On Dostoevsky's Poetics and Archaic Patterns of Mythological Thought

Author(s): V. N. Toporov and Susan Knight

Source: New Literary History , Winter, 1978, Vol. 9, No. 2, Soviet Semiotics and
Criticism: An Anthology (Winter, 1978), pp. 333-352
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/468577

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 On Dostoevsky's Poetics and Archaic Patterns
of Mythological Thought*
V. N. Toporov

HE FOCUS HERE will be on certain structural peculiarities in

Dostoevsky's work which, first, play a key role in building up
the literary text and, second, correspond most closely to the
texts and patterns of the mythopoeic tradition. It will, of course, be
necessary to limit the account to a brief summary of general questions.
Emphasis is laid on Crime and Punishment in view of the fact that the
later novels display very much more complexity in structures which
appear in a purer form in the earlier work, the externalization of a
number of subconscious patterns, and their further transformation.
On the other hand, such works as White Nights, The Double, The
Landlady, Notes from Underground, The Eternal Husband, and others
provide less rewarding material if simply because they are shorter.
Universal mythopoeic patterns are realized most completely in
archaic texts on cosmology, describing the resolution of some
fundamental problem (problem of a higher order) on which all the rest
depends. The need to resolve this problem arises in crisis conditions,
when the organized, predicted ("visible") cosmic principle is
threatened by a return to a destructive, unpredicted ("invisible") state
of chaos. The solution to the problem is envisaged as a trial by single
combat between the two opposing forces, as the discovery of the
answer to the fundamental question of existence. The tension of
battle is such that either member of the binary opposition, defining the
semantics of a given universal, becomes equivocal, ambivalent; what is
supposed to be its definitive ("final") interpretation can be defined
only by reference to that point of view which is regarded as definitive.
Under conditions of a highly dramatized conflict, the function (or
functions) as such is crystallized. It becomes self-sufficient and
defining. Everything falling within its field loses its own substantial
nature, is deprived of its former criteria of value, and becomes
inwardly transformed in such a way as to correspond to the given
function. Under these conditions, the boundaries between members

* Originally published in Problemy poetiki i istorii literatury [Problems of poetics and

literary history] (Saransk, 1973).

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 334 NEW LITERARY HISTORY

of opposing sides, between th

signifier, proper noun and
continuity and homogeneity
become discrete, a differen
parts. The solution of the pro
of space (it is maximally sem
to the far ends of the earth,
space, and at the sacral point
states when profane duratio
happens in language. Words
conclusive, to determine ev
themselves. The word under these conditions reaches the limits of
language, mixing with thought and action to fulfill its extralinguist
potentialities.
Patterns of this sort are reflected not only in archaic cosmologic
texts, but also in carnival and in a number of literary works, includi
the novels of Dostoevsky, as described in 1929 by M. M. Bakhtin in h
seminal book, Problemy poetiki Dostoevskogo (in English, Problems
Dostoevsky's Poetics [Ann Arbor, 1973]). It would be impossible to wr
in detail here about how these patterns surface in Dostoevsky's wor
and how he adapts trains of archaic, mythopoeic thought in order
solve new problems. It is merely necessary to underline that the use
such patterns enables the author, in the first place, to indicate in th
most concise way possible the huge scope of the planned content of t
work (the economical aspect) and, in the second place, to extend th
novel's space immeasurably, increasing its dimensions and
multiplying the possibilities of combining elements from within t
space (the theoretical and informative aspect). Such advantage
cannot be attained without essentially rebuilding the very structure
novelistic space; and, indeed, from the point of view of the reader
and authors of the classical nonpolyphonic novel, these changes we
seen as a sacrifice, the loss of an essential element from the gr
Russian novel of the time (cf. the evaluation of Dostoevsky in t
critical literature of the last century).
Within the history of European art, the struggle to extend space
involves other typologically related models which can, to a cert
extent, throw light on the way in which Dostoevsky achieved his tra
formation of the novel. M. M. Bakhtin has penetratingly dem
onstrated why Dostoevsky turned to adventure stories and in what
way his heroes derive from them. In practice, the hero and plot of
classical nineteenth-century novel are, on a certain level, inseparab
Between them is the same interdependence and lack of freedom
between any totality of elements forming a paradigm, and the syn
tagmatic chain of those same elements within the text.

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 ON DOSTOEVSKY'S POETICS 335

In the adventure novel Dostoevsky w

was largely independent of the hero a
numerous possibilities for the conflic
cluding the solution of deliberat
Nonetheless, not every hero can be re
ture story. In order to conform to su
complex creation, in fact, than the he
be incomplete, not fully embodied, no
capable, like the word, of new extens
It is not accidental that Dostoevsky's
themselves midway between good and
duced to the level of a weakly dete
where it interacts with new plot mov
dicted (nor even guessed at: "every
according to Akhmatova). Such a he
author's conception of free will, o
determining one's own fate, but als
space. The same aim is served by t
novelist places his heroes. The polyph
heroes with pure and independent v
similar.
If in Tolstoy's novels the author is placed above his heroes, binding
them with his final and omniscient will, then in Dostoevsky's novels
the author is inside the heroes, in the sense that each hero resolves
(positively, negatively, or by some other means) one and the same prob-
lem; they are all, in the first place, magnetized in the same direction,
taken from the viewpoint of a single soul, and in the second place,
they are in pragmatic association with the author, internalizing him-
self within the text.' After what has been said, it might be supposed
that whatever relationships exist between the heroes of Dostoevsky's
novels (even contrapuntal relationships) certain additional conditions
are necessary in order to align hero with plot. One of these is the
choice of a perspective in which to depict the hero that will guarantee
him maximum mobility in the event of new plot movements. The
hero is selected in such a state as to justify in advance his entry into
any plot configuration. It is no accident that the heroes of many of
Dostoevsky's novels are described as not completely healthy, fre-
quently losing their memories, and incapable of social intercourse.
See Crime and Punishment: "but for some time he had been in an
irritable and tense state of mind, like a hypochondriac. He had wi
drawn almost completely within himself and retired from society
He did not know where to go to escape from his grief. He walked li
a drunkard, without noticing passersby . .. recollecting himself in t
next street .. he walked without noticing where he was going, wh

