ДУЕЛИСТИЧКИ АСПЕКТИ САМООБРАЧУНА-ИСПОВЕСТИ ЧОВЕКА ИЗ ПОДЗЕМЉА Ф. М. ДОСТОЈЕВСКОГ
DUELISTIC ASPECTS OF CONFESSIONAL SELF-ACCOUNTING OF DOSTOEVSKY’S UNDERGROUND MAN

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyzes Underground Man’s confessional rhetoric and emphasizes his failure to demonstrate his bravery in various duels he undertakes with his own weaknesses and vices, with Jean-Jacques Rousseau and with the imaginary readers of his writings. The first part of the essay shows how the Underground Man attempts to use his confession not for confessing his sins in order to gain absolution, but for defending his honor in order to restore his wounded pride. The second part of the essay is focused on the Underground Man’s attempt to exceed and surpass Rousseau’s confessional triumph. The third part of the paper analyzes the provocative tones of Underground Man’s cynical (pseudo)dialogue with his imaginary readers and his inability to bring his confession to an end. The paper concludes that Dostoevsky is using Underground Man’s futile and self-destructive secular confessions in order to praise the beneficial influence of sacral confessions. In addition, the paper points to the centrality of the Notes from Underground in Dostoevsky’s oeuvre by emphasizing the complete concord between its content and its form, which is unparalleled in his other writings.

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