Trembling in Front of the Destiny

Download:

Author: Vincenzo Rizzo

Information about the author:

PhD in Philosophy, member and researcher of the philosophical association Prologos, via Fiumetta 8, 28922 Verbania, Italy.

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

For citation:

Rizzo, Vincenzo. “Trembling in Front of the Destiny.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 3 (19), 2022, pp. 37–47. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2022-3-37-47

Received: 16 May 2022

Published: 25 Sept. 2022

Issue: 2022 no. 3 (19)

Department: HERMENEUTICS. SLOW READING

Pages: 37–47

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2022-3-37-47

EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/EVDNXP

UDK: 821.161.1.0

BBK: 83.3(2=411.2)

Keywords: Mystical tremor, Destiny, salvation, process, ontological dependence, human condition, solidarity.

Abstract: For Dostoevsky at the beginning of philosophy there is the mystical tremor not the wonder. The tremor is not fear or torment, but the wound of our weak human condition. Is a sign of our ontological dependence. In Crime and Punishment, the term tremor occurs many times. It breaks the closure of the self and reveals the need for the other. The tremor opens the way for Raskolnikov to inner change. Sonia trembles for him in the face of destiny because she wants salvation for him. She reads with emotion the passage from the Gospel about Lazarus. Sonia trembles and with the words of Jesus, she asks him to come out of the darkness of the cave and out of nowhere. Her tremor makes the young man become aware of the gravity of what he has done. It becomes the evidence of our need for another, in order not to fall into nothing. There are also those who do not feel the trembling for the others because they are blind and are against the life, like Svidrigailov or Stavrogin. Svidrigailov, after destroying the lives of others and an innocent child, kills himself. For this reason, the wish for everyone is to tremble for their own destiny and for that of the world. The awareness of our fragility guides us to the truth of life.

References

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

2. Platon. Alkibiad I [First Alcibiades]. URL: https://classics.nsu.ru/bibliotheca/plato01/alki1.htm Accessed 10 July 2022. (In Russ.)

3. Evdokimov, Pavel. Dostoevskij e il problema del male. Tr. it. di E. Confaloni. Roma, Città Nuova, 1995. 304 p. (In Italian)

4. Derrida, Jacques. “Come non tremare.” Lettera Internazionale, no. 111, 2012, pp. 21–14. (In Italian)

5. Bloom, Harold. Il genio. Il senso dell’eccellenza attraverso le vite di cento individui non comuni. Tr. it. di E. Banfi. Milano, Rizzoli, 2010. 945 p. (In Italian)

6. Rolland, Jacques. Dostoevskij e la questione dell’Altro. Tr. it. di A. Dell’Asta. Milano, Jaca Book, 1990. 184 p. (In Italian)

7. Florenskij, Pavel A. La colonna e il fondamento della verità. Saggio di teodicea ortodossa in dodici lettere. A cura di N. Valentini. San Paolo, Cinisello Balsamo, 2010. 820 p. (In Italian)

8. Frank, Joseph. Dostoïevski. Les années miraculeuses (1865–1871). Tr. fr. Aline Weill. Arles, Solin, Actes Sud, 1998. 710 p. (In French)