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)

“A Hundred Years Still Have a Strange Effect on a Person...” The Hidden Purpose of a Journey

JATS XML:

XML
BibTEX:

BIB
Research Information Systems Citation Format:

RIS
  • Download:

    PDF
  • Author: Liudmila I. Saraskina
  • Information about the author:

    DSc in Philology, Leading Researcher, State Institute for Art Studies, Kozitskii Lane, 5, 125009 Moscow, Russia.

    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4844-4930

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

    Saraskina, L.I. “‘A Hundred Years Still Have a Strange Effect on a Person...’ The Hidden Purpose of a Journey.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 3 (31), 2025, pp. 130–157. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2025-3-130-157
  • Received: 22 Mar. 2025
  • Approved after reviewing: 22 Apr. 2025
  • Published: 25 Sept. 2025
  • Issue: 2025 no. 3 (31)
  • Department: POETICS. CONTEXT
  • Pages: 130-157
  • DOI: Visit Website
  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/QZIPIB
  • UDK: 821.161.1.0
  • BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)
  • Publication Type: Research Article
  • Keywords: Dostoevsky, A Writer’s Diary, “A Hundred-Years-Old Woman,” longevity, K.S. Aksakov, common people, workbooks, household life, purpose.
  • Abstract: The paper analyzes Fyodor Dostoevsky’s story “A Hundred-Years-Old Woman” (A Writer’s Diary, 1876), based on the real impressions of “a certain lady” (Anna Dostoevskaya) who had met, in a street of Saint-Petersburg, a very old, hundred-and-four-years-old, woman; that woman was hobbling along the streets of the city in order to visit her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The first part of the story (based on what “a certain lady” had seen and heard) is supplemented by the second part, which presents imagined scenes of the old woman’s meeting with her relatives. The writer tries to imagine the outcome of her visit to them. Dostoevsky, as a writer and an artist, took a keen interest in the age of his characters and in the phenomenon of longevity. In this paper, it is suggested that Dostoevsky became interested in the character of the very old woman and imagined the finale of her story, because he was inspired by the article of K.S. Aksakov “About the Contemporary Man” (1860), in which the author reflects with sympathy on the Russian common people and calls on readers to see their beauty. Special attention is paid to the process of creating the character of the “Hundred-Years-Old Woman.” This process has been reflected in the notes in the workbooks for A Writer’s Diary of 1876. The topic of the “Old Woman” is situated among such key topics as “The Hero Ilya Muromets,” “Orthodoxy,” “War,” and others. It is evident that the topic of the “Old Woman” was not just a trifle for the writer. The note “An Old Woman” was repeated in the workbooks eight times for one week, close to the notes about Russian bylinas. This shows that the topic was, for the writer, not just a matter of everyday life. Dostoevsky was captivated by an ambitious task: to place the most serious problems “under the roof” of “a very pretty picture” — and so capture the discerning reader. Dostoevsky gave his “old woman” a meaningful name (Marya Maximovna, that is, Maria who has reached the maximum age) and portrayed her kinsfolk with great sympathy: as decent common people who lived in a harmonious and orderly way, preserving noble family traditions and a peaceful household. The finale of the story discloses the real purpose of the old woman’s tiring journey to the place of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren: having soberly assessed her physical resources, she resolves to exhaust completely her vital forces in order to end her life surrounded by her kith and kin.

References

1. Aksakov, K.S. "O sovremennom cheloveke" ["About the Contemporary Man"]. Available at: https://litbit.ru/ru/aksakov-konstantin/o-sovremennom-cheloveke (Accessed 12 Jan. 2025). (In Russ.)

2. Borisova, V.V. "Stoletniaia" ["A Hundred-Years-Old Woman"]. Dostoevskii: Sochineniia, pis'ma, dokumenty. Slovar'-spravochnik [Dostoevsky. Works, Letters, Documents. A Dictionary-Handbook], vol. 2. St. Petersburg, IRLI RAN Publ., 2008, pp. 179-181. (In Russ.)

3. Bakhtiarov, A. Briukho Peterburga. Ocherki stolichnoi zhizni [The Belly of Petersburg. Essays about the Life in the Capital]. Moscow, Centrpoligraf Publ., 2023. 383 p. (In Russ.)

4. Volgin, I.L. "Dostoevskii i pravitel'stvennaia politika v oblasti prosveshcheniia (1881-1917)" ["Dostoevsky and the Governmental Politics in the Field of Education (1881-1917)"]. Dostoevskii. Materialy iissledovaniia [Dostoevsky. Materials and Research], vol. 4. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1980, pp. 192-206. (In Russ.)

5. Grossman, L.P. Seminarii po Dostoevskomu: Materialy, bibliografia i kommentarii [Dostoevsky Seminarium. Materials, Bibliography and Commentaries]. Moscow, Gos. Izdatel'stvo Publ.; Petrograd, Gos. trest "Petropechat"" Publ., 1922. 118 p. (In Russ.)

