Достоевский в Спорах о Достоевском Фридриха Горенштейна

Abstract

Dostoevsky in Friedrich Gorenstein’s Disputes About Dostoevsky

The article is dedicated to the analysis of Friedrich Gorenstein’s play Disputes about Dostoevsky (1973), which centers on the figure of Fyodor Dostoevsky. Although the writer himself is not a character in the play, his texts and interpretations shape the semantic space of the conflict unfolding during a meeting of the editorial board of a state publishing house. The discussion of Roman Edemsky’s manuscript Dostoevsky’s Atheism escalates into a heated polemic, reflecting the diversity of approaches in Soviet literary criticism as well as the underlying contradictions of the late Soviet cultural environment. Special attention is given to the manifestation of antisemitism, which in the play serves not only as a means of characterizing individuals but also as a tool for exposing deep ideological and social conflicts. The figure of Vasily Chernokotov – an aggressive marginal and “soil-based” (pochvennik) nationalist – illustrates xenophobic tendencies and the desire to claim Dostoevsky as an exclusively “Russian prophet”. At the same time, characters such as Edemsky and Zhuovyan represent the liberal Western-oriented tradition, while the publishing house leadership (Vartanyants, Soskis) expresses a conservative stance, seeking to preserve Dostoevsky’s image within the bounds of the official canon. The article emphasizes that Gorenstein treats the play as a “play of ideas”, where the clash of interpretations of the writer becomes a means of revealing social and national contradictions. The author highlights the polyphony of the discussions, referencing Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism, although Gorenstein does not cite Bakhtin directly. The play demonstrates that in the Soviet context, Dostoevsky’s figure is inevitably drawn into ideological battles, becoming a battleground for competing worldviews. Thus, the study underscores the relevance and complexity of Gorenstein’s play, which, through the prism of Dostoevsky, exposes the identity crisis of the Soviet intelligentsia.

Keywords: F. Gorenstein; Dostoevsky; rhetoric; ideology; polyphony; anti-Semitism; Bakhtin; polyphony; censorship