“Dreams” by A. N. Maykov as the pretext of “The Dream of a ridiculous man” by F. M. Dostoevsky

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Abstract

The article analyzes in detail the problems of the poem by A.N. Maykov “Dreams”, taking into account the multiplicity of its interpretations and relying on the wide background of its literary and philosophical pretexts (Dante, Benyan, Pushkin). Separately, allusions in the poem to Platoʼs “State” are revealed and the influence of Platoʼs ideas on Maykovʼs historiosophy is traced. In the second part of the work, it is substantiated that the poem “Dreams” was one of the most important sources for Dostoevsky when he wrote the fantastic story “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man”, based on the common imagery and problematics in both works: in both cases, at the moment of a spiritual crisis, the hero has a fantastic dream in which he is shown the stages of the spiritual development of mankind, from the state of paradise to the fallen. Spiritual discoveries made in dreams lead both times to the spiritual resurrection of the hero, explain to him the fate of the world and the truth of life. When comparing Maykovʼs Dreams and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, the question of the possible influence of Platoʼs ideas on Dostoevsky also arises. Gloomy, cold St. Petersburg, in which the “ridiculous man” languishes, in its ideological and artistic significance is likened to Plato’s cave, where only a reflection of the true light and only shadows from the omnipotent eternal sun, which for Plato and Dostoevsky both means God.

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About the authors

А. B. Krinitsyn

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: derselbe@list.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0262-5058

Doct. Sci. (Philol.), Professor at the Faculty of Philology

Russian Federation, 1 Bld. 51 Leninskie Gory, Moscow, 119991

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