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 336 NEW LITERARY HISTORY

pering to himself and even t

drunkard," etc.2
These constant references
rupted by indications of a
already looked happier as if
burden ... but now somethi
was as if something entirely
he had suddenly begun to b
already cast that terrible b
became light and peaceful .
Neva ... he did not even feel tired ... Freedom, freedom!" etc.
Similar descriptions of the unhealthiness of his heroes are readily
found in other of Dostoevsky's works (Ordynov, Golyadkin, the
Dreamer, Ivan Petrovich, Prince Myshkin, Vel'chaninov, and others).
It should be stressed that an amazing sameness is evident in such
descriptions-down to the transference from text to text of whole
passages.
Another condition necessary in order to bring hero and plot into
line is an exceptionally strong disjunction of novelistic space. It is as if
everything is made up of a large quantity of corpuscles or their con-
figurations (this relates to the planes of place, time, cause and effect,
value, behavior, etc.), the shift between which is characterized by a
high incidence of entropy. Under these conditions any kind of antici-
pation becomes difficult. The unexpected is not merely possible; the
possibility is, as a rule, always being realized. The contrast between
syntagmatically contiguous parts is further heightened by Dostoev-
sky's tendency to minimize the time of his shifts ("at that moment,"
"all of a sudden," "suddenly," "unexpectedly," etc.); time takes on an
unusual celerity; twenty-four hours pass in an instant, only to disap-
pear completely, having been absorbed into the structural signs of the
spatial scenes. Hence the impression of jerkiness, imbalance, the
strain on the novel's basic structural elements, recalling early
cinematographic experiments. The use of the word suddenly in Crime
and Punishment is directly proportional to the subject matter of the
moment. Over the 417 pages of the novel, suddenly is used about
560 times. If one excludes those sizable passages where it occurs
rarely or not at all (Raskolnikov's first visit to the old woman, the first
half of Marmeladov's story-the prologue, his mother's letter, the
meeting with his mother and sister, his preparations to meet them, the
first meeting with Porfiry, the second part of the first meeting with
Svidrigailov, the scene in Bakaleyev's rooms after Luzhin has left,
Luzhin's meditations, the closing section of the wake, the scene featur-
ing Katerina Ivanovna on the quayside, the last conversation with

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 ON DOSTOEVSKY'S POETICS 337

Porfiry, the last meeting with Svidrigail

rigailov and Dunya, the evening prior t
hotel, the departure from the hotel, th
gravity of suddenly is even greater. This
corresponds in the plot with transition
mental state. There is no work in Russian literature which, however
remotely, approaches Crime and Punishment in the sheer density of this
word. Frequently in the novel there occur passages several pages long,
distinguished above all by content, where suddenly stands out as
though classifying the situation by its very presence, in a way compa-
rable to the compulsive use of certain grammatical elements (such as
articles). It is also characteristic that the isolated use of the word
suddenly is a somewhat rare phenomenon; suddenly organizes not sepa-
rate phrases, but whole groups of them, to form semantic wholes. It
should also be mentioned that in Crime and Punishment there is an
extreme tendency to use suddenly in clusters (within the limits of on
or two adjacent phrases), despite the apparent redundancy of
this.3 Several more extended sequences, organized with the help o
suddenly, can exemplify this: "he suddenly woke up ... it suddenl
struck him like a thunderbolt . . . he suddenly cried out . . . h
suddenly recollected ... Suddenly he shuddered ... now suddenly
no longer seemed like a dream ... and he suddenly realized it himself
. . He suddenly wanted . . . suddenly his head felt as if it were
spinning . . . and suddenly sank right down on to the ground .
Again he suddenly wanted ... it was as if another disturbing thought
had suddenly struck him," etc.
Similar functions on the level of value are performed by the word
strange (often strangely, a strange thing, occurring about 150 times
In general terms, its distribution within the text corresponds to wha
has been said of suddenly. The use of this word creates an atmosphere
of unexpectedness, of cheated expectation, a blurring of relations in
the development of elements in the next stage of the novel's struc-
ture.4 And here, as in the case of suddenly, there is a tendency t
cluster the incidence of strange, strangely, although, of course, to a
lesser degree: "to see a certain sort of strangeness . . . a strange idea
lodged itself in his head . .. it seemed . . . somehow strange . . from
strangeness ... how strange it was ... but the strange thing ... he had
never experienced such a strange and terrible feeling . . . a strange
idea suddenly struck him," etc.5
Another area where plot movements interact with the hero of the
novel is at the salient points of the time-space continuum. As in the
cosmological design of the mythopoeic tradition, time and space are
not merely a frame (or passive background) within which the action

