The poetics of the epilogue in Dostoevsky's novel “A raw youth”

The article investigates the genre peculiarity and the poetics of the epilogue in Dostoevsky’s novel “A Raw Youth”. Its originality resides specifically in the divergence between “the author’s novel” and “the hero’s notes”. The novel does not contain such a distinctive compositional element as an epilogue. The role of the latter belongs to the critical letter of Nikolai Semyonovich, ex-mentor of the Adolescent, on his “Notes” (“Chapter Thirteen. Conclusion”). The critical letter discloses the characteristics of heroes and the epoch, rethinks the situations and motives of the key part of the writing. In his novel Dostoevsky on the one hand reveals the destruction of the “displaced” life standards of the nobles, the decadence of the noblemen’s concept of honor and duty, on the other hand, he insists that the way of salvation of the country from the “disorder and chaos” consists in reinforcement of the orthodox thinking, implementation of the idea of spiritual commonality, bringing together of the “superior Russian thought” and the popular truth. This is the meaning of the novel’s title: all Russian society and the country in whole is an adolescent.