Gogol, Dostoevsky and Bely are three Russian novelists, most of whose writings are set in the city of St. Petersburg, and whose feelings for their city were a bizarre mixture of love and hatred. / This dissertation is divided into four chapters, the first of which is a survey of the attitudes held by the literary predecessors and contemporaries of Gogol, Dostoevsky and Bely toward St. Petersburg, and a discussion of the influence of the French feuilletons on the nineteenth-century Russian urban novel. The second chapter is an investigation of the overall image of the city as presented to the reader by the three writers. The predominantly tragic fate of the novelists' heroes is discussed in the third chapter. The final chapter is a study of six major recurrent themes which link the urban novels of Gogol, Dostoevsky and Bely.

In this thesis I compare the views of Joseph de Maistre and Fyodor Dostoyevsky with regard to the relation between modernity and the theologico-political problem. I integrate this comparison within the general context of the reflection concerning modernity and the theologico-political problem, as well as within the context of two Christian theological traditions, Catholic and Orthodox, on the basis of which the two authors develop their religious and political thought. In particular, I analyze the views of the two authors with regard to the origins and the defining traits of modernity. Likewise, I present their opinions concerning the consequences which are inherent in the modern project. Viewing modernity first and foremost as an attempt to build a secular world that would define itself by its opposition to what both authors regard as authentic Christianity, Maistre and Dostoyevsky emphasize the fact that, having theological origins that mark the totality of its becoming, modernity should be understood on the basis of a theologico-political reflection. Associating the modern ambition to build a secular world with the fate of the biblical Tower of Babel, both authors adopt a prophetic posture, announcing the collapse of the modern project as well as the ultimate eschatological resolution of the modern crisis. Yet, the two authors are differentiated by their interpretations of the relation between modernity and the theologico-political problem, identifying differently the theological origins of the modern crisis. In this sense, while according to Maistre modernity originates in the Protestant Reformation, for Dostoyevsky, modernity’s origins must be located in the transformations of Western Christianity that have finally lead to the latter’s separation from Eastern Orthodoxy. These differences of interpretation lead to the articulation of two different responses to the modern crisis, which are rooted in two different Christian theological traditions. Consequently, if in reaction to the modern crisis Maistre affirms the Catholic principle of authority, whose highest expression is the concept of papal infallibility, Dostoyevsky opposes to this crisis the Orthodox principle of brotherhood in Christ. The critique of modernity culminates in the thought of the two authors with an approach of the complex and troubling problem of theodicy, which, Maistre and Dostoyevsky believe, stands at the origin of the modern opposition to Christianity and its traditional institutions.

Este trabalho trata do jogo de contextos envolvidos no intertexto Arlt-Dostoiévski. Ele sustenta que, por trás do espaço intertextual, há um choque e uma interação de contextos através da representação literária e da modelação, em que a representação literária de um contexto a media e estrutura a interpretação e a ficcionalização de um contexto b. Nisto consiste o conceito de intercontextualização, o qual lança a base para o presente estudo acerca do intertexto Arl-Dostoiévski. No caso da transtextualização da ficção dostoievskiana por Arlt, a constituição literário-arquetípica é de importância fundamental. Portanto, o arquétipo do subsolo é investigado como a instância representacional de tradições clandestinas, subversivas e não-canônicas. Essas tradições – às quais eu chamo de tradições subterrâneas –, mediadas através do material ficcional dostoievskiano, representam para Arlt uma alternativa global e ampla à tradição crioula tal como fabricada pela elite argentina como suporte cultural para seu projeto político. Não pretendo aqui apresentar uma análise histórica em profundidade dos elementos contextuais específicos ligados a cada um dos textos em diálogo. Em vez disso, proponho estabelecer os princípios teóricos para a leitura intercontextual dos arquétipos literários e seu papel no processo de recepção-criação. / This work deals with the interplay of contexts involved in the Arlt-Dostoevsky intertext. It asserts that, behind the intertextual space, there is a clash and an interrelation of contexts through literary representation and modeling, where the literary representation of a context a mediate and structure the interpretation and the fictionalization of a given receptive context b. In this consists the concept of intercontextualization, which lays the basis for this study on the Arlt-Dostoevsky intertext. In the case of Arlt’s transtextualization of Dostoevskyan fiction, the literary-archetypal constitution is of fundamental importance. Therefore, the underground archetype is investigated as the representational instance of clandestine, subversive and noncanonical traditions. These traditions – which I call underground traditions –, mediated through the Dostoevskyan fictional material, represent to Arlt a global and wide alternative to the criollo tradition as fabricated by the Argentinean elite as a cultural support for their political agenda. I do not intend here to present an in-depth historical analysis of the specific contextual elements connected to each of texts in dialog. Instead, I propose to set the theoretical principles to the intercontextual reading of the literary archetypes and their role in the process of reception-creation.

