Dostoevsky's Hamlet in nineteenth-century Russia : the paradox of subjectivity / Petra Bjelica.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bjelica, Petra, 1988- author.

Series:

Global Shakespeare inverted

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 1821-1881--Criticism and interpretation.

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Hamlet.

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Influence.

Russia--Intellectual life--1801-1917.

Russia.

Physical Description:

xi, 250 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

London, UK ; New York, NY : The Arden Shakespeare, 2025.

Summary:

"Dostoevsky uses Hamlet to address some of the most important problems in Russian culture in the second half of the 19th century. Approaching Dostoevsky's engagement with Shakespeare through a focus on his novel, Demons, Petra Bjelica considers the figure of Hamlet as it connects to Russian national identity, spirituality and cultural migration. Bjelica argues that Russian Hamletism is a perfect example of how a literary phenomenon forms through a specific culture. She reads Dostoevsky's use of Hamlet through the Tsarist government, the wide gap between the aristocratic, working and peasant class, and the educated intelligentsia of the period. Russian Hamletism is shown to reflect the hegemony of power as well as the intricate debates that arise via political, ideological and philosophical differences between Slavophiles and Westerners. The book touches on the translatability and universality of Shakespeare, his cultural hegemony and the ethics of appropriating the 'other' by exploring Dostoevsky's highly original interpretation of Hamlet. Rather than just referencing the play, Dostoevsky's engagement with opposing and contradictory elements of Russian Hamletism dramatize the Hamletian dilemma anew. By re-thinking literary transmission and the concept of source, the intertextuality of Shakespeare and Russian Hamletism in Dostoevsky finds new ground."--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Russian Hamletism and Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky's 'Hamlet'

'Hamlet' in Dostoevsky's major novels (The Idiot, An Accidental Family, The Brothers Karamazov)

'Hamlet' in Demons (1871-2)

'Hamlet' in Stavrogin

Conclusion

Epilogue : 'Pushkin Speech.' Dostoevsky in global Shakespeare.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-239) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Bjelica, Petra. Dostoevsky's Hamlet in nineteenth-century Russia.

ISBN:

9781350450929

1350450928

OCLC:

1518024418

Publisher Number:

CIPO000205837