![]() I do give a tiny sampling of links below there are many more studies of this topic, and I will be glad to post any others that people send me. And each time I have the feeling the painting was in a different place––or was it just me? One time high on a wall, another time over a doorway (though this particular one could be interference from The Idiot), each time of course recalling Anna Grigorievna’s account of her terror that Feodor Mikhailovich’s powerful reaction to the painting, which he stared and stared at after climbing a chair, would spill over into an epileptic fit.Įven though Holbein’s painting was what drew me back to Basel yet again, the story of Dostoevsky’s fascination with it is so famous, I won’t tarry over the details. I’ve visited Holbein the Younger’s “Christ in the Tomb” in the Basel Kunstmuseum three times: the early nineties, and then again during Dostoevsky Camp (Baden Baden, 2001, or was it Geneva, 2004?!), and then this summer (in JUNE). While I have you, feel free to correct anything. It happens that right now I am in a place called Takayama, Japan, devoid of traces of historical Russian writers, though lots of people read Dostoevsky here–and not just those who will participate in the upcoming IDS Symposium pre-event next week Nagoya Pre-Symposium And it does fit what has turned out to be our theme of fuzzy numbers and nonlinearity. None of this is new to scholars, who dip in where and when they can. And of course the blog itself starts with the end and ends with the beginning (of this journey of mine). Chekhov died in Badenweiler but will come back to life, we hope. ![]() ![]() Anyway, Basel came before Badenweiler and Florence, but after Genoa (from which a meek little post has been simmering since June). And others, from Taganrog, Sumy, Yalta, not to mention Siberia and other parts of Russia, past and future, which were planned but now are sulking in horrified limbo. This goes for some Nice posts still suspended in the air, complete with their photographs and even thoughts, from last summer. Together with them, I cherish hopes for better times, for mercy, reason, and peace.Ĭautionary note: do not expect chronology here, or unity of place–sometimes the entries (along with their author) have to stew. I continue to nurture a deep love and respect for Dostoevsky’s works, and for the writings of my colleagues in Russia and around the world. In making this statement, I am speaking as an individual, not as a representative of any organization. For me, accepting this award from the Russian government would too easily be taken as complicity in these crimes. By doing so, they are doing irreparable harm to the writer’s reputation and trivializing what it is in his works that has reached readers worldwide. Given my respect for the profundity of Dostoevsky’s artistic writings, I am distressed that public figures have quoted from his non-fiction to justify this war. Internally, it has arrested and terrorized brave, thoughtful individuals who have spoken out against the war, driving many of them away from their homeland. Along with the rest of the world, I have watched with horror over the past year as Russia has invaded, brutalized, and tortured its neighbor Ukraine. ![]() It is therefore heartbreaking for me to have to decline this honor, which means more to me than words can say. As I have come to realize now more than ever, I am just a small part of the conversation that began with Dostoevsky’s writing and will continue long after all of us are gone. Last year, 2021, was particularly rewarding as we joyfully celebrated the writer’s bicentennial with conferences, lectures, films, exhibitions, and special events in every corner of the globe. In 2019 I was able to travel across Siberia, where many fine scholars and museum professionals welcomed me with generosity and good will. I have also been proud to translate and publish the works of my brilliant Russian colleagues, and to increase awareness of their contributions among literature specialists worldwide. It has been a privilege to teach his writings to generations of students, to discuss with them not just the big questions of ethics, theodicy, faith, reason, and justice that he raises in his works, but also the fine nuances of the language and poetic structure of his writing. It has been rewarding for me to spend my life reading and writing about Dostoevsky. ![]() This is a great honor I am profoundly moved and grateful that my Dostoevsky scholarship and service, into which I have poured so much thought and energy over the years, have been recognized in the writer’s homeland. Thank you for notifying me that the Russian Ministry of Culture has awarded me a medal (“The Great Russian Writer F. ![]()
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