Seized by the Muse: Dostoevsky's Convulsive Poetics in The Idiot

Dostoevsky suffered from epilepsy throughout most of his life, although debate continues on exactly what kind of affliction he had. Nonetheless, the disease finds its way into several of his major fictions, and nowhere is an epileptic character more developed than in The Idiot. This essay gives the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Literature and medicine 1999, Vol.18 (1), p.60-81
Main Author:	Slattery, Dennis Patrick
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	1800-1899 creative process Dostoevskii, Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky Dostoevsky, Fyodor Mikhailovich (1821-1881) Dostoyevsky, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 1821-1881 Epilepsy Epilepsy - history Epilepsy in literature Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe - history F M Dostoevsky Famous Persons History of medicine History, 19th Century Humans Idiot Knowledge Literary criticism Literature, Modern - history Male Medicine in Literature novel Novels Poetics Russia (Pre-1917) Russian literature Writers
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Summary:	Dostoevsky suffered from epilepsy throughout most of his life, although debate continues on exactly what kind of affliction he had. Nonetheless, the disease finds its way into several of his major fictions, and nowhere is an epileptic character more developed than in The Idiot. This essay gives the affliction a voice; it studies how epilepsy becomes embodied in both Prince Myshkin and his dark double, Parfyon Rogozhin and how they are, in their contrary impulses of universal harmony and absolute desire, dual aspects of the Russian soul.
ISSN:	0278-9671 1080-6571 1080-6571