Dante’s Comedy in Crime and Punishment

Download:

Author: Caterina Corbella

Information about the author:

Associate Researcher, Centre “Dostoevsky and World Culture”, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya 25 a, 121069 Moscow, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5996-0127

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

For citation:

Corbella, Caterina. “Dante’s Comedy in Crime and Punishment.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 3 (19), 2022, pp. 18–36. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2022-3-18-36

Received: 25 July 2022

Published: 25 Sept. 2022

Issue: 2022 no. 3 (19)

Department: HERMENEUTICS. SLOW READING

Pages: 18–36

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2022-3-18-36

EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/EMTIIT

UDK: 821.161.1.0

BBK: 83.3(2=411.2)

Keywords: Crime and Punishment, Divine Comedy, Dante, Inferno, Purgatorio

Abstract: The article is dedicated to the possible presence of Dante’s Comedy in Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. After a brief introduction dedicated to the existing research on the matter and to enumerate some of the macroscopical elements that are common to both works, the author focuses on two passages of Dostoevsky’s text. The first one is Raskolnikov’s decision to go down in the tavern, that is very similar to Dante’s entrance in the Inferno, as “going down” is the only (even if unexpected) way to salvation for both characters. The article goes on underlining some details that allows to think that the scene presents more than casual similarities. The second passage are Porfiry Petrovich’s words in the second chapter of the sixth part of the novel, where a great number of allusions to Dante can be found, starting with the recurring remark about the Pillars of Hercules. Thanks to the analysis of this passage, it is possible to submit the hypothesis that Dostoevsky had in mind not only the Inferno, but (at least) also Dante’s Purgatorio while creating the novel. Here can also be found a new element in favor of the recently proposed convergence between the figures of Raskolnikov and Dante’s Mahomet. The notes to the article present other elements that can possibly be identified as allusions to Dante.

References

1. Antsiferov, N.P. Problemy urbanizma v russkoi khudozhestvennoi literature [The Problem of Urbanism in Russian Literature]. Ed. by D.S. Moskovskaya. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2009. 584 p. (In Russ.)

2. Buzhor, E. S., and O. V. Shevchenko. “O motivakh ada, chistilishcha i raia v tvorchestve F.M. Dostoevskogo” [“About the Motives of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise in the Works of F.M. Dostoevsky”]. Gumanitarnye nauki. Vestnik Finansovogo universiteta, vol. 12, no. 2, 2022, pp. 75–83. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.26794/2226-7867-2022-12-2-75-83

3. Dante Alighieri. Bozhestvennaia komediia [The Divine Comedy]. Trans. by M. Lozinskii. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1967. 655 p. (In Russ.)

4. Dante Alighieri. Bozhestvennaia komediia. Ad [The Divine Comedy. Hell]. Trans. by G.D. Murav’eva. Moscow, Probel-2000 Publ., 2021. 608 p. (In Russ.)

5. Dmitrevskaia, L.N. “Peizazh v romane F.M. Dostoevskogo ‘Prestuplenie i Nakazanie’ kak vozmozhnaia alliuziia na ‘Bozhestvennuiu Komediiu’” [“Landscape in the Novel by F.M. Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment as Potential Allusion on the Divine Comedy by Dante”]. Izvestiia Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta, vol. 1, no. 76, 2013, pp. 103–106. (In Russ.)

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

7. Zakharov, V.N. “Gospital’nye stseny v ‘Zapiskakh iz Mertvogo Doma’ Dostoevskogo” [“Hospital Scenes in Dostoevsky’s Notes from a Dead House”]. Problemy istoricheskoi poetiki, vol. 20, no. 2, 2022, pp. 304–323. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.15393/j9.art.2022.11083

8. Kapilupi, S. “Srednevekovaia i dantovskaia vera v vysshuiu spravedlivost’, sovremennye trudy i paradoksy iskupleniia u Dostoevskogo: o ne sluchainom peresechenii dvukh velikikh iubileev” [“Medieval and Dantovian Belief in Higher Justice, Modern Fatigue and Paradoxes of Redemption in Dostoevsky: About the not Accidental Crossing of Two Great Anniversaries”]. Vestnik Russkoi Khristianskoi Gumanitarnoi Akademii, vol. 22, no. 4–1, 2021, pp. 203–213. (In Russ.)

