The titular “Demons” of Fyodor Dostoyevski’s epic novel of political terror and violence are the “legion of isms” that had infected the minds of a generation of Russian youth: socialism, materialism, atheism, nihilism. For Dostoyevski these “demonic” ideas, imported from the West had inculcated in mid-nineteenth century Russia an atmosphere of conspiracy, violence, and spiritual bankruptcy. Yet, though sometimes taken as prophecy (Tsar Aleksandr II was blown up by an anarchist bomb eight years after the novel’s publication), Demons is no mere morality play. In its narration of the travails of the good liberal Stepan Verkhovensky, his son Pyotr, and the nihilist aristocrat Nikolai Stavrogin, Dostoyevski’s novel offers piercing insight into the psychology of belief and action, and the meaning of values in a (perhaps?) Godless world. Are violence and terrorism productive tools of political and social change? Can one transgress morality in the name of morality? What are the psychological consequences for an individual who seeks a path against the expectations of the status quo? What does it mean to live in an age of revolution and reaction? And what happens when one ceases to believe in anything at all?
In this course, we will address these questions by reading the entirety of Demons alongside several short works that contextualize the historical and ideological underpinnings of Dostoyevski’s novel. We will examine the political currents of 19th century Russia and explore the lives and thoughts of the Russian revolutionaries who served as inspiration for the plot of Demons. And throughout we will attend to the intellectual and moral drama that infuses the whole of the work. Is nihilism incipient in liberalism? Is skepticism a source of alienation? Is reason anterior to deeper psychic impulses, and can ideas alone motivate individuals as well as whole peoples? And what are we to make of Dostoyevski’s diagnosis and proffered cure for the supposed sicknesses of the modern age? Do even nihilists possess a will to believe?
“Fyodor Dostoyevski: Demons” will also run online, starting Tuesday, September 10th. For more information, please visit the the course page.
