Which Editions of the New Testament Did Dostoevsky Read and Quote? Editorial and Textual Issues in Research on the Presence of the New Testament in Dostoevsky’s Life and Work

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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. “Which Editions of the New Testament Did Dostoevsky Read and Quote? Editorial and Textual Issues in Research on the Presence of the New Testament in Dostoevsky’s Life and Work.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 4 (32), 2025, pp. 350–374. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2025-4-350-374

Received: 01 Sept. 2025

Approved after reviewing: 27 Oct. 2025

Published: 25 Dec. 2025

Issue: 2025 no. 4 (32)

Department: BIOGRAPHY. COMMENTARY

Pages: 350-374

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2025-4-350-374

EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/VHYJAJ

UDK: 821.161.1.0+82.0

BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)+83

Publication Type: Research Article

Keywords: Dostoevsky, New Testament as book and text, translations, quotations.

Abstract: The article explores the significance of the New Testament as both book and text in Dostoevsky’s life and work and addresses the question of which editions of the New Testament the writer read and quoted. The article examines the history and functioning of the New Testament in Church Slavonic, Russian (in two translations: the 1823 translation and the Synodal translation of 1863), and French in the context of Dostoevsky’s biography and work. The article introduces new details related to the activities of Friedrich Joseph Haass and Natalia Dmitrievna Fonvizina, who were involved in the distribution of the first Russian translation of the New Testament among convicts. The article also examines the issue of quotations from the New Testament in Dostoevsky’s works. Through a comparative analysis of these quotations from a textual and interpretive perspective, the article refines the established scholarly view of Dostoevsky’s preference for his “convict’s gospel,” and provides commentary on his references to the 1863 Synodal edition of the New Testament, comments on Dostoevsky’s use of the 1863 Synodal edition of the New Testament, particularly in the novel The Devils. In addition to the contamination of translations of the New Testament in Russian, the article highlights the systematic variability of quotations in the epigraph and the text of the novel, which is influenced by the author’s strategy. In the epigraph, Dostoevsky uses the 1823 edition of the New Testament, while in the text of the novel, he chooses the 1863 edition, which is influenced by the historical context of the novel and the corresponding context of the protagonist’s perception. In conclusion, the article argues that Dostoevsky’s New Testament intertext—uniting all translated versions—is inevitable, as is the diverse representation of different Bible translations, retellings, adaptations, and their mutual influence and contamination.

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