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An unusual creative dialogue L. Tolstoy’s The Living Corpse [Zhivoy trup] as a response to F. Dostoevsky’s Idiot
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2025-6-13-33
Abstract
The article argues in favour of the hypothesis that L. Tolstoy’s The Living Corpse [Zhivoy trup] was written in response to the covert message in F. Dostoevsky’s Idiot and followed years of indirect exchange between the two authors. Both books set out to portray an ideal positive hero, embodied by their respective protagonists: Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin and Fyodor Protasov. The fact that both of them meet with a tragic end signifies the futility of any attempt to realize an ideal human in modern society.
Supporting agencies: The research was carried out at St. Petersburg State University and was financially supported by the Russian Science Foundation, grant No. 25-28-00696, ‘Creative dispute between F. Dostoevsky and L. Tolstoy on the issue of the historical significance of the people and “higher personalities”’ (https://rscf.ru/project/25-28-00696/).
About the Authors
I. Y. Matveeva
St. Petersburg State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Inga Y. Matveeva Candidate of Philology
5 Mendeleyevskaya Line, St. Petersburg, 199034
I. I. Yevlampiev
St. Petersburg State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Igor I. Yevlampiev Doctor of Philosophy
5 Mendeleyevskaya Line, St. Petersburg, 199034
References
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Review
For citations:
Matveeva I.Y., Yevlampiev I.I. An unusual creative dialogue L. Tolstoy’s The Living Corpse [Zhivoy trup] as a response to F. Dostoevsky’s Idiot. Voprosy literatury. 2025;(6):13-33. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2025-6-13-33
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