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338 NEW LITERARY HISTORY

unfolds; they are active, and c

so, in this sense, they are to s
Among these space-time elem
cance is attached to sunset (als
mythopoeic tradition, where
sponds to the sun's annual de
summer (the year), of small an
winter-the point in time whe
predicted, begin to hold sway).
of the fatal hour when the dec
is also an element influencing
sun was setting. Some special m
him ... from it emanated some
of inevitable years full of t
foretaste of an eternity on 'a
erally tormented him even mo
stupid, purely physical weakn
sunset or other, that drives y
sense, the twilight hour is eter
midst of profane space, it is ind
mythical thought which is con
and religious consciousness a
that creates an atmosphere of
tasy is Dostoevsky's Petersb
Russian language, "everything
scribe this image in detail her
magorical" nature and, more p
may be noted.9 "I am cert
Petersburg, who walk along ta
semi-lunatics. . . . Rarely can
influences on the human soul
The space of St. Petersburg i
opposition-the middle (interio
on the other hand, by a series
the path between those plac
peripheral. These oppositions a
of the hero. It should be note
mental state frequently par
texts): moments of lucidity, o
the house.10 The opposition
maximal lack of freedom vers
clearly of all, on the one hand,
where Raskolnikov lives (the a

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ON DOSTOEVSKY'S POETICS 339

house, his tiny room, his divan (a conc

significance that increases towards
urban spaces (the panorama of the
squares), and the islands (the subur
Punishment opens with a description
reproduced elsewhere in similar and
*pressions. It is right here that Raskol
different ways, he himself, Svidrigai
mother)11 notice how these plans depe
milieu.12 Outside the house the milieu
stench, airlessness, noise, overcrowdin
often the case in Dostoevsky, are extr
page is filled with set phrases. Here
exceedingly hot time of day . . . Th
streets, it was airless, overcrowded, b
wood, dust, and that particular stench
Petersburger who cannot afford to
greenness and freshness pleased his
dust, bricks and mortar, and to the
oppressively ... here it was neither
crowded . . . in the dirty stinking c
inclined to live and settle precisely in
are neither gardens nor fountains, bu
sorts of vileness ... the heat in the st
Noise and loud laughter (often singin
(rather more than a hundred times
deliberately shameless, provocative,
crowd or with that part of man belon
(the public, a knot, a gang, a group
middle space outside the house, and
area within it (more than a hundred v
and Punishment). And its chief featur
form of its arrangement (its chaotic
moral sense. Descriptions of the inside
an impression of spatial limitation, lac
characteristic colors, etc. For instance, Raskolnikov's room: "He
looked with hatred at his little room. It was a tiny closet ... presenting
the most wretched of appearances with its yellowy, dusty wallpaper,
everywhere coming away from the wall, and so low that it forced even
a moderately tall man to stoop ... in this small yellow room, resem-
bling a cupboard or trunk ... where on the dirtyyellow wallpaper ... He
looked round at this yellowy, tattered wallpaper," etc. (see above, the
room as a coffin). Regarding Svidrigailov's room at the hotel: "It was

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 340 NEW LITERARY HISTORY

such a small cage of a room t

right in it. A very dirty be
occupied nearly all the space.
out of planks, covered with
tattered that its color (yellow)
the wall and ceiling was cut of
here it was caused by the stai
"It was a large room, but very
its four angles were so irregul
cut across the room on the sla
acute angle, and ran back into
was therefore hideously obt
wallpaper had turned black ...
Poverty was evident," etc. S
widely distributed.14 The mai
ever, without question, its stu
usually manifests itself as stuf
ness [tesnota-uzost']. Everywh
woman's, in the hotel room, a
restaurant where Svidrigailov
cramped overcrowding go sid
and melancholy [toska]. See "t
kaya] ... the staircase was rath
ered in slops ... the guest sli
(regarding Raskolnikov's room
ing ... 'And Sonya, do you k
cramp [tesnyat] the soul and
[stesennoi] chest ... but his chest
tesnit]," etc., etc.
From these examples it is alr
connection between tightness
choly [toska],17 (often met wi
connection the motif of nause
nection is likewise revealed: narrow [uzkii] (see above) and horror
[uzhas].18 In this respect, also, Dostoevsky's novel resembles
mythopoeic texts, which are full of etymological play.'" Corner [ugol]
(occurring in Crime and Punishment about a hundred times) also comes
into the game, as examples would readily demonstrate. If it is remem-
bered that all these words go back ultimately to the same Indo-
European root, which is reflected in the Vedic arihas, signifying a relic
of chaotic narrowness [uzost'], a blind alley, the absence of good both
in the structure of the macrocosm and in the soul of man, and op-
posed to the uru loka-the wide world, the triumph of cosmic over

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ON DOSTOEVSKY'S POETICS 341

chaotic-then we find that the fragm

by virtue of their archetypal nature,
tion of the Indo-European mythop
ritual (as, indeed, of other tradition
of the way in which the chief actor-h
own acts of sacrifice this transition fro
Crime and Punishment possesses a sim
The inert form, the chaos of the m
whole set of diagnostically unerring
the middle ground. In view of the im
detail here, a few key characteristics
tion of vocabulary to the purely loc
semantically related words; crucial va
tion of words, leading to an increase
of the relationship between signifyi
conditions that facilitate the creation
of the boundaries between proper no
dency to etymologize and to recogni
internal significance of the word an
standardization of metalinguistic desc
guage describing the middle groun
corresponding to the spatial structur
in surroundings of narrowness, stuf
Raskolnikov's tiny room), the voc
cramped, confused, lacking in pers
between words are blocked; instead t
by accident, by abundant repetition,
inert mass. Under these condition
of a perverted and vain obliqui
[podmigivayushchaya intonatsia] ,
spying [podsmotrivanie], suspicion
[podslushivanie],24 (cf. the significan
sub-] in all these instances). Signific
eavesdropping (listening) has predo
something more oblique and passive.
fundamental is overheard (directly o
not witnessed. It is no accident that the characters in the novel habitu-
ally hear "that" but observe "how" (on this, see below).25 In this
value-charged field, the verb to whisper stands out more than sixty
times.26
As soon as Dostoevsky's hero leaves this dubious middle ground
and heads outside (to the periphery), the linguistic peculiarities de-
scribed above disappear. Incidentally, the character and frequency of

