About the 27th International Dostoevsky Symposium

Abstract

The article contains an overview of the reports of the XVII International Symposium of the International Dostoevsky Society (July 14-19, 2019, Boston). The scientific forum was dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the first publication of the novel The Idiot. The review shows the main thematic trends of contemporary studies on Dostoevsky. First, the reports continue the dispute about the specifics of the central character of the novel and still sharply divide the sympathizers of the “critical” and “apologetic” view of Prince Myshkin. Another matter of interest is the study of translation problems, cross-cultural interpretation of the novel, dynamics of perception of the novel in the 20th century and its influence on modern literature, interdisciplinary reports analyzing the novel from the standpoint of other humanities. A significant part of the reports has traditionally been devoted to the problems of novel poetics, and it seems that among American researchers there is a tendency to rethink the methodological tradition of Bakhtin. Relatively fewer speeches contained interesting results of studies about the philosophical context of The Idiot and other Dostoevsky’s texts. The article also emphasizes the high significance of historical and biographical reports, which shed light on unknown circumstances of the real context of the novel. The article especially highlights a number of methodologically innovative reports that actually open up new directions in Dostoevsky’s research. Following the opinions of the most prominent domestic and foreign scholars, the author states the high scientific level of the symposium, emphasizing the exceptional value of such a scientific dialogue. At the same time, the article concludes that there are not enough close links between domestic and English-speaking (primarily American) studies of Dostoevsky. Researchers from different countries often do not know the works of their colleagues, even when they have common research objects. From this point of view, monothematic scientific meetings, such as the Boston Symposium 2019, can be extremely useful.

Keywords

• dostoevsky
• international dostoevsky society (ids)
• thematic review
• interpretation and perception