The Strange Case of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Robert Stevenson in the Victorian Age: a Protest Against the Depersonalization
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Kondratiev, A., Rudneva, O., Tolstenko, A. / Volume 10 - Issue 41: 74-84 / May, 2021 74 DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2021.41.05.7 The strange case of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Robert Stevenson in the Victorian Age: A protest against the depersonalization Странный случай Федора Достоевского и Роберта Стивенсона в викторианскую эпоху: Протест против деперсонализации Received: May 2, 2021 Accepted: June 4, 2021 Written by: Alexander Kondratiev19 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8355-0424 Olesуa Rudneva20 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5676-7663 Andrew Tolstenko21 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5611-9113 Abstract Аннотация In the article, the authors touch upon the problem В статье авторы затрагивают проблему of moral choice in the works of Dostoevsky and нравственного выбора в творчестве Достоевского и Stevenson. Comparative analysis showed that Стивенсона. Сравнительный анализ показал, что Dostoevsky's character strives more towards the персонаж Достоевского больше стремится к общечеловеческому идеалу и поступкам в рамках ideal of all-humanity and to the deeds within the христианской ортодоксии. В «Двойнике» Голядкин, framework of Christian orthodoxy. In “The образ которого укоренен в традициях народного Double” Golyadkin who was rooted in the мировосприятия, старается сохранить нравственный tradition of folk perception of the world, tries to облик и пытается выйти на новый уровень preserve his moral look and attempts to reach a самоопределения. Стивенсон создал собственную new level of self-determination. Stevenson художественную версию судьбы двойного героя. created his own artistic version of the fate of the Успешный доктор Генри Джекилл сам породил dual hero. The successful Dr. Henry Jekyll мистера Хайда, чтобы насладиться всей полнотой himself gave birth to Mr. Hyde to enjoy the греховных искушений, но жизнь не поддалась самонадеянному исправлению. Моральный выбор fullness of sinful temptations, but life did not героев Достоевского и Стивенсона достичь вершин succumb to the presumptuous correction. The успеха и опуститься до самого дна в силу разных moral choice of the heroes of Dostoevsky and причин свидетельствует о тщетности претензий на Stevenson, due to various reasons, to reach the духовное выхолащивание человека и heights of success and sink to the very bottom, деперсонализацию в бюрократическом мире. testifies to the futility of claims to spiritual emasculation of a person and depersonalization Ключевые слова: антропоцентрический, in the bureaucratic world. Достоевский, моральный выбор, самоопределение, духовная традиция, Стивенсон, Викторианская эпоха. Keywords: anthropocentric, Dostoevsky, moral choice, self-determination, spiritual tradition, Stevenson, Victorian age. Introduction The moral choice of Golyadkin from the bottom, unequivocally speaks for the inflexibility Petersburg poem called “The Double” by of the spiritual tradition, which fits into the Dostoevsky and Henry Jekyll from the short context of modern challenges, and on the eve of story called “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and the 200th anniversary of Dostoevsky and in the Mr. Hyde” by Stevenson due to various reasons year of the 170th anniversary of the birth of – to reach the height of prosperity and hit rock 19 Docent, PhD, Lipetsk of State Pedagogical University, Russia. 20 Docent, PhD, Lipetsk of State Pedagogical University, Russia. 21 Docent, DSc, Lipetsk of State Pedagogical University, Russia. www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307 Volume 10 - Issue 41 / May 2021 75 Stevenson, acquires the status of universal achievements of self- human values actualization. determination;}understand the meaning of Dostoevsky’s prophetic warning in terms of In the context of the spiritual tradition of Russian modeling selflessness and breaking with culture, Orthodox in its origins and categories of cultural and historical tradition, which poses national identity – the opposition of Law and a threat to modern humanity;}present the Grace, coverage of the moral choice of Yakov results of the spiritual biography of Henry Petrovich Golyadkin, who followed the apostolic Jekyll not nearly instinct with tragedy, but instruction: “For there is a division in his mind, by the doctor’s victory over the satanic and he is uncertain in all his ways” (Jakob 1:8) monster he created;}identify the unity of the he feels the lack of attention to himself. The hero artistic position of Dostoevsky and rooted in the primordial worldview of the Stevenson in terms of the authors’ trust in Russian people tries to preserve his moral, the Orthodox tradition and the integration of remaining himself – instinct with affection