The Possessed: Greyson Bahr

Novel, or Dissertation of Beliefs? 2-28-11

Russian Lit
The world of literature is filled with dense plots and grand ideas, but they must be
put to paper from the mind of an author. It’s often taken for granted that great works
simply exist, without giving even the slightest thought to the author that produced them.
In reality, the author must pour his soul into his work, and we can learn a great deal about
the author by simply analyzing the text. Never is this truer than for the masterful Russian
author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. His novel The Possessed (or Demons, in some translations)
is an excellent example of a work that helps to show the creator’s views, especially with
respect to religion, political philosophy, and art.
Dostoyevsky was a complex character with much nuance and few entirely solid
ideologies, and his religious views are no exception. His father was an archpriest in the
Russian Orthodox Church and raised Dostoyevsky in a strict manner in accordance with
the common religion of the time (Townsend). In most of his novels, there are Christian
undercurrents though he never identified himself strictly as a Christian novelist, and he
grappled with his faith for most of his life. In The Possessed, he writes from one
character’s perspective “I used to jump out of bed…praying to God to give me faith. It
used to fret me so! In the morning the faith would be lost again…I’ve noticed that faith
always seems to be less in the daytime.” This applies to the author himself, who greatly
wished for faith, yet still had doubts.
It must be noted that his views on atheism seem to be largely negative. In the
novel, the atheist characters Kirillov and Stavrogin both commit suicide which may be a
result of their lack of faith. In concurrence with their atheistic beliefs, both men were
nihilists that believed in no absolute morality and theological tenets. Perhaps
Dostoyevsky is implying that with a lack of faith, one must also lack the will to live. If
the author believed, as some Christians do, that living for Christ is the only way to get
through this world it would make sense that his characters without religion commit
suicide as a result of the futility of life sans Christ.
A final allusion to Dostoyevsky’s religious views is the title of the novel itself,
and a parable within. In the novel, a group of revolutionaries plots to incite a town to
revolt against the current government. The men had subversive views and twisted
political views (as seen later), and were able to bring members of the town into this
vortex of nihilistic destruction. In the final chapters of the book, Dostoyevsky relates the
corruption of the town to a parable in the Bible. In the parable, demons are transferred
from a possessed man to a herd of swine, which then run into a lake and drown
themselves (Luke 8:26-33). The demons transferred from the revolutionary group to the
town are ideas, and they bring about their own destruction by burning a great deal of the
town to the ground.
The Possessed is often thought of as Dostoyevsky’s most political novel, as it
centers on a group of revolutionaries. Throughout the book, the plot comes to a standstill
for a few pages while a character riffs on his views, which is a simple way for
Dostoyevsky to elaborate on his own philosophical ideas by using satire in the characters.
The men of the novel are twisted; we can see how the author ridicules their ideals and
subtly imparts his own onto the reader. For example, a character named Shigalov appears
in the second half of the novel whose political philosophy involves forcing 90% of the
population into abject slavery so the remaining 10% are free to come up with scientific
advancements and political actions. Obviously, this is an absurd view but Shigalov is able
to convince his peers that his ideas have merit due to his smooth talk and political savvy.
 The Possessed: Greyson Bahr
Novel, or Dissertation of Beliefs? 2-28-11
Russian Lit
With this character, Dostoyevsky shows not only the horrors of ultra-revolutionist
thought but also the malleability of men’s minds.
The author also takes on a more standard political view in his novel: socialism.
He was wary of any revolutionary ideas, and thought that socialism was closely linked to
atheism. One character states “Socialism is from its very nature bound to be atheism,
seeing that…it is an atheistic organization of society…that intends to establish itself
exclusively on the elements of science and reason.” It would seem that an organization
based on these two things would be desirable, but he goes on to say, “Science and reason
have, from the beginning of time played a…subordinate part in the life of nations.” He
insists that the force of a nation’s power is “the persistent assertion of one’s own
existence”, which goes back to religion and the meaning of life. Further on in the same
chapter, the character explains that nations can only become powerful if they unite in one
god, be it the traditional deity or some other force. Considering Dostoyevsky’s beliefs, it
makes sense that he would blend politics and religion, since he thought life was futile
without it.
Dostoyevsky was a fairly conservative man, but that’s not to say he was averse to
all new ideas. True, he was wary of revolutionaries, but he did understand the importance
of up and coming youth. “We must make much of our young people; I treat them with
affection and hold them back from the brink,” one character quips. As with most
intellectuals, he understood the importance of shifting ideas but saw that they needed
guidance to keep them from straying too far from the norm. Dostoyevsky was also
extremely wary of political smooth talk, likening one activist to an eloquent snake with a
grotesque and devilish forked tongue. Later, a man snaps at a speaker “You succeed
straight off in persuading them of your simplicity, in boring them, and in being
incomprehensible – three advantages all at once!” As a novelist, we can be certain that
Dostoyevsky understood the immense persuasive power of political rhetoric, and was
keenly aware of how words can be used to promote subversive purposes.
[start tomorrow with his views on art in relation to life with beauty and such]