F. M. Dostoevsky’s “Poor Folk” and A. Manzoni’s “The Betrothed”: Title, Concept, Comparison

The article presents a comparative analysis of the “little man” concept in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Poor Folk” (1846) and A. Manzoni’s “The Betrothed” (1827, 1842). It examines the historical and cultural contexts of the works’ creation — the era of the “Great Reforms” in Russia and the Risorgimento in Italy. The primary focus is on the specific features of the two writers’ artistic anthropologism: Dostoevsky shifts the emphasis towards the inner, spiritual “restoration” and education of the individual through suffering (anthropodicy), while Manzoni situates the fate of the “humiliated and insulted” within the broad context of history and God’s providence (theodicy). The article raises the question of Dostoevsky’s potential familiarity with Manzoni’s work. It also touches upon the problem of the artistic method, analyzing Dostoevsky’s “realism in the higher sense” and Manzoni’s search for a national language and epic form. The author concludes that the two distinct paths of European realism, while stemming from a common Christian paradigm, are fundamentally different: whereas Manzoni remains within the framework of humanism, Dostoevsky’s worldview is profoundly Christian.