THE OEUVRE OF F. M. DOSTOEVSKY IN CRITICAL AND PUBLICISTIC WRITING OF A. BENNETT
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2019-6-38-46
Inroduction. Despite numerous publications on the early reception of F.M. Dostoevsky’s work in Great Britain, the scientific literature covers some important facts for understanding the peculiarities of the phenomenon only partially. Among them are the critical responses of the English writer Arnold Bennett pre-echoing the “Dostoevsky cult” in Great Britain. The aim is to elicit the peculiarities of Dostoevsky’s work reception by Bennett in 1910s and to identify the role of the latter in forming the tendencies of the writer’s legacy apprehension in the English culture. Material and methods. Material of the research includes three Bennett’s articles about Dostoevsky, published in The New Age weekly in 1910–1911. The methods comprise cultural-historical, literal-historical and comparative analysis. Results and discussion. In general, A. Bennett in his interpretation of Dostoevsky’s work follows the line of his predecessors. For example, he regards the form of the author’s works as a drawback; while his younger contemporaries will discover its novelty and meaning-making function in the text. Herewith, he rethinks some aspects of the traditional interpretation and calls The Karamazov Brothers, previously underestimated by the critics, an outstanding work. Bennett is not prepared for the deep understanding of the Dostoevsky’s work, but his interest in the author’s legacy, persistent urge to publish the translations play important role in popularizing his books in Great Britain. As a result, Dostoevsky’s novels become a matter of discussions among the young English writers and become available for the common readers. Conclusion. Bennet’s articles about the Russian author make a representative material in terms of learning the critic’s personal reception and in terms of identifying the typical features of the reception of 1910s. They form preconditions for the development of the so-called “Dostoevsky cult”.
Keywords: A. Bennett, F. M. Dostoevsky. M. Baring, G. L. Strachey, V. Woolf, reception, English modernism
References:
1. Kaye P. Dostoevsky and English Modernism: 1900–1930. Oxford, 1999. P. 96–117.
2. Aiello L. The Reception of Fedor Dostoevskii in Britain (1869–1935). Sheffi eld, University of Sheffi eld. 2000. 216 p.
3. Khusnulina R. R. Angliyskiy roman ХХ veka i naslediye F. M. Dostoyevskogo [English Novel of the XXth century and F. M. Dostoevsky’s legacy]. Kazan, Kazan University Publ., 2005. 259 p. (in Russian).
4. Martin W. “The New Age” under Orage: Chapters in English Cultural History. Manchester University Press, Barnes and Noble, 1967. 303 p.
5. Hynes S. The Whole Contention between Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Woolf. NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, 1967, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 34–44.
6. Tonson J. [Bennett A.] Books and Persons (An Occasional Causerie). The New Age, 1910, vol. VI, no. 22 (March, 31), pp. 518–519.
7. Tonson J. [Bennett A.] Books and Persons in London and Paris. The New Age, 1911, vol. VIII, no. 15 (February, 9), pp. 349–350.
8. Tonson J. [Bennett A.] Books and Persons in London and Paris. The New Age, 1911. vol. VIII, no. 21 (March, 23), pp. 492.
9. Ahmed S. Arnold Bennett: The Edwardian David Bowie? BBC News. URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27920331 (accessed 16 January 2019).
10. Enoch Arnold Bennett. Encyclopaedia Britannica. URL: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arnold-Bennett (accessed 15 March 2018).
11. Bennett A. Author’s Craft. New York, George H. Doran Company, 1914. 146 p.
12. Readers and Writers. The New Age, 1921, vol. XXVIII (March, 17), pp. 235–236.
13. Swinnerton F. Background with Chorus: A Footnote to Changes in English Literary Fashion Between 1901 and 1917. London, Hutchinson, 1956. 214 p.
14. Bennett A. Books and Persons; Being comments on a past epoch, 1908–1911. New York, George H. Doran Company. 1917. 338 p.
15. Squillace R. Modernism, Modernity, and Arnold Bennett. London, Associated University Press, 1997. Pp. 21–22.
16. Baring M. Landmarks in Russian literature. London, Macmillan. 1910. 300 p.
17. Vogue E. M. The Religion Of Suffering – Dostoyevsky. Vogue E. M. The Russian Novel. New York, Alfred Knopf, 1914. Pp. 204–270.
18. Strachey G. L. Dostoevsky. Strachey G.L. Spectatorial Essays. New York, Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1964. Pp. 174–179.
19. Paris B. J. Dostoevsky’s Greatest Characters: A New Approach to “Notes from the Underground”, “Crime and Punishment”, and “The Brothers Karamazov”. London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. 233 p.
20. Brandes G. Dostoyevski. Brandes G. Impressions of Russia. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1889. Pp. 301–336.
21. Fridlender G. M. Stendal’ i Dostoyevsky [Stendhal and Dostoevsky]. Fridlender G. M. Pushkin. Dostoyevskiy. “Serebryanyy vek” [Pushkin. Dostoevsky. “The Silver Age”]. Saint Petersburg, 1995. Pp. 269–285 (in Russian).
22. Esenbayeva R. N. Stendal’ i Dostoyevskiy: typologiya romanov “Krasnoye i chernoye” i “Prestupleniye i nakazaniye” [Stendhal and Dostoevsky. Typology of “The Red and The Black” and “Crime and Punishment”]. Tver, 1991 (in Russian).
23. Kochetkova T. V. Stendal’ i russkiye pisateli [Stendhal and the Russian writers]. Problemy lingvistiki i zarubezhnoy literatury [Problems of Lingvistics and Foreign Literature]. Riga, 1968. Pp. 115–126 (in Russian).
24. Bakhtin М. М. Problemy poetiki Dostoyevskogo [Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics]. Saint Petersburg, Azbuka, Azbuka-Attikus Publ., 2016, 416 p.)
25. Woolf V. The Common Reader (in 2 vol.). London, The Hogarth Press, 1975. (Russ ed.: Vulf V. Obyknovennyy chitatel’. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2012. 723 p.)
26. Bennett A. The Progress of the Novel. The Realist, I (April, 1929), pp. 3–11.
27. Muchnic H. Dostoevsky’s English Reputation (1881–1936). Smith College Studies in Modern Languages 20, 3–4. Northampton, Smith College, 1939. Pp. 62–110.
( 471.87 kB ) 
( 464.61 kB )
Issue: 6, 2019
Series of issue: Issue 6
Rubric: TOPICAL ISSUES OF LITERARY CRITICISM
Pages: 38 — 46
Downloads: 1242