The interaction of the structural construction principles in the F.M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot”

Abstract

The peculiarities of the principles of structural construction of the novel “The Idiot” by F.M. Dostoevsky and the analysis of each identified structural principle separately are studied. The aim of the work is to attempt to answer the question of how dualism, dialogism, monocentrism and “polyphony” can coexist within one artistic whole as structure-forming elements of the text. The relevance of this approach is due to the fact that the study of the structure of the novel “The Idiot” often takes place in the context of one of the identified structural principles, which, in turn, limits the overall picture of the perception of the text. Based on the structural and hermeneutic approaches, we came to the following conclusions: all the main construction’s principles of the novel are determined by the peculiarities of the image of Prince Myshkin, who in corresponding to the general dichotomous nature of “The Idiot”, is himself ambivalent and fundamentally dialogical; through the openness to the dialogue at the level of plot and composition of the text, a monocentric movement towards the figure of Myshkin is implemented; but starting from the second part of the novel, the polyphonic non-fusion voices-consciousness of other characters supplant the “voice” of the prince, revealing his immanent “non-embodiment”. Thus, the metapoetics of “The Idiot” determines the features of the structural construction of the text, where the “synthetic” hero exists in a special novel structure, which is a multidimensional polystructural combination based on the principles of dialogism, dualism, monocentrism and polyphonism.