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 342 NEW LITERARY HISTORY

the set phrases change as well

signs opposite to those which
of such signs-space, bread
precisely under these conditi
again bright and warm ... he
From the steep bank, a wid
opened up before him ... Th
sunlight . . . There was fre
around him lived there . .
contemplation ... he sensed S
eyes . . . the dawn of a new fu
life, was already shining. It w
of one held an endless spring
formerly appeared unobtaina
were desperate for space").29
As stated above, the middle
taken by the hero. In Crime
semiotic. It has much of the i
of fairy tales (setting out) or
mention texts dealing with "p
this road (to the islands) is ta
times30-twice by Raskolnikov
replacing Raskolnikov, for w
journey is preserved virtually
of salvation (cf. Raskolnikov's three visits to the old woman). For
Svidrigailov it is a journey to the other world, an alien kingdom,
America.32 The departure from home is described on the same prin-
ciple as in magic spells (from the hut by the doors, from the yard by
the gates, into the open fields, towards the blue sea): the door - the
landing - the staircase (the floors) - the yard - the gate - the alley -
the street (the square - the Neva - the islands).33 In Crime and
Punishment there are approximately twenty fairly full descriptions of
exit or entry; in a few cases, moreover, these descriptions are excep-
tionally detailed, despite their extreme standardization (for example,
the first departure of Raskolnikov, his arrival at the old woman's, his
departure to the murder, his second entry to the old woman, his entry
to the office, his final visit to the old woman's house, his arrival home
prior to his meeting with Svidrigailov). Every section of the road
(especially on the threshold of house or yard) is repeatedly repro-
duced. It is, moreover, clearly discernible that the most detail is de-
voted to describing the decisive departures of the hero from home,
those visits which cannot bring salvation (to the old woman, to the
police station),34 and the first visit to Sonya. Dostoevsky likewise

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 ON DOSTOEVSKY'S POETICS 343

shares with archaic texts the need to f

ends. Notwithstanding this, he nowhe
into purely compositional or ornamen
nificant that Dostoevsky always tries
open or closed; open (ajar, unlocked) or
occur more than 150 times, while the
about 200 times. More importantly, D
indications of the boundaries of hous
an action with chapter boundaries (
chapters).
For all their incomparable complexity, it is straightforward enough
to separate out in Dostoevsky's novels certain general patterns (which
the author, in contrast to the majority of his contemporaries, had no
desire to repudiate), sets of simple predicates, topographical and
temporal classifiers which may be given in lists, a set of metalinguistic
operators, and finally, a huge number of semantically (often symboli-
cally) signaled text-segments, which can appear in different parts of
one or several words (repetition, duplication, "situation rhyme,"
parallel moves, etc.). In this sense, his novels are analogous to
mythopoeic texts. If Dostoevsky's novels are schematized in such a
way that all equivalent (or recurrent) motifs are placed in a vertical
column (from top to bottom), and the motifs forming a syntagmatic
chain in a row (from left to right), then, as in the case of myth (or
ritual), reading along the rows would correspond to the narrating of
the novel, and reading down the column to its understanding. With
this is linked Dostoevsky's attempt to secure the sort of stratification of
novelistic structure that would facilitate the synthesis of its elements in
both diachronic and synchronic aspects. Hence the numerous techni-
cal devices from the theater that help to set off scenes from nonscenes
(the abundance of what are essentially a producer's stage directions,
the omission of verbs of saying, the introduction of masks or pup-
pets,35 the portrayal of the action as on a stage, the constant use in
these instances of such words as theater, scene, wings, sets, interval, the
public, roles, etc.). Two points need to be stressed: in the first place, the
method of arranging novelistic time with the manifest tendency to
synchronize novelistic and real time in key scenes and, in the second
place, the attempt to introduce into the stage directions a significant
proportion of nonmetalinguistic content (together with a significant
standardization of the stage directions themselves).36
One of the essential peculiarities of mythopoeic texts lies in the
possibility of shifting the boundaries between proper and common
noun to such an extent that one turns into the other. The structure of
such texts is such as to permit configurations on the synchronic di-

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 344 NEW LITERARY HISTORY

mension which usually only a

this, if one can speak in the most general terms, lies in the
nonhomogeneity of textual space and its markedly functional charac-
ter. In this respect Dostoevsky's novels are of especial interest. The
boundaries between proper nouns and appellatives are weakened:
consider, on the one hand, the unusual process of making appellatives
of proper nouns that are known only from a given text and, strictly
speaking, introduced only obliquely before the given narrative
moment-Marmeladov's story, his mother's letter ("Sonechka ... im-
mortal Sonechka"; "Hey you, Svidrigailov!"; "Cruel Svidrigailov") and,
on the other hand, the virtual transformation (for particular occa-
sions) into proper nouns of such key words as divan, room, door,
threshold, gate, road, island, etc. (compare their part in the process of
semiosis, symbolism and mythology, statistical marking, etc.). Under
these conditions personal names are multivariously motivated-
autobiographically (Chebarov < Bocharov, Dushkin < Pushkin, Vak-
hrushin < Bakhrushin, Resslich < Reisler, Shil'), drawing the reader
or even the author himself beyond the boundaries of the novel (the
pragmatic aspect, aiming to test the connection with extratextual real-
ity); culturally and historically (Kapernaumov,37 Mitrei and Mikolai,38
Pul'kheria Alexandrovna,39 Lizaveta Ivanovna,40 and others); symbol-
ically (compare Mikolka in the dream and Mikolka the willing sac-
rifice); semantically and phonetically, etc. Two examples of motiva-
tion of the latter two types may be mentioned. The internal form of
the surname Razumikhin [razum=reason, intellect. Tr.] (incidentally,
he is, of course, also juxtaposed to Raskolnikov)41 is underlined con-
stantly and variously: in error Luzhin calls Razumikhin "Rassudkin"
[rassudok =reason, common sense. Tr.]. Svidrigailov says, "I have heard
something about some Mr. Razumikhin or other. They say he is a
reasonable [rassuditel'nyi] fellow, as his name indicates," etc.
Even more precisely realized is the internal form and semantics of
the name Zametov: "he noticed [zametil] ... observant [zametlivyi] ... he
noticed [zametil] (cf. many other examples where Zametov was seeing,
looking, observing, or even knowing, not to mention the more external
signs (the frequency of z). No less interesting are the cases where the
name is omitted but the verb remains: "the clerk noticed [zametil],
peering with curiosity . .. the clerk noticed [zametil], listening in from
where he was sitting)," etc.
Often in Crime and Punishment, as in mythological texts, names (par-
ticularly Razumikhin and especially Zametov) seem to be motivated42
to such a degree that in rendering the work into another language
they are liable to be translated. For all this, the structure of names in
Dostoevsky can only in its most external form be compared with that

