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Author: Tatiana A. Kasatkina
Information about the author:

DSc in Philology, Director of Research, Head of the Research Centre “Dostoevsky and World Culture”, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya 25 a, 121069 Moscow, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0875-067X

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For citation:

Kasatkina, T.A. “Crime and Punishment: How to Create a Deep Text.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 1 (17), 2022, pp. 52–62. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2022-1-52-62

Received: 09 Feb. 2022
Published: 25 Mar. 2022
Issue: 2022 no. 1 (17)
Department: HERMENEUTICS. SLOW READING
Pages: 52-62
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2022-1-52-62
UDK: 821.161.1.0
BBK: 83.3(2=411.2)
Keywords: Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, theology, anthropology, deep text, microanalysis of the text, Marmeladov’s speech, biblical quotes, shift of meaning in the character’s name.
Abstract: Through microanalysis, the article shows the instruments used by Dostoevsky to create a text of great depth in his novel Crime and Punishment. An excerpt of Marmeladov’s speech on how he got his last job is analyzed, recurring to other episodes of the novel where the author works with biblical quotations or significant names in a similar way (for example, is shown the shift of meaning in the name Afrosinyushka). It is shown how in Crime and Punishment micro quotes from a “denunciatory” biblical text do not always concur to discredit the character the words refer to or the person who pronounces them. It is demonstrated how Dostoevsky when theologizing in literary works uses micro references to Scriptures in a complex way: not as a secret way to propose to the reader his judgment, but to explain to the reader his role towards the world and people around him (i.e., not morally, but ontologically).

References

1. Vlashchenko, V.I. “Zagadki i tainy v khudozhestvennom mire Dostoevskogo: tragicheskaia sud’ba Marmeladovykh” [“Enigmas and Mysteries in Dostoevsky’s Artistic World: The Tragic Destiny of the Marmeladovs”]. Neva, no. 11, 2017, pp. 224–246. (In Russ.)

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

3. Epishev N., svyashch. “Duhovno znachimye detali v kompozicii romana F.M. Dostoevskogo ‘Prestuplenie i nakazanie’” [“Spiritually Significant Details in the Composition of F.M. Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment”]. F.M. Dostoevskii i Pravoslavie. Publicisticheskii sbornik o tvorchestve F.M. Dostoevskogo [Dostoevsky and Orthodoxy. Collected Articles about Dostoevsky’s Works], Moscow, Izdatelskij dom “K edinstvu!” Publ., 2003, pp. 233–317. (In Russ.)

4. Kasatkina, T.A. Sviashchennoe v povsednevnom: dvusostavnyi obraz v proizvedeniiakh Dostoevskogo [The Sacred in the Ordinary: the Two-Folded Image in the Works of F.M. Dostoevsky]. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2015. 528 p. (In Russ.)

5. Meerson, Olga. “Bibleiskie interteksty u Dostoevskogo. Koshchunstvo ili bogoslovie liubvi?” [“Biblical Intertexts in Dostoevsky. Blasphemy or Theology of Love?”]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul’tura. Al’manakh, no. 12, 1999, pp. 40–53. (In Russ.)