Apollon Grigoryev and Dostoevsky (artistic incarnations, transformation and reassessment of Russian “pochvennichestvo”)

The article develops the hypothesis set forth by Boris Egorov, a famous researcher of the work of Dostoevsky and Ap. Grigoriev, which claims that “some of the remarks and character traits of Mitya Karamazov are reminiscent of Grigoriev’s,” and also considers the assumption made by Vladimir Tunimanov about “closeness, partially turning into congeniality” of the “artistic natures of the two principal writers of the soil.” The presence in the work of Dostoevsky of other echoes or “shadows” of Grigoriev’s personality, both serious and caricature, is also discussed. Particular attention is paid to the nature of the problematization and even refutation of “pochvennichestvo” in Dostoevsky’s late works. Thus, in “The Brothers Karamazov,” “pochvennichestvo” is more likely to be refuted, both in the image of Dmitry Karamazov and in the whole structure of the novel. The socio-political illusions regarding if not the Russian people, then at least the Russian peasantry, have already been ultimately exposed, not by Dostoevsky, but by his closest “secret student” and at the same time, as is typical for such cases, by the debunker Chekhov (and subsequently by Bunin). Dostoevsky maintained a closeness to Grigoriev until the end of his life in his commitment to the ideal of “living life,” which resounds both in the fiery declarations of the “ridiculous man,” and in the wise precepts of the elder Zosima, as well as loyalty to the “people’s truth” discovered by Grigoriev in the works of Pushkin.