Dostoevsky and the Ridiculous
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DOSTOEVSKY AND THE RIDICULOUS Roger L. Cox, University of Delaware Dostoevsky criticism has tended to focus upon the tragic implications of his fiction. Ivanov's term "novel- tragedy," later adopted by Mochulsky and others, applies very well to the best of Dostoevsky's work, most of which is better described as somber, rather than as hilarious or even funny. But this view, though valid in its main emphasis, has the effect of concealing one very important aspect of Dostoevsky's writing - namely, his preoccupation with the ridiculous in human experience. And he exploits this element not merely as "comic relief," but as an important vehicle for projecting his vision of the human condition. Because he is interested in the entire range of human behavior and in the psychological states which underlie it, Dostoevsky does not tend - as some writers do - to make use of the ridiculous purely and simply for its own sake. Nearly always in his fiction the ridiculous appears in combination with other elements; and its effect is therefore often muted. Nevertheless, he is enormously skillful as a comic writer.</sup?1<> When he felt so inclined, Dostoevsky was perfectly capable of producing a sustained and fairly large-scale comic narrative. "The Village of Stepan-chikovo" (which Constance Garnett translated into English under the title "The Friend of the Family 2 ) comes to mind as the most obvious example. Written when Dostoevsky was in his later thirties and published in 1859, this novel sets forth in about two hundred pages two characters which the author described to his brother as "vast" and "typical" -
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Transcript of Dostoevsky and the Ridiculous
DOSTOEVSKY AND THE RIDICULOUSRoger L. Cox, University of DelawareDostoevsky criticism has tended to focus upon the tragic implications of his fiction. Ivanov's term "novel-tragedy," later adopted by Mochulsky and others, applies very well to the best of Dostoevsky's work, most of which is better described as somber, rather than as hilarious or even funny. But this view, though valid in its main emphasis, has the effect of concealing one very important aspect of Dostoevsky's writing - namely, his preoccupation with the ridiculous in human experience. And he exploits this element not merely as "comic relief," but as an important vehicle for projecting his vision of the human condition. Because he is interested in the entire range of human behavior and in the psychological states which underlie it, Dostoevsky does not tend - as some writers do - to make use of the ridiculous purely and simply for its own sake. Nearly always in his fiction the ridiculous appears in combination with other elements; and its effect is therefore often muted. Nevertheless, he is enormously skillful as a comic writer.
