Dostoevsky through Western Optics: the Case of Knut Hamsun and not only

About the author:

Vadim V. Polonsky, DSc in Philology, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya 25 а, 121069 Moscow, Russia; Professor, Sichuan University, No. 24, South Section 1, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, 610065, China.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0491-2088

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Abstract:

The article dwells on the main postulates on Dostoevsky at the meeting point for Russian and Western types of reception of his figure, as they were manifested during a discussion devoted to the writer in the Parisian Franco-Russian Studio in December 1929. Against this background, a specific and typologically indicative case of his deep impact on a European writer — Knut Hamsun whom critics could call “the Norwegian Dostoevsky” — is examined. The author analyzes typical cases of adaptation of the techniques of the Russian writer by this Scandinavian novelist, as well as an assessment of his work by the creator of “Hunger” and “Mysteries”.