Somewhere between eschatology and literature : F.M. Dostoevsky and romantic realism
Abstract
Donald
Fanger's work, ‘Dostoevsky and Romantic Realism: A Study of Dostoevsky in
Relation to Balzac, Dickens and Gogol’ addresses the seemingly internal paradox of
the nineteenth century literary genre 'romantic realism.' He claims that
Dostoevsky, with his portrayal of the familiar and the strange in St. Petersburg, is
the
great inheritor of the romantic realism of Balzac, Dickens and Gogol. Fanger's
category of romantic realism evolves from the realism of the nineteenth century,
which
began with the disillusionment with romanticism, and the desire to portray
everyday life as truthfully as possible. Fanger names Balzac, Dickens, Gogol and
Dostoevsky as the nineteenth century writers who accomplish what is impossible for
other realists.
According to Fanger, they present the world, with all its
imperfections, both truthfully and beautifully. The question I will address, in
regards to Fanger's work, is whether all four succeed, or whether only Dostoevsky
does, because his personal vision allows him to see that the world, for all its
ugliness, is marked for redemption. I will argue that, in fact, only Dostoevsky does
not
finally compromise his vision in an effort to construct a believable world. I
suggest that Dostoevsky might be able to look at the world both romantically and
realistically because of his Christian faith.
In the first part of my paper, I will attempt to show that Balzac, Gogol and Dickens
strayed from the genre when their personal visions were shattered by reality, using
examples from their fiction and excerpts from literary critiques. In the second part
of my paper, I will demonstrate how Dostoevsky saw the objective reality in terms
of his Christian
perspective for the final redemption of the world, rather than
projecting his personal vision into an objective reality. I will illustrate this through
Dostoevsky's own work, using 'The Idiot' in Chapter Three, 'Crime and Punishment'
in
Chapter Four, and 'The Brothers Karamazov' in Chapter Five. Finally, I will
compare the peculiar Christian logic, which claims the very best outcome for a
broken world because
of Christ's death on the cross, with Dostoevsky's Christian
vision, which allowed his novels to hold together hope and reality. As a true
romantic realist, Dostoevsky represents the world both truthfully and beautifully.
As a
Christian, Dostoevsky possesses the unique ability to demonstrate both the
radical evil and
uncompromising hope of the world.
Type
Thesis, MPhil Master of Philosophy
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