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ON DOSTOEVSKY'S POETICS 345

of names in the classical tradition.4

names belongs with the most striking
carnival technique of bricolage in the
The same applies to the use of nume
ing is their huge quantity (around t
predominating is "one-first" - mor
than 300, "three" - around 200, "five" and "ten" - 70 times
each, "four" - around 50 times, "six", "seven," and "eight" - ap-
proximately 30-35 times each, "nine" - around 10 times (data touch-
ing other numerals are less interesting). The sheer quantity is so
vast-in the classical Russian novel at least there is nothing in any way
approaching this picture-that the use of numerical indices fre-
quently appears forced. Sometimes the density of numerals is so great
that the text resembles some sort of account sheet or the parody of
one. On a single page there may be ten or more numerals and some-
times fifteen to twenty. There is great variety in the usage of these
numerals, emphasis being laid on their haphazard, mercantile, pro-
fane, and unaesthetic character (fractions), their exclusively quantita-
tive character, etc. In this sense, Dostoevsky desacralizes and dehar-
monizes the archaic conception of the elements of a numerical series,
in the same way as Rabelais (see Bakhtin). The difference, however, is
that Rabelais profanes the numeral by reducing it to an absurd exac-
titude and associating it with a low theme (260,418 men drowned in
urine), while Dostoevsky fulfills similar aims by the arbitrary, often
monotonous, use of numerals. More interesting, although also less
frequent, is the successive use of the numeral two: "two steps away ...
two steps at a time . . with two logs . .. both hands; after two minutes
... two spoons, two plates ... about two small bottles ... two bottles;
both knew ... two months ... they both had ... both ... of the two
little babies . . . Both of the two saved . . . two weeks; two steps away
... the second house ... at the second turning ... two steps away ...
two streets ... the second floor ... the two workmen ... both of the
young fellows," etc. More rarely, there is a play on the numeral thr
"right on the third . . three times ... the third shouted . .. past thr
houses ... about thirty." For other instances, see "the second floor...
both see . . . at twenty small tables . .. in twenty gulps . .. two or thr
days ... twice ... at twenty paces . . . twice ... the second," an
frequent successions of indefinitely large (but "round") number
from 10 to 100,000,000. Often a mythopoeic conception of the num
eral emerges (underlining its "qualitative" peculiarities, symbolism,
subjugation of the expressive plane, etc.). This applies above all to th
number seven. The novel itself is in seven sections (six parts and an
epilogue), the first two parts each consisting of seven chapters. The

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 346 NEW LITERARY HISTORY

fatal deed committed sometime

and foreshadowed on the previo
sive impulse, "seven" is heard t
ble: "Come tomorrow at about s
your things more closely [sovse
ourselves [sami] ... At seven o
we'll put on the smaovar [samov
mesta] imperceptibly [nezame
[smenilos' uzhasom] ... at seve
man condemned to death [k s
sushchestvom]." The theme of "
especially at the very end, not a
as an indication of the path to
and before that time there would be so much unbearable torment,
and so much boundless happiness! Seven years, only seven years!.
At the beginning of their happiness, at different moments, they were
both ready to look on those seven years as seven days." And those
"seven years, like seven dazzling days" are unlike or, rather, the com-
plete opposite of the seven years Svidrigailov has lived with Marfa
Petrovna, which he recalls seven times.44 The significance of seven is
laid bare more than once: "In three weeks' (=seven) time you'll be
welcome at the seventh verst. I expect I shall be there myself." Raskol-
nikov thinks about the future. This distance echoes another-
Raskolnikov even knows how many paces it is from the gate
house: exactly seven hundred and thirty (700+30), althou
roads lead in different directions. The numerals which, in arc
patterns, make up seven (3+4)45 are also noted by Dost
sky. The role of three has in part been dealt with alread
particularly evident in Crime and Punishment in everything co
with the repetition of plot motifs. The sanctity of four is rev
the ritual formula ("Stand at the crossroads, bow down and fi
the ground ... bow down to all the world in all four directions
everyone"), and also in the scene describing the legend of
which plays such an important part in the ultimate rebirth of
nikov. " 'Don't look there ... it's in the fourth gospel ... "Lord!
time he stinketh: for he hath been deadfour days."' She laid s
emphasis on the wordfour." The motif of the four-storied ho
old woman, Raskolnikov, Kozel', the police station, etc.) recur
amazing consistency. See the special significance of the fourth
succession of rooms (the last) which Raskolnikov enters. This f
vertical structure is semantically coincident with motifs of nar
terror, violence, destitution, and, at the same time, is oppose
fourfold horizontal structure ("in all four directions") connecte

