The Semiotics of Dacha in Dostoevsky’s Story “The Eternal Husband”

Download:

PDF
Author: Olga A. Bogdanova
Information about the author:

DSc in Philology, Leading Research Fellow, Department of Russian literature of the late 19th – early 20th century, А.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya 25 a, 121069 Moscow, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7004-498X

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

Bogdanova, O.A. “The Semiotics of Dacha in Dostoevsky’s Story ‘The Eternal Husband’.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 3 (23), 2023, pp. 66–80. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2023-3-66-80
Received: 27 June 2023
Published: 25 Sept. 2023
Issue: 2023 no. 3 (23)
Department: POETICS. CONTEXT
Pages: 66-80
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2023-3-66-80
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/CYTTZO
UDK: 821.161.1.0
BBK: 83.3(2=411.2)+86.2
Keywords: Dostoevsky, “The Eternal Husband,” Russian estate, Russian dacha, dacha text, dacha topos, estate topos, dynamics.
Abstract: Dostoevsky’s story “The Eternal Husband” (1870) is analyzed here for the first time in the light of the estate/dacha topics present in it and placed in the context of the development of the “dacha text” in 19th-century Russian literature. The dynamics of Dostoevsky’s perception of the dacha are also traced: from positive connotations in early works to negative, ironic ones in late works. It is established that while the “estate text” is present in most of the writer’s works of 1840s–1870s, the “dacha text” can be found mainly in two works of the late 1860s: the novel The Idiot (1868) and the story “The Eternal Husband.” The reason for Dostoevsky’s short–term fascination with the “dacha topos” in the post-reform era is the search for a platform for the interaction between Russian social stratums to develop a nationwide worldview and identify the new “best people,” future leaders of the country. Such a role was played in The Idiot by the dachas of Epanchins and Lebedev. In “The Eternal Husband” the dachas of Pogoreltsevs and Zakhlebinins also serves as a neutral, middle space for an equal dialogue between “people of different worlds:” Velchaninov, a prominent figure of the high society, and Trusotsky, a provincial official. However, here the sociocultural possibilities of the “dacha topos” are disappointed: now the dacha is only the focus of petty-bourgeois vulgarity and mediocrity, a sign of decrease compared to the estate. Boris Tikhomirov’s conclusions about the involution of Velchaninov’s inner world, made at the level of characterology, are confirmed by our analysis at the level of topics: the spiritual and moral degradation of the hero is accompanied by his transition from the world of “estate” values to the sphere of “dacha” interests, which corresponds to a noticeable trend in the life of the Russian educated class of the last third of the 19th century. In our opinion, this can explain Dostoevsky’s refusal to develop the “dacha topos” in the late 1860s and return to the “estate topos” in the last three novels written in the 1870s.

Acknowledgements: The research was carried out at IWL RAS with a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 22-18-00051 https://rscf.ru/project/22-18-00051/

 

References

1. Bem, A.L. “Razvertyvanie sna (‘Vechnyi muzh’ Dostoevskogo)” [“The Unfolding of Sleep (Dostoevsky’s ‘The Eternal Husband’)”]. Dostoevskii: psikhoanaliticheskie etiudy [Dostoevsky: Psychoanalytic Studies]. Berlin, 1938, pp. 54–76. (In Russ.)

2. Benua, A.N. Moi vospominaniia [My Memories], vol. 1, book I–III. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1980. 711 p. (In Russ.)

3. Bogdanova, O.A. “Mesto F.M. Dostoevskogo v ‘usadebnom tekste’ russkoi literatury XIX – nachala XX veka. Sotsiokul’turnyi aspekt” [“Dostoevsky’s Place in the ‘Estate Text’ of Russian Literature of the 19th – Early 20th Century. Sociocultural Aspect”]. Faustov, A.A., editor. Universalii russkoi literatury. 2. Sbornik statei [Universals of Russian Literature. 2. Collected Articles]. Voronezh, NAUKA-IuNIPRESS Publ., 2010, pp. 296–305. (In Russ.)

4. Bogdanova, O.A. Usad’ba i dacha v russkoi literature XIX-XXI vv.: topika, dinamika, mifologiia [Estate and Dacha in Russian Literature of the 19th–21st Centuries: Topics, Dynamics, Mythology]. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2019. 288 p. (In Russ.)