Este trabalho trata do jogo de contextos envolvidos no intertexto Arlt-Dostoiévski. Ele sustenta que, por trás do espaço intertextual, há um choque e uma interação de contextos através da representação literária e da modelação, em que a representação literária de um contexto a media e estrutura a interpretação e a ficcionalização de um contexto b. Nisto consiste o conceito de intercontextualização, o qual lança a base para o presente estudo acerca do intertexto Arl-Dostoiévski. No caso da transtextualização da ficção dostoievskiana por Arlt, a constituição literário-arquetípica é de importância fundamental. Portanto, o arquétipo do subsolo é investigado como a instância representacional de tradições clandestinas, subversivas e não-canônicas. Essas tradições – às quais eu chamo de tradições subterrâneas –, mediadas através do material ficcional dostoievskiano, representam para Arlt uma alternativa global e ampla à tradição crioula tal como fabricada pela elite argentina como suporte cultural para seu projeto político. Não pretendo aqui apresentar uma análise histórica em profundidade dos elementos contextuais específicos ligados a cada um dos textos em diálogo. Em vez disso, proponho estabelecer os princípios teóricos para a leitura intercontextual dos arquétipos literários e seu papel no processo de recepção-criação. / This work deals with the interplay of contexts involved in the Arlt-Dostoevsky intertext. It asserts that, behind the intertextual space, there is a clash and an interrelation of contexts through literary representation and modeling, where the literary representation of a context a mediate and structure the interpretation and the fictionalization of a given receptive context b. In this consists the concept of intercontextualization, which lays the basis for this study on the Arlt-Dostoevsky intertext. In the case of Arlt’s transtextualization of Dostoevskyan fiction, the literary-archetypal constitution is of fundamental importance. Therefore, the underground archetype is investigated as the representational instance of clandestine, subversive and noncanonical traditions. These traditions – which I call underground traditions –, mediated through the Dostoevskyan fictional material, represent to Arlt a global and wide alternative to the criollo tradition as fabricated by the Argentinean elite as a cultural support for their political agenda. I do not intend here to present an in-depth historical analysis of the specific contextual elements connected to each of texts in dialog. Instead, I propose to set the theoretical principles to the intercontextual reading of the literary archetypes and their role in the process of reception-creation.

In this thesis I compare the views of Joseph de Maistre and Fyodor Dostoyevsky with regard to the relation between modernity and the theologico-political problem. I integrate this comparison within the general context of the reflection concerning modernity and the theologico-political problem, as well as within the context of two Christian theological traditions, Catholic and Orthodox, on the basis of which the two authors develop their religious and political thought. In particular, I analyze the views of the two authors with regard to the origins and the defining traits of modernity. Likewise, I present their opinions concerning the consequences which are inherent in the modern project. Viewing modernity first and foremost as an attempt to build a secular world that would define itself by its opposition to what both authors regard as authentic Christianity, Maistre and Dostoyevsky emphasize the fact that, having theological origins that mark the totality of its becoming, modernity should be understood on the basis of a theologico-political reflection. Associating the modern ambition to build a secular world with the fate of the biblical Tower of Babel, both authors adopt a prophetic posture, announcing the collapse of the modern project as well as the ultimate eschatological resolution of the modern crisis. Yet, the two authors are differentiated by their interpretations of the relation between modernity and the theologico-political problem, identifying differently the theological origins of the modern crisis. In this sense, while according to Maistre modernity originates in the Protestant Reformation, for Dostoyevsky, modernity’s origins must be located in the transformations of Western Christianity that have finally lead to the latter’s separation from Eastern Orthodoxy. These differences of interpretation lead to the articulation of two different responses to the modern crisis, which are rooted in two different Christian theological traditions. Consequently, if in reaction to the modern crisis Maistre affirms the Catholic principle of authority, whose highest expression is the concept of papal infallibility, Dostoyevsky opposes to this crisis the Orthodox principle of brotherhood in Christ. The critique of modernity culminates in the thought of the two authors with an approach of the complex and troubling problem of theodicy, which, Maistre and Dostoyevsky believe, stands at the origin of the modern opposition to Christianity and its traditional institutions.

