Review of Perlina, N. (2017). Picture-texts and ekphrases in F. Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’. St. Petersburg: Aleteya. 288 pages.

Abstract

The review discusses N. Perlina’s monograph about the problem of ekphrasis in Dostoevsky’s ‘most mysterious’ novel The Idiot [Idiot] (1868) and highlights advantages and disadvantages of her study. The review contains a summary of key Russian bibliography about ekphrasis in literature (L. Geller, R. Poddubtsev, E. Novikova, O. Dzhumaylo, etc.). It is noted that, despite studying ekphrasis, many philologists may not actually use the term in their research. The review touches on Perlina’s polemic with another renowned scholar of the novel, T. Kasatkina. Perlina’s monograph is structured into six discernable parts: Excursus into the Theory of Ekphrasis, Meetings with People and Portraits, Pictures of Executions and Conversations about Faith, Cervantes – Dostoevsky, Myshkin – Don Quixote, The Triangle Nastasya Filippovna – Myshkin – Aglaya: Pictures of Struggling Hearts, and Implied Ekphrasis Stories in the Novel’s Fourth Part. A vague authorial position is deemed the biggest downside of Perlina’s book.