.M. Sobranie sochinenii: v 15 t. [Collected works: in 15 vols.]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 1996, vol. 15, pp. 56–58. (In Russ.)

12 Dostoevskii F.M. Bednye liudi [Poor Folk]. Dostoevskii F.M. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii: v 30 t. [Complete works: in 30 vols.]. Leningrad, Nauka, Leningradskoe otdelenie Publ., 1972, vol. 1, pp. 13–108. (In Russ.)

13 Nechaeva V.S. Rannii Dostoevskii. 1821–1849 [The Young Dostoevsky. 1821–1849]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1979. 287 p. (In Russ.)

14 Pecherskaia T.I. Zagadochnaia Fedora (Ob odnoi iz avtorskikh proektsii v romane F.M. Dostoevskogo “Bednye liudiˮ) [The mysterious Fyodora (On one of the author’s projection’s in F. Dostoevsky’s novel The Poor Folk)]. Poetika russkoi literatury. K 70-letiiu Iu.V. Manna [Poetics of Russian literature. The 70th anniversary of Yu.V. Mann]. Moscow, RGGU Publ., 2001, pp. 264–274. (In Russ.)

15 [Pletnev P.A. <?>.] [Retsenziia na:] “Peterburgskii sbornikˮ, izdannyi N. Nekrasovym. St. Petersburg, 1846. [[Review on]: the Petersburg Collection, published by N. Nekrasov. St. Petersburg, 1846]. Dostoevskii F.M. Bednye liudi [Poor Folk]. Moscow, Ladomir, Nauka Publ., 2015, pp. 264–265. (In Russ.)

16 Shliapkin I.A. Piatidesiatiletie “Bednykh liudeiˮ F.M. Dostoevskogo [The 50th anniversary of F. Dostoevsky’s novel Poor Folk]. Dostoevskii F.M. Bednye liudi [Poor Folk]. Moscow, Ladomir, Nauka Publ., 2015, pp. 344–349. (In Russ.)

17 Miller R. F. Dostoevskiy’s Poor People: Reading as if for Life. Reading in Russia. Practicies of Reading and Literary Communication. 1760–1930. Milan, Ledizioni, 2014, pp. 143–164. (In English)

18 Rosenshield G. Varen’ka Dobroselova: An Experiment in the Desentimentalization of the Sentimental Heroine in Dostoevskii’s Poor Folk. Slavic Review, vol. 45, no 3 (Autumn, 1986), pp. 525–533. (In English)

19 Simmons E.J. Dostoevsky: The Making of a Novelist. London, Lehmann, 1950 (Reprint). 395 p. (In English)

20 Terras V. The Young Dostoevskij (1846–1849): A Critical Study. The Hague, Mouton, 1969. 251 p. (In English)

21 Trubetzkoy N.S. Dostoevskij als Künstler. The Hague, Mouton, 1964. 176 S. (In German)