An Ordeal by “Practical Philisophy” or Two Teachers of Elena Stakenschneider
Journal Title: Неизвестный Достоевский - Year 2017, Vol 4, Issue 2
Abstract
Based on the diaries, memoirs and letters of E. A. Stakenschneider we have revealed a kind of an ideologic novel with the plot concerning spiritual evolution of E. A. Stakenschneider from the revolutionary radicalism of P. L. Lavrov to the Christian conservatism of F. M. Dostoevsky. The problem of "teaching", spiritual leaders for the young generations of the 1860s and 1870s is evoked. Two "Thought Leaders ", who appreciated the spiritual beauty of a "smart hunchback", became her life teachers. She shared Lavrov’s opposition attitude, she was carried away by his uncensored poetry and learned the "practical philosophy" , she critically thought about his amazing width of views, about the combination of faith and scepticism, but the spiritual father of Lavrov considered "him to be a devoted Christian." An aesthetic insight of the young reader manifested itself in her comment made in 1861 about the originality of Dostoevsky’s style: "naturalness of unnaturalness". The experience of a handicapped taught her to deeply empathize with the misfortunes of others and rejoice in happiness of others. Having experienced the "truth" of atheism, she met "A Writer’s Diary" with enthusiasm, when the time of Dostoevsky came, who proclaimed the beginning of Christian anthropology. The article also puts forward a proposal that Elena Andreevna Stakenschneider could have become an archetype of Lisa Khokhlakova in the novel "The Brothers Karamazov".
Authors and Affiliations
Vladimir Viktorovich
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP454177
- DOI 10.15393/j10.art.2017.3181
- Views 109
- Downloads 0
A Jesuit’s Letter" from the Collection of Anna Dostoevskaya's Autographs
A document referring to the business correspondence of the Journal “Grazhdanin” in the times of Putsykovich as an editor was discovered in the collection belonging to Anna Dostoevskaya. In the course of attribution the v...
Notes on the Сorrespondence between Fyodor Dostoevsky and Vladimir Meshchersky
This publication presents a historical, cultural and real commentary on the letters of F. M. Dostoevsky and V. P. Meshchersky, their chronological attribution, reveals their historical and literary value in Russian journ...
Dostoevsky and the Volunteers of the University in the Early 1860's
In the early 1860s a notable phenomenon of social life in Russia was the struggle of women for the right to visit universities and obtain higher education. F. M. Dostoevsky was "for" the changes in the public consciousne...
The Case of Mikhail Andreevich Dostoevsky’s Death, or What Did Judges Sweat Away During a Year and a Half
The primary focus of this article is to cast some light on the procedural aspects which resulted from the investigation into Mikhail Andreevich Dostoevsky's death. In this article we attempt to interpret the material evi...
From Funeral Speeches after the Memorial Service on March 11, 2017.
The Annex to the article contains the published speeches of several participants of the consecration of the monument and the memorial service taken place on March 11, 2017 on the occasion of 180th anniversary of the deat...