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  • The Hungarian reception of Dostoevsky until the 1920s in the context of European and Hungarian Modernism
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    15

    This paper deals with the questions Dostoevsky’s reception in Hungary in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The author investigates the growing interest in Dostoevsky in the context of the new trends of art and literature and gives a detailed survey of the most characteristic reactions (i.e. reviews, studies, introductions to books) about the new translations and editions of Dostoevsky’s works. Among the most relevant questions addressed arestereotypes about Russian culture and people, living in Hungary duringthe past centuries, the various interpretations of Crime and Punishment, and some comparative aspects in the analyses of this novel.

  • Bugs, Burrow, Inquisitor: Dostoevskian Intertexts in Eyeless in Gaza
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    103

    The present article is devoted to the discussion of intertextual connections between Aldous Huxley’s Eyeless in Gaza (1936) and three works by Dostoevsky: Notes from the Underground(1864), Crime and Punishment (1869) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880, Grand Inquisitor scene). As is well-known, the Dostoevskian novel of ideas was a major inspiring force for Aldous Huxley’s art: Huxley’s rewriting of the Grand Inquisitor episode in Brave New World (1932) is probably the best-known case in point. Nonetheless, insufficient critical attention has been devoted to the actual intertextual connections between the two novelists’ output. As I have demonstrated earlier, on closer inspectionPoint Counter Point (1928) turns out to be a rewriting of Devils (1872), which, however, alsoproves to be a low point in Huxley’s assessment of Dostoevsky – a companion piece to his incidental vicious critique included in his 1929 essay on Baudelaire, in which Huxley also targets spiritual quest. Let me argue that Eyeless in Gaza can be read as a sequel to that polemic, in which a change of Huxley’s attitude to Dostoevsky is clearly notable: the novel provides a much more subtle and even respectful critique of Dostoevsky by implying the universal relevance of the Dostoevskian underground to the understanding of the modern human condition and by re-embracing spiritual quest.

  • Harms – Gogol – Dostoevsky (“Old Women” – “Vij” – “Crime and Punishment”)
    14 p.
    Views:
    173

    In terms of historical poetics and intertextuality, parallels are drawn between "Old Woman"
    by D. Harms, "Vij" by N. Gogol and "Crime and Punishment" by F. Dostoevsky. As far as the
    three authors are concerned, their common features are revealed, together with the transformation
    of the motives of the ugly infernal old woman, which are depicted in the context of
    mythopoetics, historiosophy and social history by the three authors. Concerning the texts produced
    by their followers the term “post-text” is introduced, which is meant to include the dialogical
    connotations of literary evolution. The role of “vertex composition” (a term coined by
    V.M. Zhirmunsky) in works of Modernism/ Avant-garde is also touched upon.

  • Russia and Hungary: A dialogue of cultures in the space of literary texts: Book Review: Through "Alien" to "Own": Dialogue of Russian and Hungarian Cultures: Monograph / Edited by M.A. Lappo, V.V. Marosha. NGPU Publishing House, pp. 240. ISBN 978-00226-049-2, Novosibirsk, 2023
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    23

    This monograph presents the results of a joint interdisciplinary project of Russian and Hungarian philologists to study the facts of interaction between Russian and Hungarian cultures in the space of literary texts. It examines various manifestations of the interaction of cultures: from the study of cases of direct influence to intertextual forms of assimilation and interpretation of elements of a foreign culture, current trends in translation reception. The volume includes papers by a wide range of authors whose texts made up the material of the study (from F.M. Dostoevsky and S. Veresh to E. Vodolazkin and Y. Berg).

  • Censor Nikolay Ratynsky’s Role in Russian Journalism of the Second Half of the 19th Century
    12 p.
    Views:
    172

    Recently, the political climate in Russia has caused the question of censorship to become
    an increasingly relevant issue, the history of which is necessary to explore and understand.
    The prevailing view regarding censorship is that it is a tool used to suppress the freedom of
    speech by stifling the writer’s thoughts. However, there were some eminent censors such as
    the poet Fyodor Tyutchev and the writer Ivan Goncharov. In this regard, it has become commont
    to consider censorship isolated from any moral categories and interpret g it only as a
    professional activity. In this context, the work of the censor Nikolai Ratynsky is of particular
    interest to us. Until now, little has been published on his influence as a censor on the writers
    of his time on the high professional level of his work in this capacity. Most of the corrections
    Ratynsky made were valid and justified by the political situation in the Russian Empire. He
    himself is further proof that, along with Tyutchev and Goncharov, there were honorable and
    qualified men among the censors of the time. All this allows us to claim that it is necessary
    to objectively consider and study the work of censors and ignor preconceptions and stereotypes
    that are usually associated with the word censor.