A Russian Abroad: Tolstoy’s Short Story “Lucerne” in Dostoevsky’s Novel “The Adolescent”

In Dostoevsky’s novel “The Adolescent” (1875), the experience of the “Russian abroad” is depicted within a broad literary context, particularly regarding the sources of Versilov’s character. Scholarly literature often highlights the influence of figures such as Pyotr Yo. Chaadaev, Vladimir S. Pecherin, and Alexander I. Herzen in this regard. However, Tolstoyan sources also play a significant role in shaping Versilov. This article argues that Versilov’s character is polemically aligned not only with Konstantin Levin from Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” but also with Dmitry Nekhliudoff from Tolstoy’s “Lucerne: From the Recollections of Prince D. Nekhliudoff” (1857). The connection to Levin is well-documented, supported by preparatory materials and prior studies of Tolstoyan context in “The Adolescent” by Alfred L. Bem, Arkady S. Dolinin, Lia M. Rosenblum, and Evgeny I. Semenov. The connection to Nekhliudoff is substantiated by a passage from Versilov’s confession, where he expresses a newfound desire abroad to bring happiness to a specific individual rather than “some casual German, man or woman.” This sentiment seems to allude to Nekhliudoff’s act of charity toward the Tyrolean in “Lucerne”. Additional evidence includes Versilov’s familiarity with Tolstoy’s works, from the autobiographical trilogy to the serialized “Anna Karenina”, as shown in the drafts of “The Adolescent”. This allusion also engages in dialogue with other instances of Tolstoyan and Herzenian texts in “The Adolescent” and “A Writer’s Diary” (e. g., “Old People” and the series of articles on “Anna Karenina”). The “Russian wanderer” and the type of “world-wide compassion for all” correspond to Dostoevsky’s idea of emigrants since birth, as he calls Herzen, or spiritual vagabonds, as he calls Tolstoy’s heroes. Dostoevsky frequently employed the concept of “emigration” as a metaphor in both his fiction and journalistic works.