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ON DOSTOEVSKY'S POETICS 347

the idea of space, goodwill, salva

numerals, opposing them to the p
for "low life," again returns us to
and, in particular, to the practice
the fundamental parameters of
numeral is introduced into the wor
sions, but also its higher essence. I
a certain fullness of life is require
this fullness takes shape throug
stand in opposition to the dark an
and memory, understood thus, co
Dostoevsky and for the mytholog
SOVIET ACADEMY OF
Moscow

(Translated by Susan Knight)

NOTES

1 The problem of the double in Dostoevsky is only one aspect of the fra
a hero connected in some way with the author. Quite often the hero does
his designation ceases to be used. The fact that we can separate Ras
Svidrigailov, Stavrogin and his doubles, Golyadkin senior and Golyad
strictly speaking, a tribute to habit (in particular, to hypostasis). Thus
heroes are arranged in a certain significative space, in such a way as
neighbors to share a set of signs, the principle of distribution dependin
tion required. A similar description can be applied to any two heroes if t
at any given point correspond. This would explain the correspondence
example, certain of Raskolnikov's characteristics and those not only of Sv
also of Razumikhin and others. The fragmentation of das Selbst, aimi
synthesis on the plane of moral regeneration, is juxtaposed in a series of
with a general pattern of sacrifice. The psychotherapeutic aspect of the a
pattern is so evident that it explains, at least in part, how Dostoevsky's
viewed as a scenario to be "played through" by the reader, wandering
places in which the action of the novel is unraveled. In this respect they
unique in Russian literature (cf. N. P. Antsiferov). It is not, of course, me
of their "topography." Dostoevsky has organized novelistic space in su
enable the reader to be drawn into action which lies at the very limits of cr
2 Compare Raskolnikov's loss (or virtual loss) of consciousness in Por
(twice); the remarks of Svidrigailov, Porfiry, Razumikhin about his illne
in Crime and Punishment of the words monomaniac, hypochondriac, fever, high
trembling, automatically, mechanically, etc., in relation to Raskolnikov.
3 See "but with his whole being he suddenly felt that there was nothing
and that everything was suddenly resolved conclusively. Suddenly he
suddenly jumped," etc.
4 It is not surprising that suddenly and strangely very frequently occur
5 It is highly characteristic that very often combined with the words str
are such classifiers of indefiniteness as somehow, somewhat, some sort of, et
dentally, are extremely widespread throughout Dostoevsky.

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 348 NEW LITERARY HISTORY

6 Compare "Little by little from the

state of mind ... which I call mysti
something which I myself am unabl
material in the order of things, but w
as if in mockery of all the arguments
an incontrovertible fact, dreadful, f
Pt. I, ch. 10).
7 See further in Crime and Punishment: "The small room ... was at that moment

flooded with the light of the setting sun. 'And then, too, perhaps, the sun will shine
this!' " And: "Can one single ray of sunlight really mean so much to them?"
noticed that such doubts .. . came to him more frequently at dusk ... At dusk .. .
old man would become somehow especially nervous, impressionable and mistru
(The Insulted and Injured, Pt. I, ch. 5); "he quietly and calmly looked at the Neva,
bright setting of a bright red sun ... Freedom! Freedom!" (a chance of salvation,
decisive turn for the better); "It was about eight o'clock. The sun was setting," e
8 For more detail on a different level on the symbolic significance of sunset, see
Durylin, "On One Symbol in Dostoevsky," in Dostoevsky (Moscow, 1928), pp. 163-
9 Compare "having the particular misfortune to live in St. Petersburg, the m
abstract and premeditated city in the whole wide world" (Notes from Underground,
ch. 1); "In St. Petersburg there are some strange little corners ... it is as thou
completely different life is led in these corners ... a life which might occur in n
never land, but not here ... this life is a mixture of something quite fantastic, of
ideals, and, at the same time ... colorlessly prosaic and ordinary, not to say, impos
vulgar" ("The Second Night," White Nights); "But in passing, however, I must ob
that I consider the Petersburg morning, which one would think the most prosaic
whole earthly sphere, to be virtually the most fantastic in the world ... A hundred t
amid these mists I have been overcome by a strange but persistent dream: that w
this mist disperses and rises, the whole decayed and dank city will go with it, ris
the mist and disappearing like smoke" (The Raw Youth and elsewhere). Fantasti
words of the same root) can be found in Crime and Punishment around thirty times
most characteristic use is in reference to Raskolnikov: "How fantastic he
he has a fantastic heart ... I like you for your fantastical qualities ... the
matter will finish differently, in afantastic way," etc.
10 Compare from the old woman's house (the first visit); after the dream on Pet-
rovsky island; when leaving the yard where the stolen goods are hidden, into the street
in the direction of the square; when leaving home after Luzhin's visit; after Mar-
meladov's death; after the second visit to Porfiry; and finally, the actual rebirth, which
takes place at an extreme distance from home. And on the other hand, suffering
usually reaches its zenith inside the house.
11 See " 'What a nasty room you have, Rodya, just like a coffin ... I'm sure it's partly
the room that's made you so melancholy' . . . 'The room? Yes, the room is responsible
for a great deal ... I've thought so, too.' "
12 For a linguistic codification of the image, see "The proximity of Sennaya ... the
inhabitants crowded into these streets and alleys in the middle of St. Petersburg." The
tendency to stay in the middle of the room is observed and frequently associated with
passive perceptions (hearing, seeing), with the involuntary surfacing of bad or generally
negative thoughts. See "He was standing meditatively in the middle of the room. A dark
and tormenting thought came to him ... He stood in the middle of the room and was
looking round with tortured bewilderment." See also the moments of oblivion and
depression in connection with the middle of the bridge; critical moments (the middle of
the room-Sonya, Lizaveta, etc.). In contrast, walking around the room (for example,