In the current landscape of Sweden, easy-to-read literature demand is surging. But the opinions of its shape and form are being questioned: is this type of literature in reality easier to understand, or is the removed content in fact making it less comprehensive? The study’s purpose is to analyze easy-to-read literature’s ability to manage complex motives, and if it changes the reading experience from the original. To attempt that, the study uses a comparative analysis of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and punishment and its easy-to-read adaptation, written by Johan Werkmäster. To understand how Werkmäster’s adaptation manages complex motives, the comparative analysis uses three motives from Professor George Strem, who argues that Crime and punishment is built on suffering, humility and the ideal of the Superman. To answer whether the easy-to-read version changes the reading experience or not, the study uses Professor Rita Felski’s terminology of chock and Anna Nordenstam and Christina Olin-Scheller’s identification.   The analysis shows that the easy-to-read version of Crime and punishment maintains the main story but excludes the ideal of the Superman, which alters the understanding of suffering and humility. As a consequence this also means Felski’s chock is replaced by Nordenstam and Olin-Scheller’s identification, showing that the reading experience is indeed changed.    The conclusion is that the changes in the adaptation cause problems regarding the reader’s ability to understand Raskolnikov. The result also leads to question what the most important factor is when reading easy-to-read literature. Whereas the authors and publishers argue that literacy and motivation is essential to the target audience, Felski and Nordenstam and Olin-Scheller claim that the reading experience is more important. This shows the need of more science in this area to create a consensus of what easy-to-read literature should be, and how it best helps the readers develop their reading ability.

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This dissertation argues that Russia’s confrontation with modernity generated a series of sociocultural paradigm crises that gave rise to a modernist grotesque aesthetic tradition, uniting over forty years of artistic production into a coherent literary movement. While close reading the work of Fyodor Sologub (The Petty Demon [Мелкий бес]), Andrei Bely (Petersburg [Петербург]), Evgenii Zamyatin (At World’s End [На куличках]), and Velimir Khlebnikov (“The Crane” [Журавль]), I argue that prerevolutionary modernist writers utilized grotesque modes of representation to depict a world where the former cornerstones of pre-modern Russian identity are fracturing under the pressures of modernity. In contrast to extant scholarship, I argue the 1917 Revolution is not a fundamental break in Russia’s experience of the crisis of modernity, but an extension, and an exacerbation of it. Though discourses of Russian identity formation will be rapidly recodified around the Soviet project, the same underlying grotesque aesthetic devices used by pre-revolutionary authors are taken up by a new generation of Soviet-era modernists. Mikhail Zoshchenko’s parody in Michel Sinyagin (Мишель Синягин) elicits skepticism about yesterday’s unenlightened masses becoming today’s new Tolstoys. Andrei Platonov’s anomalous depictions of the Russian periphery in his Juvenile Sea (Ювенильное море) are still inhabited by monsters, too far from Soviet nodes of power to be assimilated into the national ideological project. And Konstantin Vaginov (in the novel Goat Song [Козлиная песнь]) and Evgenii Shvarts (in the play The Shadow [Тень]) capture the prevalence of superfluous intellectuals with ruptured psyches, frustrated by their unsuccessful attempts to adapt to the new Soviet reality.

