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The system of Faustian meanings in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Oeuvre

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Abstract

The article surveys various potential sources for Dostoevsky’s knowledge of the Faust legend, examines a range of arts, from literature to music, and focuses on the novel of Friedrich Maximilian Klinger as an important influence for Dostoevsky as the writer interacts with Faustian themes in The Brothers Karamazov on both literary and meta-literary levels. Klinger’s novel is considered in terms of the problems of epistemology and the limits of human cognition, problems rooted in finiteness as a defining characteristic of human nature. In the literary worlds of Klinger and Dostoevsky, the attempts to establish limited human cognition as unlimited, essentially divine, and capable of grasping the entire picture of the existence of both the individual human being and humanity as a whole cause unforeseen and tragic consequences. The article treats the Faustian musical scene in The Adolescent as a variation on the relevant scene in Gounod’s Faust, exploring similar epistemological problems. The article claims that Dostoevsky grants his characters and readers the same degree of freedom in exploring the nature of their cognitive processes and in choosing the voice they decide to listen to and follow.

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Notes

  1. It was also published in French (and augmented by the translator) in 1589 and then abridged and published in 1776 in The Universal Library of Romances (Alekseev 1987, pp. 494–495).

  2. Dostoevsky’ Collected Works was published over several years. Additionally, some volumes have sub-volumes, which necessitates references such as 30-2, giving first the volume, then the sub-volume followed by a page reference. The same principle applies to all other multi-volume editions.

  3. Svodnyi katalog knig na inostrannykh iazykakh, izdannykh v Rossii v XVIII veke (Master Catalog of Books in Foreign Languages Published in Russia in the Eighteenth Century) lists several editions indicating St. Petersburg as the place of publication, but printed in Karlsruhe (1791, 1794), and one edition without reference to Karlsruhe as the place of publication, but with the publication date misspelled as 1974 (Savelieva and Shcherbakova 1984–1986, 2, p. 95).

  4. In 1873, Dostoevsky publishes in Grazhdanin a review of Kuno Fischer’s lectures with one paragraph on Faust (Boldakov 1873). The fee was sent to Boldakov in Germany (Viktorovich 2019, p. 354). Consequently, how much did Dostoevsky know of Fischer’s lectures beyond what Boldakov sent from Germany? Strakhov was critical about Boldakov’s piece, which resulted in an afterword being appended to the review (Dostoevsky 1972–1990, 27, p. 184).

  5. It is worth mentioning works by Olga Smolian, a pioneering Klinger scholar in Russia (Smolian 1958; Smolian 1961). While acknowledging the importance of her work, Mikhail Alekseev noted certain issues with her research (Alekseev 1987, p. 514).

  6. For a discussion about the authenticity of the memoirs first published after Dostoevsky’s death see, for instance, (Koshelev 2009, pp. 27–28). While Koshelev mentions “less valuable material of later origin,” this material is more important for our purposes as it indicates the lingering currency of Klinger’s name in Russian culture.

  7. Here and elsewhere, English translations of Dostoevsky’s fiction are by Constance Garnett and amended where necessary. Translations from Dostoevsky’s journalism and letters are mine.

  8. Scholars noted a semblance between Klinger’s Faust and Ivan without postulating influence, yet also marked a difference between them in that Faust rejected God, while Ivan only rejected His world (Mekhed 2017, p. 134). However, Ivan’s Geological Cataclysm betrays the same denunciation of God and the striving to place himself in His place, so the perceived difference stems from what Ivan wants his motives to appear, rather than from what they are.

  9. This parallel was noticed immediately upon the publication of Notes from the Underground: “He borrows his arguments primarily from Thomas Aquinas, but since he never mentions the fact, the reader thinks that these thoughts belong to the narrator” (Saltykov-Shchedrin 1965–1977, 6, p. 493).

  10. We may recall here Olga Meerson’s insight that what Dostoevsky left out of his books might be more important than what he left in (Meerson 1998). Dostoevsky characteristically wrote to Vsevolod Soloviev, “I have never yet allowed myself in my writings to bring some of my convictions to the logical conclusion, to utter the most final word. … And people in general do not like a final word in anything…” (Dostoevsky 1972–1990, 29–2, p. 101–102).

  11. Love for God and human beings is closely intertwined in Dostoevsky’s views, as in 1 John 4:20: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”

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  1. Department of European Languages, Institute of Linguistics, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia

    Tatyana Kovalevskaya

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Kovalevskaya, T. The system of Faustian meanings in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Oeuvre. Stud East Eur Thought 74, 3–18 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-020-09384-0

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