Images of Books in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot. Review of the Collective Monograph: Kasatkina, Tatiana A., Corbella, Caterina, Magaril-Il’iaeva, Tatiana G., and Nikolay N. Podosokorsky. Books in the Book. The Role and Image of Books in Fyodor Dost

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Author: Valentina V. Borisova

Information about the author:

DSc in Philology, Leading Researcher, “Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Memorial Apartment,” Vladimir Dahl State Museum of the History of Russian Literature, Trubnikovsky Lane, 17, 121069 Moscow, Russia; professor, Moscow State Linguistic University, Ostozhenka St., 38/1, 119034 Moscow, Russia; Сhief Researcher, M. Akmullah Bashkir State Pedagogical University, Oktiabrskaia revoliutsiia St., 3A, 450008 Ufa, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9011-0160

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For citation:

Borisova, V.V. “Images of Books in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot. Review of the Collective Monograph: Kasatkina, Tatiana A., Corbella, Caterina, Magaril-Il’iaeva, Tatiana G., and Nikolay N. Podosokorsky. Books in the Book. The Role and Image of Books in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot. Ed. T.A. Kasatkina. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2024. 392 p.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 2 (30), 2025, pp. 370–383. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2025-2-370-383

Received: 27 Feb. 2025

Approved after reviewing: 10 Apr. 2025

Published: 25 June 2025

Issue: 2025 no. 2 (30)

Department: REVIEWS. SUMMARIES

Pages: 370-383

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2025-2-370-383

EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/RBBDMU

UDK: 821.161.1.82.0

BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)+83+83.3(4)

Publication Type: Review

Keywords: Dostoevsky, The Idiot, books in the book, the role and image of books.

Abstract: The review examines the collective monograph by Tatiana Kasatkina, Caterina Corbella, Tatiana Magaril-Il’iaeva, and Nikolay Podosokorsky titled Books in the Book. The Role and Image of Books in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot (Ed. T.A. Kasatkina. Moscow, IWL RAS, 2024. 392 p.). The work reviewed represents a perspective of research that has actively developed in recent years, characterized by a new terminological thesaurus and a new methodology for studying the role and image of books-within-books, which is fundamentally different from the traditional intertextual approach. The authors’ primary focus in the monograph is on an analytical and synthetic study of all the books present in the novel The Idiot — including fiction, historical, memoir and sacred texts. As the IWL RAS scholars show, all these works are actualized both as objects and texts at the levels of poetics, ethics, aesthetics, and metaphysics. The review examines the various sections of the monograph and offers both positive and critical evaluations of the results and prospects of the research.

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