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 ON DOSTOEVSKY'S POETICS 349

from the door or stove to the window, or fro

linked with the active principle-thoughts, emo
paring for subsequent action. Cf. the behavio
(he customarily runs, spins, and even, in the
Lebezyatnikov, Amalia Ivanovna, etc.
13 Only a few examples will be indicated her
was always such a crowd there, they bawled s
sang hoarsely . . . fought . . . it becomes very
singing ... there's laughter in the crowd . . . th
laughing and joking . .. the crowd is also laugh
... the laughter in the cart and in the crowd
14 Consider, for example, the yellow of the
the yellow furniture, the yellow frames), Porfir
the yellow glass at the police station, the pale y
Ivanovna.

15 See "It was stuffy .., it was stuffy in the room ... it seemed stuffy and cramp
him," etc.
16 See "I noticed that a cramped room even cramps thoughts" (The Insulted
Injured, Pt. I, ch. 1).
17 See "He did not know where to go to escape from his melancholy ... He was
tired from this intense melancholy ... This present melancholy grew up in him a
time ago ... he wandered melancholy and worried . . . Sonya stood wrapped
terrible melancholy," etc.
18 "Terror" [uzhas], "terrible" [uzhasnyi], etc., occur in Crime and Punishment aro
150 times.

19 See "a secret terror" [uzhas] ... a long narrow [uzkii] alley ... narrow [uzkiye] gates
... about ... his corner [ugol] ... trembling with terror [uzhas] (The Landlady, Pt. I, ch.
1, and elsewhere). Cf. a similar play on words of the same root (eng-Angst) in Rilke.
20 A recurrent variation in Dostoevsky of the theme of narrowness [uzost'] and terror
[uzhas] is embodied in the image of a man in the corner formed by cupboard and door
(wall, window). The best-known example is in The Devils: "On the right of the door
stood a cupboard. To the right of the cupboard, in the corner formed by wall and
cupboard, Kirillov was standing, and standing very strangely, motionless, erect, to
attention . .. and flattening himself up closely against the wall, into the very corner," a
parallel with which has been found in "Le dernier jour d'un condamne" (see V. V.
Vinogradov, The Evolution of Russian Naturalism (Leningrad, 1929), pp. 143, 147). The
same situation is, however, met with more than once in other of the writer's works:
"Suddenly he saw her in the corner between the cupboard and the window. She was
standing there as if in hiding, neither alive nor dead ... terribly confused" (The Insulted
and Injured, Pt. I, ch. 15). Frequently in Crime and Punishment: "At the same moment, in
the corner between the small cupboard and the window, he saw what looked like a
woman's coat hanging on the wall ... and on the chair in the corner the little old
woman was sitting, bent double, her head bowed ... he took fright... His heart froze."
This image has become well known in Russian literature (Belyi, Akhmatova, and
others). Another example from the same sphere is the stifling atmosphere of restricted
space which makes the hero feel faint (three times with Raskolnikov); cf. the motif of
the overcrowded house-Noah's Ark (Crime and Punishment, The Insulted and Injured [Pt.
I, ch. 1], Poor Folk). Cf. also the archetypal image of the shell, and the motif of insects,
vermin, etc. (in Crime and Punishment, louse, spider, fly, mouse, rat, etc.).
21 Besides more general elements: "he continued, winking at Zametov ... and as if
winking at him ... he could have sworn that he winked at him, the devil only knows

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 350 NEW LITERARY HISTORY

why" (the use of "as if," of the oblique

the abandonment of clarity, etc., are, i
with an inpudently provocative grin . . .
22 See "despite all the mocking mono
self with these questions."
23 See "I began to suspect that ... I be
suspect to him ... he ... suspects somet
etc.

24 For example, if only such important moments as when Raskolnikov overhear

conversation between the officer and the student about the old woman, the conversa-
tion of Lizaveta with the tradespeople, when Svidrigailov eavesdrops on the conversa-
tion betwen Raskolnikov and Sonya (taking place in the next room), etc.
25 To the image of the "ground floor" compare the curious detail: the hero of Crime
and Punishment is often described as straining to hear something, down the stairs, in the
yard, etc., and looking at the ground, down, etc.
26 See if only "he was walking without noticing where he was going, whispering to
himself and even talking out loud ... Suddenly he shuddered all over with terror. 'My
God,' he whispered in despair ... again speaking in a whisper, so that the other
shuddered ... she was whispering . . . almost in despair ... he whispered . . he
continued . . . in a half-whisper," etc.
27 Nevertheless, the very act of going outside the middle ground belongs to the au-
thor's recurrent compositional motifs (cf. Crime and Punishment, White Nights, The Eternal
Husband, etc.) assembled with the aid of fragments in which key elements are repeated
(green, river, cool, warmth, air, breeze, sun, light, flowers, space, etc.) within a sphere
of otherwise strong variations.
28 But there is another middle ground, the place of repentance and confession: "he
reached the center of the square . .. he suddenly remembered Sonya's words, 'Go to the
crossroads, bow down to the people and kiss the earth'... He knelt down in the middle
of the square."
29 It is apparently not accidental that emphasis is laid on the size of Sonya's room. "It
was a large room . . . lost in emptiness." Consider Svidrigailov's apartment: "Two ...
quite spacious rooms . .. between two almost uninhabited apartments . .. almost empty."
Cf. "to extend the Summer garden over the whole Field of Mars" or "my room became
somehow more spacious as if spreading out further and further" (The Insulted and In-
jured, Pt. I, ch. 10). It is characteristic that the word space [prostor] also goes back to
archaic methods of expression, viz., the opposite concept to narrowness [uzost']-
*(pro) ster-/stor-; *eng'h/*ong'h-.
30 In regard to Sonya: " 'Three ways are open to her,' he thought."
31 Cf. also the intensive parallelism: the bushes under which Raskolnikov sleeps on
Petrovsky island, where he has a dream which gives him a glimpse of salvation; the
bush, in the same place, under which Svidrigailov prepares to find salvation in death (in
this case, an illusory hope). A baser variant of the salvation theme flashes through the
mind of Raskolnikov when he thinks of hiding the stolen goods under a bush on the
islands (also unrealized). Cf. the scene between Raskolnikov and Polen'ka, Svidrigailov
and the little girl (in a dream), etc.
32 And here Raskolnikov anticipates Svidrigailov ("It's better to run away altogether
... far away ... to America"), who uses the word America first of all to signify abroad,
and later, that other world, death-two variants of false salvation.
33 In the motif of the return journey (or entry), cf. the bell, the lock, the bolt, the
hook, the key, the chink or room on the other side of the door-the hall, vestibule,
corridor, rooms, the last of which is cramped.