The transfer of an artistic work from the literary medium to the filmic medium presents technical, personal, social and political factors for consideration which are capable of revealing important information about the times in which both the literary work and the film work were created. In a Russian context, where both literature and film have played roles of central cultural importance, the study of this interaction can be particularly fruitful. The first chapter of this dissertation considers the theoretical aspects of adaptation, namely fidelity to the original work and questions of metaphor and narrative structure. After examining these issues in a general context, Chapter 1 then views them in the light of specific stages of Russian cinematic history. The remaining chapters of this dissertation consider selected post-revolutionary Soviet and Russian filmic adaptations of the works of Nikolai Gogol', Fedor Dostoevskii and Anton Chekhov in chronological order. Analysis of both text and film is undertaken in order to demonstrate the complexity of literary and extra-literary factors involved in adaptation. The works of Gogol' have provided film makers with the challenge of finding "adequate" filmic equivalents to this writer's narrative devices, particularly his use of skaz [oral folk narration]. Dostoevskii's works have proven to be a stumbling block for film makers, both in terms of their ideological acceptability, and their exploration of complex psychological and religious issues. The adaptations of Chekhov's works have provided cinema with diverse subject matter that reflects the various stages and developments of Russian cinematic history, from pure fabula borrowing to an emphasis on mood and atmosphere. The interdisciplinary approach of this dissertation strives to show both the on-going relevancy of nineteenth-century Russian literature to modern culture, and the cinema's ability to present vastly differing interpretive possibilities of the literary cano

Thesis (MA (English Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: As existent beings, we identify with the world through our thoughts and perceptions. Man is driven to seek meaning by the very complexities and contradictions of existence. As self-conscious beings, we cannot live without a sense of awareness and understanding. Creativity allows an individual to develop a unique understanding of the nature and destiny of man. This study draws attention to writers who were able to transcend their external environment and immerse themselves in a setting where man’s individuality is fundamental to living an authentic life. Camus, Dostoevsky and Kafka made every effort to live consciously and authentically. They believed that inwardness was not to be defined by an external, social setting, but rather through an intimacy of consciousness. This awareness and unveiling of being enables us to create meaning. These authors removed their social mantles and were willing to sacrifice acceptance in the pursuit of this cause. They believed that every man has a responsibility to live an individual and authentic life. This psychological and even physical isolation is not easy, however, and often causes much suffering. Using existentialism as a framework, this thesis will focus on solitariness, suffering and creativity, all of which point to the importance of individual consciousness rather than living a life of societal pressures and conformity. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: As lewende wesens identifiseer ons onsself met die wêreld deur middel van gedagtes en waarnemings. Die mens word gedryf deur die soeke na betekenis in die kompleksiteit en teenstellings van sy bestaan. As wesens met selfkennis kan ons nie leef met ‘n gebrek aan bewustheid en begrip nie. Kreatiwiteit laat die individu toe om ‘n unieke begrip van die aard en lot van die mens te ontwikkel. Hierdi verhandeling vestig die aandag op skrywers wat verby hul uiterlike omgewings kon uitreik en hulself kon indompel in ‘n mileu waar die mens se individualiteit grondliggend is om ‘n onvervalste lewe te lei. Camus, Dostoevsky en Kafka het alles in hul vermoë gedoen om bewustelik en suiwer te lewe. Hulle het geglo dat die innerlike nie gedefinieer kan word deur die uiterlike, sosiale omgewing nie, maar eerder deur ‘n intimiteit van bewustheid. Hierdie bewustheid en openbaring van bestaan laat ons toe om betekenis te skep. Hierdie skrywers het hul sosiale mantels afgewerp en was bereid om sosiale aanvaarbaarheid op te offer in hul strewe na hierdie doelwit. Hulle het geglo dat elke mens oor ‘n individuele en onvervalste lewe beskik. Die sielkundige en selfs fisieke afsondering is egter nooit maklik nie en het dikwels groot lyding tot gevolg. Met eksistensialisme as raamwerk sal hierdie tesis focus op afsondering, lyding en kreatiwiteit.