From the Underground Man to Underground Russia: Dostoevsky and the Birth of the Conscientious Terrorist

• In Event: Dostoevsky and the Political Underground: New Perspectives

Abstract

This paper will argue that as Dostoevsky endeavored to affirm a moral ideal in his struggle against nihilism--attempting to overcome the "inertia" of his protagonist the Underground Man--he gave lucid articulation to the moral-aesthetic values that would later become a staple for Russian revolutionaries, particularly the "conscientious" terrorist. Within this context the case of Vera Zasulich will be examined as an unanticipated realization of Dostoevsky's moral ideal.

Author

• Vadim Shkolnikov, U of Illinois at Chicago