Oral Presentations and Performances: Session II
Project Type
Presentation
Project Funding and Affiliations
College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of World Languages and cultures
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Clint Walker
Faculty Mentor’s Department
World Languages and Cultures
Abstract / Artist's Statement
All great art is inspired by that which came before it and the historical context in which it is written. This was certainly true of the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the giants of Russian — and indeed, world — literature. Dostoevsky was a voracious reader who was familiar with not only his own country’s works and history, but that of Europe as a whole. One particular topic of interest to Dostoevsky was the infamous Spanish Inquisition, an interest he at least in part inherited from his predecessor, Nikolai Gogol. Gogol published the short story “Diary of a Madman” in 1835, one year after the Inquisition was formally disbanded on 15 July 1834. In addition to referencing the Inquisition, “Diary of a Madman” also consciously draws on Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s 1613 novella “The Dialogue of the Dogs” in order to enrich his work with layers of allegorical commentary on the harsh cultural atmosphere of Nicholas I’s Russia. In other words, Gogol uses allusions to the Inquisition to create an implied analogy to the harsh Russian Orthodox police state led by Nicholas I. Cervantes had his own run-ins with the law during the Inquisition’s heyday, and many scholars have written on his most famous work, Don Quixote, and its hidden-in-plain-sight criticism of the Inquisition’s actions during Cervantes’ lifetime.
This paper seeks to track the literary lineage of the Spanish Inquisition as a cultural backdrop in Russian literature using Cervantes’ Don Quixote and “Dialogue of the Dogs” as two literary reference points. After a brief background sketch on the history of the Inquisition and its relation to the work of Cervantes, I will turn to an analysis of the theme as it manifests itself in Russian literature, beginning with Gogol’s “Diary of a Madman” and extending to Dostoevsky’s “The Grand Inquisitor” chapter of The Brothers Karamazov, where the theme of the Inquisition culminates, becoming a vital backdrop for understanding some of the deeper layers of Dostoevsky’s last and greatest masterpiece. The paper will aim to situate each work in its historical and political context to explore the interplay of ideas across cultures and to understand on a deeper level how these ideas continue to shape our present-day reality, especially as modern Russian nationalists often draw Dostoevsky’s works to further their own political ends.
Category
Humanities
Talking Dogs and Burning Books: The Inquisition in Russian Golden Age Literature
UC 330
All great art is inspired by that which came before it and the historical context in which it is written. This was certainly true of the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the giants of Russian — and indeed, world — literature. Dostoevsky was a voracious reader who was familiar with not only his own country’s works and history, but that of Europe as a whole. One particular topic of interest to Dostoevsky was the infamous Spanish Inquisition, an interest he at least in part inherited from his predecessor, Nikolai Gogol. Gogol published the short story “Diary of a Madman” in 1835, one year after the Inquisition was formally disbanded on 15 July 1834. In addition to referencing the Inquisition, “Diary of a Madman” also consciously draws on Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s 1613 novella “The Dialogue of the Dogs” in order to enrich his work with layers of allegorical commentary on the harsh cultural atmosphere of Nicholas I’s Russia. In other words, Gogol uses allusions to the Inquisition to create an implied analogy to the harsh Russian Orthodox police state led by Nicholas I. Cervantes had his own run-ins with the law during the Inquisition’s heyday, and many scholars have written on his most famous work, Don Quixote, and its hidden-in-plain-sight criticism of the Inquisition’s actions during Cervantes’ lifetime.
This paper seeks to track the literary lineage of the Spanish Inquisition as a cultural backdrop in Russian literature using Cervantes’ Don Quixote and “Dialogue of the Dogs” as two literary reference points. After a brief background sketch on the history of the Inquisition and its relation to the work of Cervantes, I will turn to an analysis of the theme as it manifests itself in Russian literature, beginning with Gogol’s “Diary of a Madman” and extending to Dostoevsky’s “The Grand Inquisitor” chapter of The Brothers Karamazov, where the theme of the Inquisition culminates, becoming a vital backdrop for understanding some of the deeper layers of Dostoevsky’s last and greatest masterpiece. The paper will aim to situate each work in its historical and political context to explore the interplay of ideas across cultures and to understand on a deeper level how these ideas continue to shape our present-day reality, especially as modern Russian nationalists often draw Dostoevsky’s works to further their own political ends.