The Reevaluation of Dostoevsky by the Critic A. Volynsky: “Ecstasies”, Recognition and “Cancellation” of the Author

The article examines the evolution of Akim Volynsky’s perception and critical assessment of Dostoevsky’s work. The famous literary critic, thinker, art critic Akim Lvovich Volynsky (1863–1926) began studying Dostoevsky’s work in the late 1890s and continued to examine it up to 1923 During this time, the literary canon of Dostoevsky had formed. Volynsky was attracted to the writer’s artistic anthropology, which he discovered in the latter’s novels. In them, the critic found confirmation of his religious and philosophical intuitions. However, in his interpretation of some images, Volynsky deviated from the meanings entrenched in them by the author. His criticism became harsher and more belligerent when Volynsky evaluated the ideas and characters of the novel “Demons.” Volynsky accused Dostoevsky of subjective hostility to the radical “young Russia.” The critic’s last speech about Dostoevsky was given in 1923 In it, the critic reproached the novelist for the latter’s dualistic view of the world and man. At that time, Volynsky himself became a zealous supporter of the monistic worldview. From this viewpoint, he found duality and schematism in the writer’s imagery. His concluded that scholasticism prevails in Dostoevsky’s work, and that it does not contain a full-fledged artistic depiction of life. Such Dostoevsky, according to Volynsky, is outdated, irrelevant for the present, does not belong among literary classics and should remain in the domain of literary legend.