Антиромантический бунт Достоевского-художника и тревожный субстрат Белых ночей

Abstract

The Anti-Romantic Rebellion of Dostoevsky the Artist and the Disturbing Substrate of White Nights

This article is a slightly modified version of the postface to the recent Italian translation of the early novella by Dostoevsky White Nights. Thanks to that peculiar attention to text’s words, style and humorous techniques the translation process requires, many interesting literary elements emerge, which evidently challenge the prevailing interpretation of this work as a tribute to the Romantic genre (being the subtitle “A sentimental novel” ex facto clearly provocative). The analysis argues that both subtitle and sjužet of the story reveal constitutive elements of ambivalence, parody, sarcasm, and humor, reflecting Dostoevsky’s characteristic deconstruction of rigid literary canons. Indeed, White Nights may be read par excellence within the framework of René Girard’s theoretical approach, as a complex, exemplary case of “novelistic truth”, able to unmask “the “romantic lie”.

Keywords: Dostoevsky; White Nights; anti-Romantic; paradox; humorous techniques