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Why was Dostoevsky attracted to Fourier - Utopian Socialist Fourier and Dostoevsky
In this article, we introduce the previousCharles Fourier, The Visionary and His World.and by MotuliskiA Critical Biography of Dostoevsky.I would like to look at the relationship between the fantastical socialist Fourier and Dostoevsky with reference to
Around 1846, when Dostoevsky was 25 years old, he became committed to socialist thought and joined a thought circle. It was there that he studied the imaginary socialism centered on Fourier.
However, although initially a moderate group that would never consider armed revolution, a few later became radicalized, and Dostoevsky was among them. Whether or not they actually committed violent acts, the police detected this movement and arrested them, and they were exiled to Siberia. They were exiled to Siberia.
However, the Siberian exile was a turning point in Dostoevsky's life as a writer. Dostoevsky wrote a novel about his experiences in Siberian exile.The Record of the House of Death."It is.
And when Dostoevsky returned from SiberiaCrime and Punishment."He went on to write five major works of literature, beginning with "The Greatest Russian Writer of All Time," which made him famous throughout the world.
Let's start by closely following why Dostoevsky was so devoted to Fourier from "Critique Dostoevsky".
Dostoevsky's youth passed characterized by romantic "dreaming," Schillerian idealism, and French utopian socialism. Under the influence of Georges Sand and Balzac, social concerns dawned early on his mind. Belinsky was,The Poor.enthusiastically hailed the author as the founder of Russia's first social novel. protest against social injustice andThe Oppressed and Humiliated."The defense of the "I" is consistently followed in all of his early works. (omitted).
The transition from romantic idealism to socialism was quite natural. The young writer lived in an atmosphere of mystical anticipation, the certainty that a golden age would soon arrive and life would be radically different. It seemed to him that the new Christian art of Victor Hugo, Georges Sand, Balzac, and others was charged with the mission of reviving the world and making humanity happy. He believed that the great schools of thought of Saint-Simon, Fourier, Proudhon, and others would fulfill the promise of romanticism and fulfill his longing for a better life. The idea of social utopia was seen by the people of the forties as an extension of the Christian faith and a realization of the truths of the Gospels. It was nothing more than the translation of the Christian apocalypse into today's "social" language.
Chikuma Shobo Publishing, Mochurisky, translated by Yutaka Matsushita and Kyoko Matsushita, "Critique Dostoevsky," P123-124
After reading "The Biography of Fourier," I was again surprised to find that the socialist ideas of Fourier and others were seen by the Russian youth as an extension of their Christian faith.
In the Biography of Fourier, Fourier himself even tries to distance himself from the Christian faith. The fact that he was a fervent Christian does not appear from his writings.
But the Russian youth found in his utopian ideas a Christian utopia. And it is interesting to note that Hugo, Georges Sand, and Balzac are at the base of this.
Dostoevsky, recalling his own frenzied youth, wrote in 1873Diary of a Writer."He wrote in the following words. "At that time the question was still understood in this most rose-colored and heavenly moral light. In fact, the budding socialism was at that time, even by some of the leaders of that camp, identified with Christianity, and was taken to be merely a modification and improvement of it according to the times and civilization. All the new ideas of the time were greatly favored by our Petersburg colleagues, and were considered to be extremely sacred and moral, first and foremost common to mankind, and without exception, the future law for all mankind. We were seized by the seductive influence of these ideas long before the Paris Revolution of 1848" ("One of the Modern Deceptions").
In his "defense" to the Board of Inquiry, Dostoevsky boldly admits his commitment to utopian socialism. He writes. Fourierism is a peaceful system. It charms the soul by its elegance, it attracts the heart by the love of humanity which Fourier inspired in the process of conceiving it, and it astonishes reason by its reasonableness. It attracts people, not through violent attacks, but through love of humanity. There is no hatred in this system of thought."
Dostoevsky never abandoned his utopia of world transformation and Christian socialism. The idea of a golden century and world harmony was, above all, the "sacred" idea he aspired to. It lies at the heart of his worldview and his creations.
