Dostoevsky and World Culture Dostoevsky and World Culture 2619-0311 2712-8512 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2025-4-205-231 Research Article Articles “The Meek One” by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Abuse by Ivo Andrić Enisa Uspenski fedor@dostmirkult.ru 25 12 2025 1 4 205 231 Dostoevsky “The Meek One ” Ivo Andrić Abuse narcissism violence woman question feminist dimension metaphysics of love social independence Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The article presents a comparative analysis of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s short story “The Meek One” and Ivo Andrić’s Abuse, conducted through comparative and genetic methods. The starting point of the study is the invariant plot of male violence within marriage, unequal in multiple respects. From a psychoanalytic perspective, in both works the female characters appear as victims of the narcissistic personality disorder of the male protagonists, who themselves have experienced social trauma. By exploiting the advantages of their social and economic position—the right to choose a wife, the right to sexual control, and the right to dominate the sphere of thought—the male characters in both stories victimize their spouses: the first (the protagonist of “The Meek One”) through a strategy of silence, and the second (the protagonist of Abuse) through excessive verbalization. As a result, both works culminate in the complete breakdown of communication between husband and wife: in one case leading to the heroine’s suicide, and in the other to the wife’s escape. Both heroines prove to be “ideal victims” for the predatory narcissist—by virtue of their character, material situation, and social status—where patriarchal norms and the question of women’s education play a decisive role. According to feminist criticism, which has examined the works of both Fyodor Dostoevsky and Ivo Andrić through its own lens, the authorial position in these stories may be understood from a feminist perspective. Alongside the numerous parallels that bring these texts together on various discursive levels, there also exists a fundamental difference in their treatment of the “woman question.” For Dostoevsky, it acquires an ontological dimension—through Christ and the metaphysics of love—whereas for Andrić, a possible solution is suggested in the evolutionary development of society, in which women would be able to attain economic independence.