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Prince Myshkin and the comprehension problem
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2021-6-13-29
Abstract
The first study to attempt a scholarly interpretation of the well-known fact that Dostoevsky bestowed on The Idiot’s protagonist extraordinary powers of comprehension: not only can Prince Myshkin understand other characters’ utterances, but he sees through their gestures and actions, as well as motives behind those actions. The author identifies the unique features of Prince Myshkin’s hermeneutics, notably his being open to an encounter and his sense of otherness. The dialectics and limitations of Prince Myshkin’s comprehension receive special attention. The article describes the profound connection between the human face, the eyes and an understanding gaze, as it is emphasised in the novel. The comprehension problem in The Idiot is considered in the context of 20th-c. hermeneutics (H.-G. Gadamer) and Russian philosophy (Vyach. Ivanov and P. Florensky), but the author stresses the originality of Dostoevsky’s own interpretation. In addition, the article supplies arguments in favour of the thesis that, on its deep level, comprehension is related to acceptance and is not, therefore, a pure cognitive act; instead, it is a cognitive-existential gesture: we can only comprehend what we can accept.
About the Author
E. Dimitrov
Institute of Literature, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Emil Dimitrov, Doctor of Philology
52/17 Shipchenski Prohod Blvd., Sofia, 1113
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Review
For citations:
Dimitrov E. Prince Myshkin and the comprehension problem. Voprosy literatury. 2021;(6):13-29. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2021-6-13-29
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