The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dostoevsky’s favorite Gospel was that of John. In a letter to his niece soon after beginning work on The Idiot he explains why he loves John’s Gospel: “It finds the whole miracle in the incarnation alone, in the manifestation of the beautiful alone.” He then continues, “The main idea of [The Idiot:] is to portray a positively beautiful man. (Italics his)” In addition to viewing John’s Gospel separately from the other three, Dostoevsky, a man who’d spend many years immersed in Christian mysticism, was always curious about the Gospel of Mark, which has no inclusion or mention of the resurrection.I t is a spare story of Christ’s life and acts entirely lacking the miraculous tone of John’s Gospel, and ending abruptly with the agony of Jesus’ final moments on the cross.
And indeed, Dostoevsky’s The Idiot consistently asks the question: what if the Gospel of Mark was the only testimony of Jesus we had? What if Christ didn’t resurrect? What is the role of a perfectly beautiful man within society and within Russia and how do we view this man if resurrection and redemption do not exist. Prince Myshkin, our idiot and our hero, was conceived as just that: a perfect Christian in the flesh and a reflection of Jesus of Nazareth within the Russian aristocracy.
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky was recommended by my Aunt Lia. Unbeknownst to me, Russian Literature is her favorite, and perhaps not known to her is that Russian Literature is my favorite as well. The two Dostoevsky books she recommended to me: The Idiot and The Possessed (or The Demons depending on the translation) are the two great works of Russian literature that I had not yet read. (more…)