for his their works into the modernity problems. neighbors, and makes desperate attempts to reach a new level of self-determination in the house of Theoretical Framework or Literature Review the State Counselors, Berendeyev, a V class official, socially set by perverted criteria of No intelligible attempts have been made to successful becoming, however he, who did not understand the nature of the ideological hunker down to overcome his character, is component of the short story called “The expelled from there as an alien phenomenon. A Double”, although there is the research thought titular advisor, IX class official, believing that the to mastering the interpretation of the spiritual life is wide and he dares to go his own special tradition of Russian culture in the writer’s artistic path, is acutely experiencing the replacement of anthropology. Yesaulov (2017a) defined the himself with a modeled copy unconditionally vector of understanding as mastering spiritual recognized by the people around him, but phenomena that are growing with new meanings Golyadkin remains a person. And in this regard, in time. According to Anisimov (2019), the artist, the established stereotypical propositions about in the creative insight of the future, reveals the Golyadkin’s madness are groundless, which truth about the man and the world, which is explains Dostoevsky’s interpretation of the short hidden from his contemporaries or perverted to novel idea as light and conditional system of please the tempting seductions of social success. axiological concepts of Orthodox anthropology. Agranovich and Samorukova (2001) note the eschatological orientation of duality in the stories Stevenson created his own artistic version of the of Dostoevsky. Bakhtin (1979, 331) believed that fate of the dual hero: Dr. Henry Jekyll himself the embodiment of the fiction concept ends in a gave birth to Mr. Hyde to enjoy the fullness of large time. By this provision Yesaulov (2017b) sinful temptations, but life did not succumb to the and Osipov (2012) keeped up the formation of presumptuous correction. literary axiology, that the fullness of the semantic phenomenon is revealed only in the “large time”. The purpose of the study is the understanding as Zakharov (2013) derived the understanding of mastering the spiritual meaning of Petersburg the short story called "The Double” to a new level poem called “The Double” by Dostoevsky and – in the context of the spiritual tradition. Pointing short story called “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll to the amazing fantastic nature of the adventures and Mr. Hyde” by Stevenson in the context of the of an unremarkable titular adviser, Belinsky Christian heritage of the cultural tradition of (1956) emphasized that Dostoevsky's "Double" modern human. is open to problems of the future. Objectives: Gus (1971) denied human solvency to the Dostoevsky’s hero. Urnov (1993) supposed that 1) pay attention to the undefined stereotype of the opposition to spiritual inertia, the need for judgments about works of literature that go independence, rebellion against the moral back to socially denunciatory interpretations template and everyday conventions were very of intentions or abstract judgments about the characteristic of Stevenson. original tragedy of human nature noted by the authors; Some researchers believed that Stevenson’s story 2) show the moral consistency of Dostoevsky’s was inspired by the story of self-experimentation hero, rooted in the spiritual tradition of with drugs by Dr. Horace Wells (Vyas and Desai, Russian culture and who did not waste his 2015). Others considered the economic aspect of energy in exchange for the dreamy the novel, namely the ability of Mr. Hyde to pay http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307 76 off bills signed by Henry Jekyll (Wang, 2019). Babel is the fate of a legal society. The legal Olsen (2016) mentioned William Wordsworth’s order is often gives way to a terrible disorder. contribution in Stevenson’s writing. The novel influence on the Victorian Gothic literature was Colman (2015) argued that “The Strange Case of considered by Crystal (2018). He proved that the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis “doppelganger” or a double as a paranormal Stevenson reflected the medical discourse of the creature predicting the death of Henry Jekyll is Victorian era. According to Gangnes (2017), an unappreciated character and almost a hero, Hyde's grotesque vision – frightening and referring to modern film adaptations and unpredictable – became relevant to the Weimar rethinking the antihero concept. Khanyutin Republic after First World War. As Crystal (2003) investigated the discovery formulated by (2018) studied, the adaptations of Hyde's Stevenson in Jekyll's posthumous confession: “I character transformed Hyde into a monster hero, realized that man is not really one, but binary ... including “The Incredible Hulk” by S. Lee and J. In my personality,