Russian History by Sergey Solovyov in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Novel The Idiot

Abstract

For the first time in Dostoevsky studies, the article examines the influence of the historical works of the eminent Russian scholar, professor at the Imperial Moscow University Sergey Solovyov (1820-1879), on the novelist’s work. It is known that Dostoevsky carefully read these texts, repeatedly mentioned them and had them in his home library. The presence of Solovyov’s History of Russia in Dostoevsky’s artistic world is explored as a book within a book, using material from the novel The Idiot. Solovyov’s History fulfils the function of Holy Scripture for Rogozhin, who reads it in order to “educate” (rus. obrazovat’) himself, following Nastasya Filippovna’s suggestion. Rogozhin’s mission to transform his personality by reading historical literature turns out to be unbearable and a failure, as feelings of jealousy, resentment and revenge prevail over the ideals of sacrifice, brotherhood and piety. The article proves that Rogozhin is not actually reading the History of Russia from the Earliest Times, as the commentators of the first and second editions of the academic Complete Works of Dostoevsky believed, but the one-volume Textbook of Russian History by the same author: first published in 1859–1860, it had gone through seven editions by the time The Idiot was published. The article analyses which passages from this book may be particularly relevant to Rogozhin, given the novel’s overall plot and Rogozhin’s complex relationship with Prince Myshkin and Nastasya Filippovna.

Keywords

• textbook of russian history by sergey solovyov
• fyodor dostoevsky
• the idiot
• nastasya zima
• book in the book
• historical enlightenment
• history in literature
• a hero’s “mistake.”