“A beleza salvará o mundo”: Cristianismo e arte em Dostoiévski

Abstract

This thesis seeks to analyze the Dostoevsky’s criticism of slavophiles and westernists ideologies, and how that critical conception is designed as a critique of modernity, but formulated in the terms of a modern discourse. The Russian novelist was convicted for taking part in a revolutionary conspiracy against the czar, and this experience as a prisoner left deep marks in his literary trajectory. Dostoevsky anchored his literary production in a religious vocabulary aquired through the contact with the Russian peasents while imprisoned. Thus, the writer’s interpreation regarding the christianity of the Russian people will be vital to the composition of his future works and will redefine his political, philosophical, religious and artistic positions. Starting from the influence of the Pochvennichestvo (the native soil movement), considering it the only alternative able to articulate an oposition to Slavophilism and Westernism, the novelist will announce his defense of beauty and truth as ideals in Mr.– bov and the Question of Art. Therefore, the article is one of the most important for understanding the influence between religion and art in the Dostoevsky’s work. Eight years later, The Idiot announces: “Beauty will save the world”. Lastly, this study proposes to demonstrate that Prince Myshkin represents as fictional narrative a final artistic synthesis of this entire Dostoevsky’s literary trajectory.