Chikuma Shobo Publishing, Mochurisky, translated by Yutaka Matsushita and Kyoko Matsushita, "Critique Dostoevsky," P 124
It was because of these utopian ideas of Fourier that Dostoevsky became committed to socialist thought.
Although he would later be arrested as a result, I think it is very important to note that Dostoevsky was seeking a Christian utopia.
Now we will look at the passages from "Biography of Fourier" where Fourier seems to have fascinated Dostoevsky.
Fourier's aesthetic sense and Claude Lorrain
Whereas his contemporaries were dazzled by the majesty of craggy mountains, rumbling waterfalls, and raging seas, Fourier's tastes turned toward serenity, regularity, and harmony. His architectural aspirations were to replace the "crowded hovels" and "stinking marshes" of the French countryside with "buildings that conform to rules," to replace the "ugly vistas" of "the bald mountains of Provence, the hideous fountains of Vaucluse that make you cower in fear, and the sandy wildernesses of Champagne" with "the beautiful French names. He professed unapologetic contempt for the "scholars" who were "trying to accustom our sensibilities" to such "ugly views" as "the baleful mountains of Provence, the ugly fountains of the Vaucluse that make us cringe with fear, and the sandy wildernesses of Champagne.
His own ideals, as epitomized in his description of the Phalange (*Fourier's story of utopia, blog author's note),arbourThe nature was well maintained and neatly arranged, and the eye was drawn along the road to the columnar buildings and colorful tents under the shade of the trees.poussinand Claude Lorrain (both Baroque painters. They were visions in the tradition of people like Claude Lorrain (both Baroque painters who specialized in elegant, orderly expressions of history and landscapes).
Opus Publishing, Jonathan Beecher, translated by Tomoki Fukushima, Charles Fourier: The Visionary and His World, p 69
Some line breaks have been made.
Claude Lorrain (1600s-1682) was Dostoevsky's favorite painter.
Dostoevsky loved his work as much as ever until his later years,Evil Spirits."andMinors."The film had a strong influence on the Hear and see what Motuliski had to say about "The Minors.
Russia's all-human love is embodied in the dream of the Golden Age. Dostoevsky has written Stavrogin's dream exactly as it is from the deleted chapter "At Chihon's Place" in "Evil Spirits". Only its tragic ending (the red spider) is left out.
The scene of paradise on earth was brought to us by Claude Lorrain's landscape painting "Assis and Galatea". Islands in the Archipelago Sea, blue waves, setting sun, wonderful, happy people. ......
This dream never left the artist's mind for the rest of his life. The utopia of the Golden Age illuminated his entire oeuvre with its far-reaching brilliance. Versilov said with sentimentality: "This is a wonderful dream of mankind, a noble meditation! This is the great dream of mankind, a noble meditation! The Golden Age is the most outrageous dream of all the dreams that have ever existed, but people have devoted their entire lives and energies to it. Prophets have died and been killed for it. Without it, all peoples would not be willing to live, or even to die! (ni).
Dostoevsky himself was a prophet of such "exorbitant dreams," and not only during his infatuation with Fourier and Saint-Simon, but also after his imprisonment - always the same.
Chikuma Shobo Publishing, Mochurisky, translated by Yutaka Matsushita and Kyoko Matsushita, "Critique Dostoevsky," P 578-579
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Perhaps Dostoevsky fell in love with Fourier's utopia because he had a similar aesthetic sense.
Fourier's almost maddening capacity for compassion.
Unlike Marx and Engels, Fourier emphasized the conflict between the two sexes and generations as much as between social classes.
He was also sensitive to the widest range of social ills, especially those kinds of emotional and spiritual hardships that the sufferer could not explain or even understand. Fourier was concerned not only with the exploitation of factory workers and the plight of small farmers, but also with the daily drudgery of housewives, the weariness of office jobs, the abuse of children, the lack of love and security in the lives of the elderly, and the suffering of ugly men and women. Their class or status did not matter at this point. Whatever it was, he saw it and understood it instantly, and he had the clear vision to see the pain where no one else noticed it.
This is why Edmund Wilson (American critic and essayist) went so far as to say that Fourier had "an almost insane capacity for sympathy.
