Cervantes’ Don Quixote in Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot

Download:

PDF
Author: Caterina Corbella
Information about the author:

Associate Researcher, Research Centre “Dostoevsky and World Culture,” A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya St., 25A, bld. 1, 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. “Cervantes’ Don Quixote in Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 2 (26), 2024, pp. 29–52. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2024-2-29-52

Received: 18 Apr. 2024
Published: 25 June 2024
Issue: 2024 no. 2 (26)
Department: HERMENEUTICS. SLOW READING
Pages: 29-52
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2024-2-29-52
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/MIWAJO
UDK: 821.161.1.0+821.134.2
BBK: 83.3(2=411.2)+83.3(4)
Keywords: Dostoevsky, The Idiot, book in the book, Don Quixote, Aglaya, Rogozhin, Nastastya Filippovna, prince Myshkin, donkey.
Abstract: The article analyses the significance of Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote for the understanding of the author’s intention in the novel The Idiot. The material presence of the book Don Quixote in Dostoevsky’s text assumes that the reader is familiar with Cervantes’ novel and will be able to trace all the necessary connections inside the text, taking into account not only the image of don Quixote, but also the whole novel, which Dostoevsky knew well and highly appreciated. From this perspective, the starting point for analysis is the figure of Aglaya Epanchina, who is both the reason for the inclusion of Don Quixote in the plot of The Idiot and its sole interpreter within the novel. However, Aglaya’s interpretation leads the reader down a false path, identifying Myshkin, don Quixote, and Pushkin’s “poor knight” as representative of “medieval platonic love.” The article demonstrates how the references to Cervantes’ novel indicate that Aglaya herself acts according to Don Quixote, understanding love as an arbitrary one-sided choice of a carnal receptacle for an invented ideal. Another kind of love defines Prince Myshkin’s relationship with Nastasya Filippovna, whose image displays quite different quixotic traits. On a deeper level, Cervantes’ Don Quixote concurs in structuring the image of the protagonist, who can discover himself as a whole only through the relation with the other (Rogozhin, Sancho Panza); it is illustrated how the image of the donkey that awakened the prince in Basel also has its roots in Cervantes’ work. The conclusion offers some reflections on the relation between the peculiar structure of the protagonist in both novels and Dostoevsky’s intentions to portray a “positively beautiful individual.”

Acknowledgements: The research was carried out at IWL RAS with a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 23-28-00258 “The Role and the Image of Books in F.M. Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot” (https://rscf.ru/project/23-28-00258/).

 

References

1. Bagno, V.E. “Don Kikhot” v Rossii i russkoe donkikhotstvo [Don Quixote in Russia and Russian Quixotism]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2009. 228 p. (In Russ.

2. Biblioteka F.M. Dostoevskogo: Opyt rekonstruktsii. Nauchnoe opisanie [Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Library: An Attempt of Reconstruction. Scientific Description]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2005. 338 p. (In Russ.)

3. Guardini, Romano. “Chelovek i vera: Issledovanie religioznoi ekzistentsii v bol’shikh romanakh Dostoevskogo” [“Man and Faith: A Research of Religious Existence in Dostoevsky’s Great Novels”]. Eon. Almanakh staroi i novoi kul’tury, vol. 9, 2009, pp. 8–324. (In Russ.)

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

5. Dostoevskii, F.M. Sobranie sochinenii: v 9 tomakh [Collected Works: in 9 vols], vol. 4. Text preparation, comp., notes, introductory article, comm. by T.A. Kasatkina. Moscow, Astrel’-AST Publ., 2004. 761 p. (In Russ.)

6. Kasatkina, T.A. O tvoriashchei prirode slova. Ontologichnost’ slova v tvorchestve F.M. Dostoevskogo kak osnova “realizma v vyschem smysle” [On the Poietic Nature the Word. The Ontology of the Word in the Work of F.M. Dostoevsky as the Fundament of “Realism in a Higher Sense”]. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2004. 480 p. (In Russ.)

7. Kasatkina, T.A. “‘Otkrovenie Ioanna Bogoslova’ v romane Dostoevskogo ‘Idiot’: Zhena-gorod” [“St. John’s Book of Revelation in Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot: The Woman-City”]. Novyi mir, no. 9, 2023, pp. 179–190. Available at: http://new.nm1925.ru/articles/2023/09-2023/otkrovenie-ioanna-bogoslova-v-romane-dostoevskogo-idiot-zhena-gorod/ (Accessed 12 Mar. 2024) (In Russ.)

8. Kasatkina, T.A. “My budem — litsa…” Analitiko-sinteticheskoe chtenie proizvedenii Dostoevskogo [“We Will Be Faces/Persons…” An Analytical-Synthetic Reading of Dostoevsky’s Works]. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2023. 432 p. (In Russ.)