5. Bogdanova, O.A. “Russkaia usad’ba v romane F.M. Dostoevskogo ‘Prestuplenie i nakazanie’” [“Russian Estate in Dostoevsky’s Novel Crime and Punishment”]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul’tura. Filologicheskii zhurnal, no. 4 (20), 2022, pp. 136–162. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2022-4-136-162

6. Bogdanova, O.A. “Formirovanie issledovatel’skogo tezaurusa pri izuchenii fenomena dachi v russkoi literature XIX–XXI vv.” [“Formation of a Research Thesaurus in the Study of the Phenomenon of the Cottage in Russian Literature of the 19th–21st Centuries”]. Studia Litterarum, vol. 7, no. 3, 2022, pp. 10–29. (In Russ.)

7. Bogdanova, O.A. “‘Dachnyi mif’ v russkoi literature rubezha XX–XXI vv.: sluchai Iuriia Mamleeva” [“The ‘Dacha Myth’ in Russian Literature at the Turn of the 20th–21st Centuries: The Case of Yuri Mamleev”]. Studia Litterarum, vol. 8, no. 2, 2023, pp. 200–219. (In Russ.)

8. Dmitrieva, E.E., and Kuptsova, O.N. Zhizn’ usadebnogo mifa: utrachennyi i obretennyi rai [The Life of the Estate Myth: Paradise Lost and Found]. 2nd Edition. Moscow, OGI Publ., 2008. 528 p. (In Russ.)

9. Dostoevskii, F.M. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii: v 30 tomakh [Complete Works: in 30 vols]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1972–1990. (In Russ.)

10. Kibal’nik, S.A. “Kriptopoetika rasskaza Dostoevskogo ‘Vechnyi muzh’ i semeinaia drama Gertsena i Ogareva” [“Cryptopoetics of Dostoevsky’s Story ‘The Eternal Husband’ and the Family Drama of Herzen and Ogarev”]. Tainopis’ russkikh pisatelei: ot Pushkina do Nabokova [The Secret Writings of Russian Writers: from Pushkin to Nabokov]. St. Petersburg, ID “Petropolis” Publ., 2022, pp. 65–94. (In Russ.)

11. Kirpotin, V.Ia. “Rasskaz ‘Vechnyi muzh’ i poetika Dostoevskogo” [“The Story ‘The Eternal Husband’ and Dostoevsky’s Poetics”]. Mir Dostoevskogo: etiudy i issledovaniia [Dostoevsky’s World: Sketches and Studies]. Moscow, Sovetskii pisatel’ Publ., 1980, pp. 168–246. (In Russ.)

12. Krinitsyn, A.B. “Siuzhetno-motivnaia struktura povesti F.M. Dostoevskogo ‘Vechnyi muzh’” [“The Plot-Motive Structure of Dostoevsky’s Story ‘The Eternal Husband’”]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul’tura. Al’manakh, no. 28, 2012, pp. 114–160. (In Russ.)

13. Letiagin, L.N. “Usadebnyi metalandshaft Rossii” [“The Estate Metalandscape of Russia”]. Russkaia usad’ba: Sbornik OIRU [Russian Estate: Collection of the Society for the Study of the Russian Estate], issue 10 (26). Moscow, Zhiraf Publ., 2004, pp. 9–18. (In Russ.)

14. Lovell, Stephen. Dachniki: istoriia letnego zhit’ia v Rossii, 1710–2000 [Summerfolk: A History of the Dacha, 1710–2000]. Trans. from English. St. Petersburg, Akademicheskii proekt: DNK Publ., 2008. 347 p. (In Russ.)

15. Mazel’, R.O. “Vechnyi muzh? Tol’ko s vechnym liubovnikom” [“Eternal Husband? Only With an Eternal Lover”]. Dostoevskii. O vsekh i za vsia [Dostoevsky. About Everyone and for Everything]. Moscow, Volshebnyi fonar’ Publ., 2007, pp. 81–105. (In Russ.)

