Two fictional journeys in the life of Dostoevsky

This article explores two literary works based on the life of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky between the years 1867 and 1869: Лето в Бадене (Summer in Baden-Baden, 1982) by Leonid Tsypkin and The Master of Petersburg (1994) by J. M. Coetzee. Both novels endeavor to understand Dostoevsky. Their approaches are characteristic of late twentieth-century writing: the novelized life and travelogue, in which reality and fiction are interwoven. Both books recreate the life of Dostoevsky and the process by which he wrote The Gambler, The Possessed and The Idiot, based on Dostoevsky’s works and biographical sources. Each novel is framed by a question: Where does Dostoevsky’s writing come from? (Coetzee) and, What can account for this fascination with Dostoevsky? (Tsypkin). The comparative analysis offered here addresses the ways in which such fascination with the life and literary work of Dostoevsky is shaped, and examines the issue of Dostoevsky’s influence on these writers in line with Harold Bloom’s theory in The Anxiety of Influence

Archaeology · Art · Fyodor · Literature · St petersburg · History · Literature and Cultural Memory · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Russian Literature and Bakhtin Studies

• Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics

  Mikhail Bakhtin, M M Bakhtin et al.•Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics•1984

  Add to list

• Dialogues with Dostoevsky

  Victor Terras, Robert L Jackson•The Russian Review•1995

  Add to list