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This thesis explores the relationship between Dostoevsky and epilepsy, suggesting that his works can be characterized by a mode of existence which is epileptic by nature. An attack of epilepsy is depicted in two phases: immense anxiety of the outbreak of a seizure; and its sudden attack, during which consciousness completely collapses. I suggest that Dostoevsky's writings can be understood in terms of these two phases: an infinite alternation between the desire to seize upon a critical moment and the impossibility of experiencing it. The thesis examines five of Dostoevsky's post-Siberian novels to illuminate this particular existence, this epileptic mode of being. Chapter 1 looks at Humiliated and Insulted to show that the seemingly selfless pursuit of moral ideals is a form of egoism. Vanya (Ivan Petrovich) sacrifices his personal interests and strictly binds himself to the moral law, incarnating Kantian moral imperatives. Discussing Freud on masochism and Jacques Lacan on Kantian ethics, this chapter shows that philanthropy is a form of idealism which privileges the ascetic ideal and despises the body. The chapter also shows how moral idealism is mocked and suspended under the power of epilepsy. Chapter 2, on Crime and Punishment, demonstrates how Dostoevsky's Petersburg is depicted as enigmatic, even 'epileptic', disconfirming subjectivity. The eclectic style of the city's architecture - specifically St. Isaac's Cathedral - makes the Petersburger disoriented and decentred. Similarly, the chapter demonstrates that the meanings of 'crime' and 'punishment' are pluralized in Raskolnikov's dreams, revealing a splitting of identity. Due to this schizophrenic nature of the urban subject, there can be no single knowledge of why Raskolnikov commits the murder. Chapter 3 explores the split subject in The Idiot. Prince Myshkin wants to reflect on the final moment just before consciousness collapses. He likes to freeze that moment and contemplate the possibility of an afterlife. But this wish is eclipsed by the seizure or, in the case of a guillotine execution, the immediate arrival of death, which continues to create a contradictory existence. Chapter 4 examines Kirilov and his suicide plan in Demons to show that the epileptic has a will to master death: he has a will to the knowledge of death. But paradoxically, death is something ungraspable and cannot be appropriated into the realm of experience. Death as well as epilepsy eludes the self who wants to grasp it. This chapter also discusses Nietzsche on nihilism and Maurice Blanchot's comments on Kirilov's suicide. Chapter 5 suggests a form of 'feminine' epilepsy in The Brothers Karamazov, which I link with the hysterics who suffer from their reminiscences. I show that epilepsy is a moment of rupture of repressed violence. Epilepsy not only disrupts Vanya's moral idealism, Petersburg's pure architectural style, the Prince and Kirilov's wishes for an eternal life, but it also evokes what is repressed beneath these thoughts. This chapter ends with Walter Benjamin's angel of history, showing how the novel unveils a family history which is violent and silenced. The thesis concludes with Blanchot's The Instant of My Death, suggesting that the epileptic mode of being demands the Dostoevsky's heroes to live in infinite postponement, which necessitates a Dostoevskian subject which is infinitely deferred and unfinalized.

Fyodor Dostoevsky is often regarded as a proponent of the rights of the poor and downtrodden in Russian society in the 19th century. This view is usually based on the work of his youth - his first short novel and his early short stories. An examination of his major novels - all of which were written during his mature years between 1861 and 1879 - shows, however, that his views were far removed from those of the progressive members of Russian society of his day (the 11 intelligentsia11 ) and that his opinions became more reactionary with advancing age. By the time of his death in 1881, Dostoevsky had long been an opponent of democratic ideals and a keen supporter of the autocratic regime of Tsar Alexander II. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Russian)

Fyodor Dostoevsky is often regarded as a proponent of the rights of the poor and downtrodden in Russian society in the 19th century. This view is usually based on the work of his youth - his first short novel and his early short stories. An examination of his major novels - all of which were written during his mature years between 1861 and 1879 - shows, however, that his views were far removed from those of the progressive members of Russian society of his day (the 11 intelligentsia11 ) and that his opinions became more reactionary with advancing age. By the time of his death in 1881, Dostoevsky had long been an opponent of democratic ideals and a keen supporter of the autocratic regime of Tsar Alexander II. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Russian)

St. John 12:24, used by Dostoyevskij as an epigraph to his last and highly acclaimed novel BpaTbJI KapaMa30BbI (The Brothers Karamazov), served as an inspiration for Andre Gide. The title of the latter's contentious autobiography Si le grain ne meurt (If it die ... ), is part of the same biblical verse. The significance of Dostoyevskij's epigraph and Gide's title are critically examined with regard to ideologies expressed in their literary works. Analogies and contrasts are scrutinised: considerable similarities but more discrepancies are discerned. Intense crises in Dostoyevskij's life led to an upward movement, reflected in his oeuvre, reaching out toward Christ's message as revealed by St. John 12:24. On the other hand, Gide started his career imbued with the above message, but gradually he deviated from it and died an atheist. His fascination with Dostoyevskij prompted him to write a profound biography on the great Russian, containing a perceptive article on The Brothers Karamazov when this novel was still practically unknown in the West. Dostoyevskij's pre-eminence as ideological author, psychologist, philosopher and artist is highlighted while Gide is disclosed as the moralistic immoralist of his time. The thesis suggested here is that Dostoyevskij's ideology of self-abnegation in order to be regenerated into eternal life challenged Gide to reject this concept. Therein lies his paradoxical "adaptation". The purpose is to uncover the religious perceptions in Dostoyevskij's four major novels, to establish that his fictional characters, though never used as mouthpieces for the author, represent his universal philosophy and transmit the author's quest for truth to the reader, and finally to examine Gide's reaction to Dostoyevskij's influence / Classics & Modern European Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Russian)

St. John 12:24, used by Dostoyevskij as an epigraph to his last and highly acclaimed novel BpaTbJI KapaMa30BbI (The Brothers Karamazov), served as an inspiration for Andre Gide. The title of the latter's contentious autobiography Si le grain ne meurt (If it die ... ), is part of the same biblical verse. The significance of Dostoyevskij's epigraph and Gide's title are critically examined with regard to ideologies expressed in their literary works. Analogies and contrasts are scrutinised: considerable similarities but more discrepancies are discerned. Intense crises in Dostoyevskij's life led to an upward movement, reflected in his oeuvre, reaching out toward Christ's message as revealed by St. John 12:24. On the other hand, Gide started his career imbued with the above message, but gradually he deviated from it and died an atheist. His fascination with Dostoyevskij prompted him to write a profound biography on the great Russian, containing a perceptive article on The Brothers Karamazov when this novel was still practically unknown in the West. Dostoyevskij's pre-eminence as ideological author, psychologist, philosopher and artist is highlighted while Gide is disclosed as the moralistic immoralist of his time. The thesis suggested here is that Dostoyevskij's ideology of self-abnegation in order to be regenerated into eternal life challenged Gide to reject this concept. Therein lies his paradoxical "adaptation". The purpose is to uncover the religious perceptions in Dostoyevskij's four major novels, to establish that his fictional characters, though never used as mouthpieces for the author, represent his universal philosophy and transmit the author's quest for truth to the reader, and finally to examine Gide's reaction to Dostoyevskij's influence / Classics and Modern European Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Russian)