Spiritual Rebellions: Dostoevsky's (Un)Orthodox Religiosities

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

“Something new and better,” writes Dostoevsky in "A Writer’s Diary," “will be realized not through war and rebellion but, once more, through a grand and universal consent.” Dostoevsky opposed civil unrest and feared the bloodshed of revolts, but his own literary canvas foregrounds tensions between character types that range from meek altruists to rebellious anarchists. Christian faith permeated Dostoevsky’s worldview, informing his positions on sociopolitical as well as literary matters. This panel explores the multi-faceted ways in which the author uses faith as a tool of resistance and rebellion – both within his literary worlds, and as a commentary on contemporary Russian reality. Arpi Movsesian draws attention to Dostoevsky’s use of “holy foolishness” in "Crime and Punishment" as a tool of spiritual rebellion against the socialist utopias promised by the Russian radical intelligentsia of his time; Riley Ossorgin highlights the function of compassion as resistance to power in "The Brothers Karamazov;" and Milica Iličić discusses the importance of Ivan Karamazov’s embodiment and vitality over discourse for experiencing true belief.

Sub Unit

• Literature: Russian and Eurasian

Chair

• Elaine Wilson, Columbia U

Papers

• Anxious Vitalism and The Religious Impulse in Ivan Karamazov’s Rebellion - Milica Iličić, Columbia U

• Pagan Rebellion Against the Man-god in 'Crime and Punishment' - Arpi Movsesian, UC Santa Barbara

• Jesus’s Rebellious Kiss: Compassion as Rebellion in 'The Brothers Karamazov' - Michael Ossorgin, Fordham U

Discussant

• Carol Apollonio, Duke U

Session Manager

• Zayra M Badillo Castro, SOAS U of London (UK)