Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

Paper Summary:

Considering all the torments that Dostoevsky lived through - torments that he then channeled in to some of his most famous fictional creations - was Dostoevsky sincere when he penned the famous quote in The Idiot: "Beauty will save the world"? Did Dostoevsky equate beauty with goodness, or was he simply using Myshkin's naivete to underline the worthlessness of purity and aesthetics in a world of sin and strife? This paper, through an examination of Dostoevsky's life and how the events of his life were filtered in to some of his most famous works, will take the position that both ideas are possible.

From the Paper:

"Stories of Dostoevsky's cruel treatment at the hands of his father have reached near legendary status, thanks in no small part to Sigmund Freud's famous essay on the writer's psychological development. After returning home from work each day, Dostoevsky's father would take a nap. His children were assigned to stand guard over him while he slept, remain completely quiet, and swat flies that came anywhere near the sleeping doctor's head. While much psychoanalytic theory has been poured in to the effects of his upbringing on the writer's portrayal of father figures such as that in The Brothers Karamazov, the idea that Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov was actually based on Dr. Dostoevsky has been called in to question by Joseph Frank, the famous biographer of Dostoevsky. Frank claims that letters and personal accounts attest that the father and son actually had a close, loving relationship."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Idiot. David McDuff, trans. 1868. New York: Penguin, 2004.
• Frank, Joseph. Dostoevsky: The Seeds of Revolt, 1821-1849. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976.
• Frank, Joseph. Dostoevsky: The Years of Ordeal, 1850-1859. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983.
• Frank, Joseph. Through the Russian Prism: Essays on Literature and Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.
• Frank, Joseph and David I. Goldstein, eds. Selected Letters of Fyodor Dostoevsky. Andrew McAndrew, trans. New Brunswick, NJ: 1987.

More papers on Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky:

• Analytical Essay # 87377 : "Dostoevsky's Writings"
• Book Review # 87233 : "Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment"
• Analytical Essay # 87485 : "Eliot and Dostoevsky's Men"

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