9. Kasatkina, T.A. Sviashchennoe v povsednevnom: dvusostavnyi obraz v proizvedeniiakh Dostoevskogo [The Sacred in the Ordinary: the Two-Folded Image in the Works of F.M. Dostoevsky]. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2015. 528 p. (In Russ.)

10. Kasatkina, T.A. Dostoevskii kak filosof i bogoslov: khudozhestvennyi sposob vyskazyvaniia [Dostoevsky Philosopher and Theologian: the Artistic Way of Expression]. Moscow, Volodei Publ., 2019. 336 p. (In Russ.)

11. Kurgan, M.G. “Dantovskaia kontseptsiia ada v tvorcheskoi perpetsii F.M. Dostoevskogo” [“Dante’s Conception of Hell in Dostoevsky’s Creative Search”]. Imagologiia i komparativistika, no. 1 (3), 2015, pp. 160–176. (In Russ.)

12. Kurgan, M.G. “Dantovskie obrazy ada v ‘Zapiskakh iz mertvogo doma’ F.M. Dostoevskogo” [“Dante’s Inferno in Notes from a Dead House by F.M. Dostoevsky”]. Imagologiia i komparativistika, no. 15, 2021, pp. 31–52. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17223/24099554/3/10

13. Landa, K. “Bozhestvennaia Komediia” v zerkalakh russkikh perevodov [The Divina Commedia in the Mirror of Russian Translations]. St. Petersburg, RKhGA Publ., 2020. 644 p. (In Russ.)

14. Podosokorsky, N.N. “Religioznyi aspect napoleonovskogo mifa v romane ‘Prestuplenie i nakazanie’: obraz ‘Napoleona-proroka’ i misticheskie sekty russkikh raskol’nikov-pochitateli Napoleona” [“The Religious Element of the Myth of Napoleon in the Novel Crime and Punishment: The Image of “Napoleon-Prophet” and the Mystic Sects of Russian Schismatics, Worshippers of Napoleon”]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul’tura. Filologicheskii zhurnal, no. 2 (18), 2022, pp. 89–143. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2022-2-89-143

15. Sedakova, O.A. Perevesti Dante [Translating Dante]. Moscow: Ivan Limbakh Publ., 2020. 128 p. (In Russ.)

16. Aloe, Stefano. “Etica e Letteratura in Dante e in Dostoevskij (Appunti per un confronto).” Lectura Dantis Scaligera 2009-2015, ed. by E. Sandal, Antenore, 2016, pp. 231–250. (In Italian)

17. Chiavacci-Leonardi, Anna Maria, editor. La Divina Commedia. Vol. 1: Inferno. Milano: Mondadori, 2015. CL-3367 p. (In Italian)

Reference list of audio entries

1. Kasatkina, T.A. “Odeianie v ‘Prestuplenii i nakazanii’. Doklad” [“Clothing in Crime and Punishment. Report”]. “Prestuplenie i nakazanie”: sovremennoe sostoianie izuchenia [Crime and Punishment: Current State of Research], International Conference, 1–3 March 2022. Day 1. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dAttmNSQnM&t=3s Accessed 27 July 2022. (In Russ.)

2. Korbella, K. “‘Raskol’nikov totchas zhe spustilsia vniz’: O vozmozhnom prisutsvii Dante v ‘Prestuplenii i nakazanii’. Doklad” [“‘Raskolnikov Immediately Went Down’: About the Possibility of Dante’s Allusions in Crime and Punishment. Report”]. “Prestuplenie i nakazanie”: sovremennoe sostoianie izuchenia [Crime and Punishment: Current State of Research], International Conference, 1–3 March 2022. Day 2. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHmLzH5eoRo&t=16486s Accessed 27 July 2022. (In Russ.)