Examining Dostoyevsky's Influences and Influence: Dostoyevsky in the Face of Death

 Dostoyevsky in the Face of Death: or Language Haunted by Sex by Julia Kristeva (translated by Armine Kotin Mortimer)

Dostoyevsky in the Face of Death book cover

Author Julia Kristeva

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Thank you to Columbia University Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Jula Kristeva’s historical, biographical, and critical analysis of Dostoyevsky’s work Dostoyevsky in the Face of Death: or Language Haunted by Sex. I read this book over two separate times, and stepped away from it for a bit, only to finish it about a month or so later. I was initially attracted to this book for a few reasons—one was that I love Dostoyevsky’s books and stories. It’s been a while since I’ve read anything by him, but one of the best experiences with reading a book for a class was when I took a World Literature course and read Crime and Punishment. The course required us to not only read the text, but read other critical and biographical essays about the text, and write and discuss these texts regularly. I found that this enabled new and deeper insights into the book, the characters, and the tools and language Dostoyevsky used. In many ways, Kristeva’s book is a lot like taking a course on Dostoyevsky. She presents key insights into the language he used, emphasizing how particular word choices reflect important ideas or concepts that Dostoyevsky was conveying. She also provides important biographical details, framing them frequently in a Freudian perspective. Since taking that class in college, I’ve read some of the other books that Kristeva mentioned, but I feel like my experience with this book would have been enhanced with a more recent recall of the events, characters, and details from these texts. Nevertheless, this book provides some interesting interpretations and considerations for one of the most important writers from the 19^th century. I also liked how in the latter half of Kristeva’s book, she kind of frames Dostoyevsky as influencing more modern writers and texts. She frames his work by directly connecting other writers, artists, and movements in literature and science. In particular, she explores his connections to poets like Baudelaire and thinkers like Nietzsche and Freud. I remember reading an essay about Brothers Karamazov that references connections with Nietzsche (it may have also been Crime and Punishment), but it wasn’t a connection that I had thought about in more depth. And like Freud, I can see how a writer like Dostoyevsky pushed boundaries and questioned elements of society with his writing. The other element of the book that excited me was that it was by Kristeva. I had never read anything by her, even in college. In fact, it was only a few years ago that I came across her ideas and writing from reading Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Committed, in particular her ideas about abjection. I found those sections in Nguyen’s book to be some of the most challenging, yet engaging parts. The idea of abjection as a reaction to horror made a lot of sense, especially considering the horror and trauma that continues to exist in the world. Kristeva applies these ideas to Dostoyevsky’s writing as well, considering not only the murder, patricide, and suicide that occur, but also other horrors that were a part of many of Dostoyevsky’s texts. I really forgot about some of the violence that occurred, and often looked at these events as more like symbolism than with any kind of sense of abjection. There are sections in the book that deal with sexual assault and violence as well, so be warned that this book takes a dark look at his work. However, Kristeva goes beyond literary theory and takes an interdisciplinary approach at many of the texts, examining common themes found across many of Dostoyevsky’s works through lenses like psychoanalysis, language, history, art, and biography. For me, some of the most fascinating analyses were focused on religion and examining how the Orthodox church and its ideas about God, the father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were explored and examined in Dostoyevsky’s work. It was also interesting to learn how different this concept was from the trinity that is believed by many Catholics, and how some of Dostoyevsky’s work may have been critical of this belief in a kind of co-equal trilogy. Kristeva also examines her own personal connections to Dostoyevsky’s literature and oeuvre. This was another interesting section to read since I didn’t know much about her life. However, I think that those sections that explore language use and the kinds of similarities with other 19^th century thinkers like Nietzsche and Freud were probably my favorite parts of the book.

While this book has a lot to consider, it is a challenging read, and not necessarily a book that anyone could pick up and start reading. Readers should have some familiarity with Russian literature, especially the works of Dostoyevsky. Someone who has recently read some texts by him would probably enjoy this book even more. I read a few reviews that suggested that this book was like taking a class with a kind of free-associating professor, and at times, I found that to be true as well. There were some sections where I had to go back and re-read her connections to better understand how Kristeva was moving from one idea to the next. However, I also found this to be one of the strengths of her writing, and at times, her writing (or at least the translation by Mortimer) was elegant and poetic. Kristeva definitely has a unique and uncompromising voice, and her analyses and broad, interdisciplinary approach to unlocking ideas related to Dostoyevsky is confident and detailed.