Dickens and Dostoevsky
The Russian author, Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), and the English author, Charles Dickens (1812-1870), are each regarded as literary figures of great significance to their respective nations and to world literature as a whole. Born only nine years apart, the two novelists engage with many similar themes and social issues in their works, such as Christianity, poverty, morality, and evil, etc. As such, the extent to which Dostoevsky was influenced by Dickens is a question often explored by many scholars. It is noted that, “Dostoevsky himself was an avid reader of English fiction … By the time he wrote The Brothers Karamazov, he had read and assimilated virtually every one of Dickens’s novels, albeit in translation” (Gervais 50). Furthermore, Dostoevsky is known to have a great appreciation for the English author, as suggested by the fact that his daughter often recounted his knowledge of Dickens’ heroes and the impact they had on his youth (Gervais 50). Both authors used their fiction to speak on behalf of society’s less privileged members and Dickens’ focus on “the humanitarian strain, embodying the same concern with poor people and with the insulted and injured” made him especially relevant to Dostoevsky (Fanger 73). Finding Dickens to be “a great Christian,” Dostoevsky was particularly inspired by his modest characters (Gredina par. 4). Indeed, when attempting to create an absolutely beautiful, innocent and pure character in The Idiot, the Russian author looked to Dickens as one of his key muses. In a letter, Dostoevsky wrote, “Dickens’ Mr. Pickwick (who is, as a creative idea, infinitely weaker than Don Quixote but still gigantic) is also ridiculous but that is all he has to captivate us. Wherever compassion toward ridiculed and ingenious beauty is presented, the reader’s sympathy is aroused” (qtd. in Leys par. 2) These ideas go on to play a prominent role in Dostoevsky’s story of the naive, but loveable Prince Myshkin in The Idiot.
Another common element of both novelists is the depiction of the city as the setting for both moral and physical deterioration (Lavold 2). Throughout their respective works of fiction, each demonstrate an interest in the corrupt or depraved urban environments of their nation’s major cities. The “‘dark’ novels of Dickens’ later period and the major works of Dostoevsky present a vision of the world as disordered, disjointed and diseased” and the blame of this is often placed on the immorality of its civilians (3). This interest translated to both authors conducting studies into the psychology of crime and evil itself: While, “Crime and Punishment goes further than Dickens in the exploration of evil … there is little doubt that Raskolnikov is prefigured by murderers like Bill Sikes and Jonas Chuzzlewit” (Gervais 50).
Although there exists many parallels between the two authors, that is not to say that their respective works are identical or come to the same conclusions. Where Dickens is “sober and ironic and yet a celebration,” Dostoevsky is “religious, skeptical, and apocalyptic” (Lary, xiv). But both authors, working in similar time periods, engaging with similar themes, have constructed entire cosmoses within their novels which have captured the imagination of the world.