Friedrich von Schiller's aesthetic idealism was a significant influence on the literary community of nineteenth century Russia. Fyodor Dostoevsky's appreciation of Schiller caused him to organize his writings according to the German author's paradigm of beauty, nature, and reason. Schiller's secularized concept of aesthetics relied on art as the medium for the education and refinement of the mind. Dostoevsky christianized Schiller's ideas by assigning Christ the function of beauty. In Schiller's view, people who succeed in integrating nature and reason through the ability to perceive beauty rise to the ideal condition of human existence which he called the "beautiful soul." For Dostoevsky, those who unify nature and reason within themselves through an appreciation for the ideal beauty of Christ become the "higher man." For both authors, the failure to harmonize nature and reason is the cause of suffering. The purpose of the present study is to show how Schiller's aesthetics influenced the Russian author. Contrary to the view in contemporary scholarship that the affect of Schiller's ideas varies in the course of Dostoevsky's literary development, this study shows that Schiller's influence is strong and continual throughout Dostoevsky's major fiction. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-07, Section: A, page: 1762. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76115 |
| Contributors | HUMISTON, KIM RAY., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 263 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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