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Author: Tatiana G. Magaril-Il’iaeva
Information about the author:

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

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7521-1898

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For citation:

Magaril-Il’iaeva, T.G. “The Gnostic Myth in Dostoevsky’s Story The Landlady.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 1 (21), 2023, pp. 38–61. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2023-1-38-61

Received: 19 Feb. 2023
Published: 25 March 2023
Issue: 2023 no. 1 (21)
Department: HERMENEUTICS. SLOW READING
Pages: 38-61
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2023-1-38-61
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/XBSBDY

UDK: 821.161.1.0
BBK: 83.3
Keywords: Dostoevsky, The Landlady, Gnosticism, “Hymn of the Pearl.”
Abstract: The article demonstrates how the gnostic paradigm, in which Dostoevsky formed the problems of his early work, is present in the story The Landlady. It is proven that the central plot of the story (Ordynov’s meeting with Katerina and Murin) is based on the writer’s reinterpretation of the metaphorical plot of “The Hymn of the Pearl,” a parable included in the apocryphal acts by the Apostle Thomas. The parable metaphorically recounts the journey of a spiritual man (pneumatic) in a world of matter created and controlled by the Demiurge. This type of person contains the spirit, a particle of the true divine world of the Pleroma. Once in the world of matter, “eating its food,” the spirit is intoxicated and forgets about its true origin. The task of the spiritual man, according to the parable, is to remember that his true home is the Pleroma, and to return to it he must free the Pearl (the divine soul), seized by the serpent (the Demiurge, the ruler of the matter). According to researchers, the imagery of the parable had a great influence on mystical philosophy and art, which flourished, in particular, at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Dostoevsky places the sacred history, presented in myth as in its ideal embodiment, in the reality visible to him, where people are cut off from one another, where passion dominates “unchosen love,” and where the connection with the true Father is lost. Even those who have been given the opportunity to see more than the rest find themselves, at this stage of Dostoevsky’s comprehension of the mystery of man, not strong enough to defeat the serpent.

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