Orthodoxy Regained: The Theological Subtext in Dostoevskij's ‘Dream of a Ridiculous Man’

In past and present criticism, a fundamental debate hinges on the precise nature of Dostoevskii's Christianity. Is he an advocate of 19th-century institutional Orthodoxy, or does his Orthodox discourse surpass the ecclesiastical programme? This article explores a subtle theological subtext in Dostoevskii's short story ‘Son smeshnogo cheloveka’ (‘The Dream of a Ridiculous Man’, 1877). More specifically, I excavate in the tale three traditions of Byzantine and Old Russian Orthodoxy (apophaticism, kenoticism and iurodstvo) that were silenced in the 19th-century official Church, thereby showing how the text directs towards a revival of this lost heritage in Russian Orthodoxy.