logo eng

 A.M.GORKY INSTITUTE OF WORLD LITERATURE
OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Povarskaya 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia
fedor@dostmirkult.ru

ISSN 2619-0311 (Print)
ISSN 2712-8512 (Online)

Victor Hugo’s Novel L’homme qui rit in Dostoevsky’s Demons. Article 1

JATS XML:

XML
BibTEX:

BIB
Research Information Systems Citation Format:

RIS
  • Download:

    PDF
  • Author: Tatiana G. Magaril-Il'iaeva
  • Information about the author:

    PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher, Research Centre “Dostoevsky and World Culture,” А.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya St., 25A,

    bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia.

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

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

    The research was carried out at IWL RAS with a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 25-18-00009 “Characters’ Writings, Languages, and Readings in Dostoevsky’s Mature Works (1859–1881).”
  • For citation:

    Magaril-Il’iaeva, T.G. “Victor Hugo’s Novel L’homme qui rit in Dostoevsky’s Demons. Article 1.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 3 (31), 2025, pp. 58–75.(In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2025-3-58-75
  • Received: 15 July 2025
  • Approved after reviewing: 22 Aug. 2025
  • Published: 25 Sept. 2025
  • Issue: 2025 no. 3 (31)
  • Department: HERMENEUTICS. SLOW READING
  • Pages: 58-75
  • DOI: Visit Website
  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/PMKQGD
  • UDK: 821.161.1.0+821.133.1.0+82.0
  • BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)+83.3(4Фра)+83
  • Publication Type: Research Article
  • Keywords: Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo, Demons, L’homme qui rit, vagrancy, comprachicos, freedom, animals, beast, creation, God’s world.
  • Abstract: The article presents the initial findings of a study on the place and role of Victor Hugo’s novel L’homme qui rit in Dostoevsky’s Demons. The work reflects on some specific aspects of studying texts mentioned by the Russian writer in his works. Strategies for researching such texts are proposed. Particular attention is paid to a short author’s preface to the French novel, which states the main idea of the work and the writer’s further plans for its development, and to two preliminary chapters where the narrator outlines the central themes and motifs of the entire work. A scene in Demons mentioning Hugo’s book is analyzed. This scene is considered as a key to understanding the purposes for which this text was introduced into the Russian novel. The key idea of the French novel concerning two oppositely directed modes of human action in the world is also examined: action performed by a person upon themselves, and action that forcibly changes the world around them. Assumptions are made about possible reflections of this theme in the Russian novel.

References

1. Hugo, Victor. Sobranie sochinenii: v 15 tomakh [Collected Works: in 15 vols]. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaia literatura Publ., 1953–1956. (In Russ.)

2. Hugo, Victor. Chelovek, kotoryi smeetsia [The Man Who Laughs]. Ed. by Mark-Vovchek. St. Petersburg, Tip. A.A. Kraevskogo Publ., 1869. 430 p. (In Russ.)

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

4. Kasatkina, T.A., Corbella, C., Magaril-Iliaeva, T.G., and N.N. Podosokorskii. Knigi v knige. Rol’ i obraz knigi v romane F.M. Dostoevskogo “Idiot” [Books in the Book. The Role and Image of the Book in Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot]. Ed. by T.A. Kasatkina. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2024. 392 p. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/978-5-9208-0784-7

5. Chernova, N.V. “‘Chelovek, kotoryi smeetsia’ Giugo v romane Dostoevskogo ‘Besy’” [“The Man Who Laughs by Hugo in Dostoevsky’s Novel Demons”]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul’tura.

Al’manakh, no. 29, 2012, pp. 161–175. (In Russ.)

6. Hugo, Victor. L’Homme Qui Rit, vol. 1. Paris, Librairie internationale, 1869. 381 p. (In French)

7. Hugo, Victor. Œuvres complètes de Victor Hugo edition dite “de l’Imprimerie nationale”: en 45 v., vol. 9, t. VIII: L’Homme qui rit. Publ. par Paul Meurice, Gustave Simon et Cécile Daubray. Ollendorff, 1907. 627 p. (In French).

Current issue