Information about the author:
Maria Candida Ghidini, PhD in Philology, Professor, Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Cultural Enterprises, University of Parma, San Michele 9, 43100 Parma, Italy.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0814-9833
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Abstract:
This article analyses the specificity of Dostoevsky’s confessional prose, focusing on the novel The Adolescent. Dostoevsky can be defined as a super-confessional author, but he is also characterized by a certain suspicion, and a certain mistrustfulness towards the very process of confession is typical of him. The article attempts to show that this apparent paradox has its origins in the modern context in which Dostoevsky operates, when religious, sacramental confession gives way to a psychological practice of selfaffirmation.