9. Corbella, Caterina. “‘Idiot’ F.M. Dostoevskogo v prochtenii katolicheskikh bogoslovov” [“Dostoevsky’s The Idiot in the Interpretation of Catholic Theologians”]. Vestnik Kostromskogo gosudarstvennogo unversiteta, vol. 28, no. 22, 2022, pp. 175–184 (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2022-28-2-175-184

10. Corbella, Caterina. “Kontsept ‘kniga’ v romane F.M. Dostoevskogo ‘Idiot’” [“The Concept of ‘Book’ in Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot”]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul’tura. Filologicheskii zhurnal, no. 4 (24), 2023, pp. 30–54. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2023-4-30-54

11. Magaril-Il’iaeva, T.G. “‘Dama s kameliiami’ i ‘Madam Bovari’ v romane F.M. Dostoevskogo ‘Idiot’” [“The Lady of the Camellias and Madame Bovary in Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot”]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul’tura. Filologicheskii zhurnal, no. 4 (24), 2023, pp. 55–92. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2023-4-55-92

12. Magaril-Il’iaeva, T.G. “Flober u Dostoevskogo: rol’ i obraz ‘Madame Bovary’ v ‘Idiote’” [“Flaubert in Dostoevsky’s Work: The Role and Image of Madame Bovary in the Novel The Idiot”]. Studia Litterarum, vol. 9, no. 2, 2024, pp. 256–277. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2024-9-2-256-277

13. Piskunova, S.I. “‘…Krome nas vchetverom’. Roman ‘Idiot’ v zerkale ‘Don Kikhota Lamanchskogo’” [“‘… Except for the four of us.’ The Novel The Idiot through the Prism of Don Quixote”]. Voprosy literatury, no. 1, 2007, pp. 165–189. (In Russ.)

14. Podosokorskii, N.N. “‘Basni’ I.A. Krylova v romane F.M. Dostoevskogo ‘Idiot’” [“I.A. Krylov’s Fables’ in F.M. Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot”]. Studia Litterarum, vol. 9, no. 2, 2024, pp. 238–255. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2024-9-2-238-255

15. Cervantes, Miguel de. Don Kikhot Lamanchskii. Sochinenie Migelia Servantesa Savedry [Don Quixote of La Mancha. A Book by Miguel Cervantes Saavedra], vol. 1. Trans. from Spanish by Konstantin Masal’sky. St. Petersburg, 1838. Available at: http://az.lib.ru/s/serwantessaawedra_m_d/text_1858_don-qishot-1-oldorfo.shtml (Accessed 12 Mar. 2024) (In Russ.)

16. Cervantes, Miguel de. Don-Kikhot Lamanchskii. Sochinenie Miguelia Servantesa Savedry. V dvukh chastiakh [Don Quixote of La Mancha. A Book by Miguel Cervantes Saavedra . In Two Parts]. Trans. from Spanish by V. Karelin. 2nd Edition. St. Petersburg, N.A. Shigin Publ., 1873. Available at: http://az.lib.ru/s/serwantessaawedra_m_d/text_0050-oldorfo.shtml (Accessed 12 Mar. 2024) (In Russ.)

17. Cervantes, Miguel de. Ostroumno-izobretatel’nyi idalgo Don Kikhot Lamanchskii: v 2 tomakh [The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha: in 2 vols]. Trans. from Spanish by M.V. Vatson. St. Petersburg, F.F. Pavlenkov Publ., 1907. Available at: http://az.lib.ru/s/serwantessaawedra_m_d/text_1907_don_quijote-1.shtml (Vol. 1); http://az.lib.ru/s/serwantessaawedra_m_d/text_1907_don_quijote-2.shtml (Vol. 2) (Accessed 12 Mar. 2024) (In Russ.)

18. Cervantes, Miguel de. Sobranie sochinenii v 5 tomakh [Collected Works in 5 vols], vol. 1: Khitroumnyi idalgo Don Kikhot Lamanchskii. Chast’ pervaia [The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha. First Part]. Trans. by N.M. Liubimov. Moscow, Pravda Publ., 1961. 600 p. (In Russ.)

19. Stepanian, K.A. Dostoevskii i Servantes: Dialog v bol’shom vremeni [Dostoevsky and Cervantes: A Dialogue through Time]. Moscow, Iazyki slavianskoi kul’tury Publ., 2013. 363 p. (In Russ.)

20. Cervantès Saavedra, Miguel de. L’ingénieux hidalgo don Quichotte de la Manche, par Miguel de Cervantès Saavedra, traduit et annoté par Louis Viardot, vignettes de Tony Johannot. T. 1-2. Paris, J.-J. Dubochet, 1836. Available at: https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb319212337 (Accessed 12 Mar. 2024) (In French)

21. Cervantes, Miguel de. Don Quijote de la Mancha. Madrid, Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, 2004. 1060 p. (In Spanish)

22. Kasatkina, Tatiana. È Cristo che vive in te. Dostoevskij. L’immagine del mondo e dell’uomo: l’icona e il quadro. Castel Bolognese, Itaca, 2012. 112 p. (In Italian)