The Case of Rodion Raskolnikov, Who Could Not Kill Alyona Ivanovna. Essays on Alternate History

Abstract

The paper concerns a question of great importance for history as a science, namely the problem of the limits of factual veracity and connected to them the phenomenon of alternate history — a phenomenon that does exist despite the repeated assertion that history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood. The author of the paper is convinced that intellectual and artistic reflection about the past, both personal and social, is indispensable for people, countries, and the whole world. Fyodor Dostoevsky, in his Pushkin speech (1880), successfully exercised the right to think in terms of alternate history. According to Dostoevsky, had Pushkin lived longer, he could have solved the problems which not only had not been solved by the end of Dostoevsky’s life, but had been aggravated to the extreme. The paper analyses the animated series created by Kaspersky Lab under the general title “History Could Have Gone Differently.” The series has five parts: “Raskolnikov,” “Pushkin,” “Chapayev,” “Charles Darwin (Evolution),” “Jack the Ripper.” It is worth mentioning that the image of Raskolnikov has been taken by the creators of the series as such a well-known character that he came to be treated as a real historical person. The animated cartoon “Raskolnikov” sheds light on important features of alternate history: in most cases, it does not provide universally valid solutions and functions selectively, fragmentarily, paving the so called “other way” not for all and not always. We cannot invent any technical devices for saving people preventively from destructive theories and criminal designs: in order to make Raskolnikov’s story go another way other means are needed.

Keywords

• dostoevsky
• raskolnikov
• crime
• guilt
• alternate history
• subjunctive mood
• limits of veracity
• animation