Opus Publishing, Jonathan Beecher, translated by Tomoki Fukushima, Charles Fourier: The Visionary and His World, p 195
Some line breaks have been made.
I think this is a very important point.
Dostoevsky was also very sensitive to the suffering and empathy of each individual.
Dostoevsky is a writer who has depicted and been close to the suffering of these people since his debut novel, "The Poor People.
Suffering is not just suffering; there is great meaning in it.
I am too much in awe to describe the connection with Russian Orthodoxy in a single sentence, but there seems to be a connection between Dostoevsky and his involvement with the Russian Orthodox Church in terms of the importance he places on the issue of suffering.
We will consider this point again in the future as we look at the connection between Dostoevsky and Orthodoxy.
For more information on Dostoevsky's involvement with the Russian Orthodox Church, I recommend the above book, which I hope you will pick up.
Fourier's writing talent - overwhelming ability to describe Phalanges (Utopia)
One of the most striking features of Fourier's work is the charm and vividness of his brushwork in narrating the life of Phalange. Although he called himself "an uneducated shopkeeper," he actually possessed the creative genius and delicate brushwork of a rococo miniaturist. He had an eye for letting the detail speak for itself, for turning a wry irony on his characters. Above all, he had a remarkably precise imagination. Fourier was well aware of his imaginative powers. Even in his later years, he would appeal to his critics who were still living comfortably in the literary world, asking them if their works, even if fictional, were not far superior to his own.
What a sorry bunch of novelists you are! Have you ever written a single novel that is worth even a quarter of my work? Even if I were only playing the role of a novelist, I alone could stand up to the wave of novelists, beat them, and prove that they are nothing more than a bunch of incompetent pygmies."
Fourier, like his contemporary Balzac, created the world from his imagination. But he was not satisfied until his fiction became reality.
Opus Publishing, Jonathan Beecher, translated by Tomoki Fukushima, Charles Fourier: The Visionary and His World, p. 226
The greatest appeal of Fourier's work was his brushwork and overwhelming descriptive power.
It surpasses all other novelists, so much so that the author has placed it alongside Balzac.
As a literary youth, Dostoevsky would surely have been entranced by the display of his perfect utopia.
After all, both Fourier and Dostoevsky favored a Claude Lorrain-like beauty. Their ideal worlds are similar to begin with. Moreover, it is not surprising that Dostoevsky fell in love with Fourier, who reproduces it perfectly with the power of words.
Fourier also emphasized "harmony" in his depiction of utopia.
This is another important point when considering Dostoevsky. When Dostoevsky was conscious of "harmony," I would like to pay attention to how he incorporated it in his works in the future.
Conclusion
In this article, I considered the connection between Fourier and Dostoevsky with reference to "Charles Fourier Biography: The Visionary and His World" and "Critical Biography of Dostoevsky.
Although there may be more connections that could be found if we looked at them more closely, I have introduced three points that I thought were important.
1 Fourier's aesthetic sense and Claude Lorrain
2 Fourier's almost insane capacity for compassion
3 Fourier's writing talent - overwhelming ability to describe Phalanges (Utopia)
I felt that these may have been the background to Dostoevsky's love affair with Fourier.
I also find it very interesting that Dostoevsky and other Russian youth saw Fourierian thought as an extension of Christianity.
This may be a phenomenon unique to Russia.
I felt little Christianity in "Biography of Fourier," and while it may have been at the root of his work, it is doubtful that Fourier thought about Christianity to the extent that Dostoevsky and his colleagues were so enthusiastic about it. If anything, the other visionary socialist, Saint-Simon, clearly had a more Christian worldview.
We do not know what Fourier actually thought, but it seems that for Dostoevsky, Fourier was a thinker who touched his heart.
I read Fourier in the process of learning about Marx and had the unexpected benefit of connecting with Dostoevsky.
This could be a great clue to Dostoevsky before his Siberian exile. This was an interesting find.
The above is "Utopian Socialist Fourier and Dostoevsky - Why was Dostoevsky attracted to Fourier?
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