I.-G. Jung-Stilling’s "Victorious Tale, or The Triumph of the Christian Faith" as a Possible Source of "Grand Inquisitor"

Abstract

This article examines the possibility of F.M.Dostoeyvsky’s reference in “The Brothers Karamazov” (generally in the chapter “Rebellion. The Grand Inquisitor”) to a John the Baptist’s Apocalypse interpretation that is little known nowadays. It is “Triumph of the Christian Faith” by a German theologian of the 18th c. J.H. Jung-Stilling that was quite popular in the first half of the 19th c. in the different spiritual groups of the Russian society. According to several researchers, quoting Bible in Dostoyevsky’s works can be named interpretation. While comparing functions of the hidden Apocalypse quotes in Ivan Karamazov’s “The Grand Inquisitor” to the interpretation of these quotes in “Triumph of the Christian Faith”, we can safely say that in a number of occasions these interpretations are the same. And sometimes Ivan Karamazov, the narrator or Dostoyevsky himself explicitly argues with Jung-Stilling’s interpretations: and in all cases, when we see a hidden Apocalypse quote in the novel “The Brothers Karamasov”, there is a hidden allusion to Jung-Stilling’s interpretation. A possibility of using “Triumph of the Christian Faith” while analyzing the role and functioning of Apocalypse quotes in the novel “The Brothers Karamazov” helps us better understand the author’s intention, when a direst juxtaposition with the Biblical text can cause some problems. The article covers a question of incorrect sourcing a quote or an idea in fiction and states that it is necessary to refer to a relatively unknown source for creating an adequate commentary to a work of fiction.

Keywords

• quotes
• apocalypse
• interpretation
• jung-stilling
• “victorious tale”
• dostoyevsky
• “the brothers karamazov”
• “the grand inquisitor”