6. Desnitskii, A.S. "Sorok voprosov Biblii. Pochemu v Biblii takoe znachenie pridaetsia imenam?" ["Forty Questions to the Bible. Why in the Bible Names Are So Important?"]. Azbyka.ru. Available at: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Andrej_Desnickij/sorok-voprosov-o-biblii/23#source (Accessed 07 March 2025). (In Russ.)

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

8. Kapustina, S.V. "Izuchenie ocherka F.M. Dostoevskogo 'Stoletniaia' v shkole" ["Studying Dostoevsky's Essay 'A Hundred-Years-Old Woman' at School"]. Tvorchestvo F.M. Dostoevskogo: problemy, zhanry, interpretacii [The Work of Fyodor Dostoevsky: Problems, Genres, Interpretations], no. XIII. Novokuznetsk, Kemerovskii gosudarstvennyi universitet Publ., 2022, pp. 390-398. (In Russ.)

9. Kniga bylin: Svod izbrannykh obraztsov russkoi narodnoi epicheskoi poezii [A Book of Bylinas. Selected Examples of Russian Folk Epic Poetry]. Compiled by A.P. Avenarius. 4th Edition. Moscow, Izdatel'stvo A.D. Stupina Publ., 1893. 320 p. (In Russ.)

10. Nabokov, V.V. "O knige, ozaglavlennoi 'Lolita' (Posleslovie k amerikanskomu izdaniiu 1958 goda)" ["About the Book Titled Lolita (Postface to the 1958 American Edition)"]. V.V. Nabokov: PRO ET CONTRA. Lichnost' i tvorchestvo Vladimira Nabokova v otsenke russkikh i zarubezhnykh myslitelei i issledovatelei. Antologiia [V.V. Nabokov: PRO ET CONTRA. The Personality and Work of Vladimir Nabokov as Assessed by Russian and Foreign Thinkers and Scholars. An Anthology]. St. Petersburg, Izdatel'stvo Russkogo Khristianskogo gumanitarnogo instituta Publ., 1997, pp 82-89. (In Russ.)

11. Nikolaev, D.D. "Starost' kak funktsiia: obrazy starikov v proze molodogo Bunina" ["The Old Age as a Function: The Characters of Old People in the Prose Works of the Young Bunin"]. Vasil'eva, S.A., Denisenko, S.V., and A.Yu. Sorochan, eds. Starost' kak syuzhet: stat'i i materialy [Old Age as a Plot: Research Papers and Materials]. Tver', Tverskoi gosudarstvennyi universitet Publ., 2020, pp. 212-225. (In Russ.)

12. Poddubnaia, R.N. "''Deisvitel' nost' ideala' v maloi proze 'Dnevnika pisatelia'" ['The Reality of an Ideal' in the Short Prose Works of The Diary of a Writer"]. Dostoevskii. Materialy i issledovaniia [Dostoevsky. Materials and Research], vol. 9. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1991, pp. 183-198. (In Russ.)

13. Pushkin, A.S. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii: v 6 tomakh [Complete Works: in 6 vols]. 4th Edition. Ed. by S.M. Bondi, I.K. Luppola, Yu. G. Oksman, B.V. Tomasheskii. Moscow, GIHL Publ., 1936. (In Russ.)

14. Tolstoi, L.N. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii: v 90 tomakh [Complete Works: in 90 vols]. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaia literatura Publ., 1928-1958. (In Russ.)

15. Fokin, P.E. "K voprosu o genezise 'Dnevnika pisatelia' za 1876-1877 gg. (Istoriko-literaturnyi aspekt)" ["The Problem of the Genesis of the Diary of a Writer, 1876-1877 (From the Point of View of the History of Literature)"]. Dostoevski. Materialy i issledovaniia [Dostoevsky. Materials and Research], vol. 13. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 1996, pp. 121-131. (In Russ.)


Reference list of internet sources:
1. "Zhenshchina posle 50. Kogda nachinaetsia starost'? Kakoi vozrast schitaetsia 'starym' v stranakh mira?" ["Women after 50. When Does the Old Age Begin? What Age Is Considered 'Old' in Various Countries?"]. Dzen.ru. Available at: https://dzen.ru/a/Zj3KqeBJzksw-xzn (Accessed 17 Jan. 2025). (In Russ.)

2. "Kirillitsa. 'Klassicheskie stariki: kakov byl real'nyi vozrast nekotorykh personazhei klassicheskoi literatury" ["The Cyrillic Alphabet. 'Classical Old People': What Was the Real Age of Some of the Characters of Classical Literature"]. Woman.rambler.ru. Available at: https://woman.rambler.ru/other/42494157/utm_content=woman_media&utm_medium=read_ _more&utm_ source=copylink (Accessed 17 Jan. 2025). (In Russ.)

Current issue