16. Makaricheva, N.A. “Paradigma ‘usad’ba — dom — ugol’ v tvorchestve Dostoevskogo” [“The Paradigm of ‘Estate — House — Corner’ in Dostoevsky’s Works”]. Usad’ba real’naia — usad’ba literaturnaia: Sbornik statei [Real and Literary Estates: Collected Articles]. Melikhovo, Gos. lit.-memor. muzei-zapovednik A.P. Chekhova Publ., 2008, pp. 224–229. (In Russ.)

17. Mochul’skii, K.V. “Florentsiia i Drezden. ‘Vechnyi muzh’ i ‘Zhitie velikogo greshnika’” [“Florence and Dresden. ‘The Eternal Husband’ and The Life of a Great Sinner”]. Gogol’. Solov’ev. Dostoevskii [Gogol. Solovyov. Dostoevsky]. Moscow, Respublika Publ., 1995, pp. 409–420. (In Russ.)

18. Petrovskii, M.A. “Kompozitsiia ‘Vechnogo muzha’” [“The Composition of ‘The Eternal Husband’”]. Dostoevskii: sbornik GAKhN [Dostoevsky: Collection of the State Academy of Art Sciences]. Moscow, 1928, pp. 115–161. (In Russ.)

19. Prashcheruk, N.V. “Vechnyi muzh” i “Bednaia Liza”: o dvukh proizvedeniiakh vechnoi klassiki [“‘The Eternal Husband’ and ‘Poor Lisa:’ About Two Eternal Classics”]. Ural’skii filologicheskii vestnik, no. 2, 2007, pp. 207–218. (In Russ.)

20. Russkaia usad’ba v mirovom kontekste [Russian Estate in a Global Context], issue 1–3, 6. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2019–2021. Available at: http://litusadba.imli.ru/bibliotechka-pousadebnoy-kulture (Accessed 26 June 2023) (In Russ.)

21. Safronova, E.Iu. “Genius loci v poetike romana F.M. Dostoevskogo ‘Selo Stepanchikovo i ego obitateli’” [“Genius Loci in the Poetics of Dostoevsky’s Novel The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants”]. Problemy istoricheskoi poetiki, vol. 16, no. 3, 2018, pp. 65–84. (In Russ.)

22. Sternin, G.Iu. “Abramtsevo: ot ‘usad’by’ k ‘dache’” [“Abramtsevo: From ‘Estate’ to ‘Dacha’”]. Russkaia khudozhestvennaia kul’tura vtoroi poloviny XIX – nachala XX veka [Russian Art Culture of the Second Half of the 19th – Early 20th Century]. Moscow, Sovetskii khudozhnik Publ., 1984. 296 p. (In Russ.)

23. Tikhomirov, B.N. “Rasskaz F.M. Dostoevskogo ‘Vechnyi muzh’. Opyt tselostnogo prochteniia” [“Dostoevsky’s Story ‘The Eternal Husband.’ An Experience of Holistic Reading”]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul’tura. Al’manakh, no. 37, 2019, pp. 64–85. (In Russ.)

24. Toichkina, A.V. “N.N. Strakhov, zhurnal ‘Zaria’ i tvorchestvo F.M. Dostoevskogo kontsa 1860-kh gg.” [“N.N. Strakhov, the Magazine Zaria and Dostoevsky’s Work in the Late 1860s”]. Vestnik SPbGU. Iazyk i literatura, vol. 18, issue 3, 2021, pp. 479–497. (In Russ.)

25. Shchukin, V.G. “Mif dvorianskogo gnezda. Geokul’turologicheskoe issledovanie po russkoi klassicheskoi literature” [“The Myth of the Noble Nest. Geoculturological Research on Russian Classical Literature”]. Rossiiskii genii Prosveshcheniia. Issledovaniia v oblasti mifopoetiki i istorii idei [The Russian Genius of Enlightenment. Research in the Field of Mythopoetic and the History of Ideas]. Moscow, ROSSPEN Publ., 2007, pp. 157–460. (In Russ.)

26. Bashmakoff, Natalia, and Ristolainen, Mari. The Dacha Kingdom: Summer Dwellers and Dwellings in the Baltic Area. Helsinki, Aleksanteri Series 3, 2009. 508 p. (In Russ. and English)