UDC

821.161.1

Authors

Natal’ya A. Kladova
Forward-School Educational Centre; ul. Krasnaya Presnya 9, Moscow, 123242, Russian Federation;
e-mail: natakladova@rambler.ru

Abstract

This article analyses the idea of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Adolescent and its implementation. The main idea is contained in the novel’s plot structure: the logic of events reflects the logic of the protagonist’s development and self-determination. The analysis of the plot allowed the author of this paper to reveal the deep symbolic subtext of The Adolescent, to discover something new in Dostoevsky’s idea and to understand how the composition of the novel is built up. The article aims to demonstrate the importance of the characters’ kinship and reveal the meaning of the subtext antithesis: all of them are related to each other genetically but are alien spiritually. This image system, within which all the characters are either closely or distantly related to each other, stands in stark contrast to the essence of their personal relationships with one another. In this regard, the idea of true and false fatherhood, deeply rooted in the Orthodox worldview, is of interest. This idea forms a certain hierarchy of values and gives a philosophical depth to the artistic world, thus reflecting, from Dostoevsky’s point of view, the norm of human relations. Having analysed the imagery and the correlation between the episodes of the plot, the author of this article concludes that the family in the novel is morally flawed and the relationships between its members are distorted in their essence. The constructive energy of Sofia and Makar Dolgoruky, capable of being family members, was not enough to restore the broken ties; however, they fostered Arkady’s belief that a new family could be created. The author of this article believes that in The Adolescent Dostoevsky attempted to show the long and difficult, but real (and the only possible) way a person can become aware of him/herself as a member of a family, in the evangelical sense of this word.

Keywords

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Adolescent, symbolic subtext, idea of kinship, idea of fatherhood

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