Download:

PDF

Author: Olga Meerson
Information about the author:

Ph.D. (Columbia University, New York), Professor of Russian Language and Literature at the Slavic Department, Georgetown University, (USA).

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

For citation:

Meerson O. Biblical Subtexts as Arbiters for Ambiguous Passages. Dostoevsky and World Culture, Philological journal, 2019, No 3 (7), pp. 34-51.

Issue: 2019 № 3(7)
Department: HERMENEUTICS. SLOW READING
Pages: 34-51
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2019-3-34-51
UDK: 83.3(2=411.2)+83+86.37-2
BBK: 821.161.1+82+22
Keywords: authority (narrative), axiology, allusion, apophatic discourse, Bakhtin, Dostoevsky, sacrifice, intertextuality, irony, truth, kenosis, criteria for narrative reliability, moment of truth, literary motivation, parody, subtext (biblical/ liturgical), polyphony, poetics, rhetoric, syntax, scandal, style, Church-Slavonic, the borrowed word, shock.

Abstract: This article sums up various arguments made in the author’s current and previous research of Biblical and Liturgical Subtexts in Dostoevsky. The more important an allusion to a sacred source is for Dostoevsky’s own message in any given work, the more “out of place” these allusions seem to be at first glance. Often the reader even completely represses these allusions forcing them out into the area of the subconscious only – so scandalous and inappropriate they seem to be. This shocking scandalousness of sacred allusions is shared by both Dostoevsky’s own poetics with its unexpected, and unexpectedly reassuring scandalousness, and by what is unexpected and new, or even revolutionary, in the original religious texts he alludes to, such as St. Paul’s message on the Cross in 1Cor. 1:23-24. Thus, the author of the article shows that analyzing these allusions and subtexts can help us solve those riddles of Dostoevsky’s authorial poetics and axiology.

 

References

1. Dostoevskii F.M. Poln. sobr. soch.: v 30 t. [Complete works: in 30 vols.] Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1972-1990. (In Russ.)

2. Ieromonakh Nikolai (Sakharov). Poniatie kenosisa v bogoslovskoi mysli Arkhimandrita Sofroniia (Sakharova) [The concept of kenosis in Archimandrite Sophronii’s theological thought]. Tserkov' i vremia, 2012, No 58. Available at: https://mospat.ru/church-and-time/1130 (date of access: 17.06.2019) (In Russ.)

3. Meerson O. Avraam i Isaak – svideteli pokaianiia Raskol'nikova [Abraham and Isaac as the witnesses of Rascolnikov’s repentance]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul'tura, 2013, No 30 (2), pp. 9-26. (In Russ.)

4. Meerson O. Khristos ili "Kniaz'-Khristos'? Svidetel'stvo generala Ivolgina [Christ or the “Prince Christ”? General Ivolgin’s evidence]. Roman F.M. Dostoevskogo “Idiot”: Sovremennoe sostoianie izucheniia [Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot. Contemporary State of Research]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2001, pp. 42-59. (In Russ.)

5. Meerson O. Bibleiskie interteksty u Dostoevskogo. Koshchunstvo ili bogoslovie liubvi? [Biblical Intertexts in Dostoevsky’s Works. Blasphemy or the Theology of Love?]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul'tura, 1999, No 12, pp. 40-53. (In Russ.)

6. Meerson O. Istina kak chuzhoe slovo u Dostoevskogo [Truth as the Other Man’s Word at Dostoevsky]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul'tura, 2016, No 34, pp. 9-29. (In Russ.)

7. Meerson O. Chetvertyi brat ili kozel otpushcheniia ex machina? [The Fourth Brother or a Scapegoat Ex Machina?] Roman F.M. Dostoevskogo "Brat'ia Karamazovy': sovremennoe sostoianie izucheniia [F.M. Dostoevsky’s Novel The Brothers Karamazov: Contemporary State of Researches], ed. by T.A. Kasatkina. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2007, pp. 565-604. Available at: http://dostoevskiy-lit.ru/dostoevskiy/kritika/sbornik-bratya-karamazovy/olga-meerson-ssha.htm (date of access: 17.06.2019) (In Russ.)

8. Pravoslavnoe obozrenie [Orthodox Review]. Moscow, V universitetskoi tipografii (Katkov i Ko Publ.), 1863, vol. 12, pp. 17-106. (In Russ.)

9. Russkaja Biblia [Russian Bible]. Available at: http://biblia.russportal.ru/index.php?id=masor.macar (access date: 17.06.2019) (In Russ.)

10. Florenskii P. Stolp i utverzhdenie istiny. Opyt pravoslavnoi feoditsei v dvenadtsati pis'makh [The pillar and the confirmation of the truth. An essay of the Orthodox theodicy in twelve letters]. Moscow, Put' Publ., 1914. 812 p. (In Russ.)

11. Basics of Biblical Greek. URL: https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/anatello (access date: 17.06.2019) (In English, Greek)

12. Meerson O. Dostoevsky’s Taboos, Artes Liberales. Bd. 2. Dresden, Dresden University Press, 1998. 232 p. (In English)

13. Miller R.F. Dostoevsky’s Unfinished Journey. New Haven & London, Yale University Press, 2007. 272 p. (In English)