Достоевский и мировая культура: Филологический журнал (Jun 2024)
About the Reader’s “Corporal Compassion” for the Characters of Crime and Punishment
Abstract
The author’s realm of ideas undoubtedly influences the inner life of the reader, but the reader’s somatic involvement in the events of the plot should also be considered. In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment this phenomenon is primarily evoked by the dynamics and plastic of the characters. In recent years, researchers have become more interested in the psychological effects of reading (on blood circulation, heart rate, and brain activity). The reader mimics the movements that correspond to the movements of the character, potentially repeating them. Crime and Punishment with its dynamics – both in plot and characters – strongly intensifies this process. The main hero and those characters who gravitate around the center of the novel are people whose behavior is utterly unexpected. Such is their inner life, and such are their behavior and gestures. That is why perfective verbs have special significance in the descriptions of Raskolnikov and his inner circle, while tertiary characters, who stand the novel’s background, are mostly described with the help of imperfective verbs: that is how the author describes a life without meaning and trapped in invariably repeating oppressive situations. The reader belongs both to the world of the protagonist and to the world of the others and is closely associated both with the explosive changes in the behavior of Raskolnikov and with the drawn-out and distressing existence of little people in Crime and Punishment. The attachment of the reader to the world of the characters – given their number – forms multiple connections on ideological, spiritual, and physical levels. The epilogue, in particular, offers a liberating and dynamic experience for readers, as Raskolnikov not only finds solace from his loneliness but also discovers that the convicts are capable of responding to his inner transformation.
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