Dostoevsky and Svedenborg's book “Heaven and hell”

The article is dedicated to analysis of repercussions of the book “Heaven and Hell” (1688-1772) by Emmanuel Swedenborg in the creative work of Dostoevsky. The moment of acquaintance of the author with the treatise of the Swedish theosophist is studied. The article summarizes the research results on the theme “Dostoevsky and Swedenborg” in national and international literary studies. The author of the article focuses on the traces of Swedenborg's book's impact on genesis of the fantastic story of Dostoevsky “Bobok” (1873), and proves the opinion that the artistic space of this writing is similar to “the world of spirits” of the Swedish mystic, that is seen as a transitional sphere between mortal life of a Man and his eternal being in Hell or in Heavens. At the same time, the differences between an artistic conception of Dostoevsky and the doctrine of Swedenborg are emphasized. The evidence of the author's awareness of the treatise “Heaven and Hell” is also found in the preliminary materials to the novels “Demons” and “the Brothers Karamazov”.