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 ON DOSTOEVSKY'S POETICS 351

34 These are false departures, not leadi

the middle ground, in inert space. Cf.
remembering that there was nowhere lef
so, even though you know in advance t
off... and for what? ... if not to anyone i
you understand what it means when th
absence of a way out is a structural pecul
himself cannot overcome it. The true w
epilogue.
35 Cf. "In front of me someone pulled a face, hidden behind this fantastic throng and
moving certain threads, springs, in order to work these dolls, but he just roared with
laughter" (Petersburg Dreams).
36 The main point here is that the author consciously introduces into the stage direc-
tions descriptions of the mental state of the hero, traditionally treated as independent
and self-sufficient. In carrying out this operation, the author does not merely achieve a
huge economy, but also, by redistributing the structural elements on different levels,
increases the number of possibilities and facilitates a design of essentially more compli-
cated configurations (cf. the use of verbs of the class "to look," "to glance at," etc., in the
role of operators contracting whole scenes).
37 Besides the biblical associations, cf. "Capernaum" in Balzac.
38 Compare Uncle Mitya and Uncle Minya in Gogol.
39 Compare Pul'kheria Ivanovna in Gogol. In general, in Crime and Punishment there
are a fairly large number of references to Gogol, although they are more effectively
concealed than in the earlier stories.

40 Compare Lizaveta Ivanovna in The Queen of Spades. It has been shown already that
Dostoevsky's predilection for the name Liza (A Faint Heart, Notes from Underground, The
Idiot, The Devils, The Raw Youth) is, one way or another, connected with the image o
Pushkin's Liza, and also with Karamzin's Poor Liza. See A. Bem, "Lichnye imena u
Dostoyevskogo" [Personal names in Dostoevsky], Sbornik v chest na L. Miletich [Collection
in honor of L. Miletich] (Sofia, 1933), p. 425.
41 See M. S. Al'tman on this surname, "Imena i prototipy literaturnykh geroye
Dostoyevskogo" [Names and prototypes of Dostoevsky's literary heroes], Uch. zap
Tul'sk. ped. in-ta [Scholarly papers of Tula Pedagogical Institute], No. 8 (1958), pp. 134
ff.

42 Similar effects are, of course, achieved with other names. Cf. Raskolnikov, from
the raskol'niks (schismatics) [raskol= schism, split. Tr.]; Rodion, from "my own little
dear" [rodimen'kii: rodimiy=own, native; rodit=to give birth to. Tr.].
43 There is a further peculiarity of names in Dostoevsky: they possess a certain
deliberate arbitrariness, an ephemeral quality, a blurring at the edges. Cf. Ivan Pet-
rovich and Pyotr Ivanovich; Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov; Amalia Ivanovna (she is
also referred to as Ludwigovna and Fyodorovna); Nastas'ya Nikiforovna ("But I'm
Petrova and not Nikiforova"); Sonya (Sofya Semeonovna) is twice called Sof'ya
Ivanovna, etc.
44 See "The whole seven years ... I held out ... during all our seven years; I haven't
left the country in seven years ... each week [=seven] for seven years I wound it up
myself; I spent seven years in the country; after seven years or so I just threw myself
into it." Besides, notice should be taken of the following: "Varenz lived for seven years
with her husband, she abandoned her two children, and all of a sudden snapped out ... I
have realized that I cannot be happy with you."
45 Consider the use of "three or four" to indicate a slight approximation.
46 See "Hey, don't be squeamish about life! ... There's a lot of it ahead ... Give

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352 NEW LITERARY HISTORY

yourself up to life completely, don't

the word life is highly indicative and,
mythopoeic set phrases: "Life is real
live and live fully," etc.
47 The theme of memory (childhood)
grave, prayer) occurs in Crime and P
role in the novel-in the mother's lett
his mother. "Remember, dear, how
lifetime, you used to lisp your praye
childhood . . . he was walking . . . wi
himself over the little grave; bowed d
just the same as when you were sm
when your father was still alive ... H
now, and wept on his grave' " (charac
The three dreams are like three sign
symmetry, and also the fact that d
carried to its extreme ("and in his so
fact that individual memories prod
memories (usually after forgetting
bered Marmeladov's question of th
even forgetting where he was ... H
sequent actions). Consider the comp

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