The Historiosophy of the Estate in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Novel “Poor People”: Estate and Forest vs Estate and Steppe in Historical and Cultural Retrospective

JATS XML:

BibTEX:

Research Information Systems Citation Format:

Download:
PDF
For citation:
Bogdanova, O. A. “The Historiosophy of the Estate in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Novel ʽPoor People’: Estate and Forest vs Estate and Steppe in Historical and Cultural Retrospective.” Dva veka russkoi klassiki, vol. 8, no. 3, 2026, pp. 66–87. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2026-8-3-66-87
Abstract:
For the first time in scholarship, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel “Poor People” is analyzed from the perspective of the estate’s topography. Recurring elements are revealed in the plot of the work: St. Petersburg as a place of action in the present tense is framed in the past by the forest estate where the heroine grew up, and in the future by the steppe estate where she goes to live with her husband. Unlike interpretations of Varenka’s marriage to Bykov as a path to inevitable death, the article establishes the positive meaning of this event for the heroine. Additionally, based on the literary criticism of the 1840s, the article revises the semiotics of Bykov’s character as the embodiment of the steppe. The use of the retrospective method proposed by the Japanese scholar T. Kinoshita allows us to see in the representation of the forest and the steppe (conventionally Europe and Asia) an early manifestation of Dostoevsky’s historiosophical concept about the importance for Russia of not only its original forest territories but also the annexed steppe and Asian spaces, ensuring its spiritual independence from Europe. It is concluded that the symbolic plot of Varenka’s journey from the forest estate, through initiation in Petersburg as the embodiment of the imperial idea, to the steppe expanse, conveys the common fate of Russia, the complexity and crisis of its historical growth, and the heroism of the Eurasian mission.
Keywords: literary estate, Estate and Forest, Estate and Steppe, F. M. Dostoevsky, novel “Poor People,” retrospective approach, Russia, Eurasia
Author: Olga A. Bogdanova
Information about the author:
Olga A. Bogdanova, DSc in Philology, Leading Research Fellow, A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya St., 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7004-498X

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Received: March 10, 2026
Approved after reviewing: May 27, 2026
Published: September 25, 2026
Issue: 2026 Volume 8 No. 3
Department: Russian Literature of the 18th–19th Centuries
Pages: 66-87
DOI: Visit Website
EDN:
https://elibrary.ru/LTAPEQ
UDK: 821.161.1.09"19"
Publication Type: Research Article

References

Barsht, K. A. “Literaturnyi debiut F. M. Dostoevskogo: tvorcheskaia istoriia romana ʽBednye liudi’.” [“F. M. Dostoevsky’s Literary Debut: The Creative History of the Novel ʽPoor People’.”]. Dostoevskii, F. M. Bednye liudi [Poor People], ed. by K. A. Barsht. Moscow, Ladomir, Nauka Publ., 2015, pp. 379–514. (In Russ.)

Bogdanova, O. A. “Pamiati Toefusy Kinosity: o nauchnom i lichnom” [“In Memory of Toyofusa Kinoshita: On Scholarly and Personal”]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul’tura. Filologicheskii zhurnal [Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological Journal], no. 1 (33), 2026, pp. 210–232. (In Russ.)

Bogdanova, O. A. “Russkaia usad’ba v romane F. M. Dostoevskogo ʽPrestuplenie i nakazanie’.” [“The Russian Estate in F. M. Dostoevsky’s Novel ʽCrime and Punishment’.”]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul’tura. Filologicheskii zhurnal, no. 4 (20), 2022, pp. 136–162. (In Russ.)

Borisova, V. V., S. S. Shaulov, and Iu. V. Iukhnovich. “Delo o kumaninskom nasledstve” v zhizni i tvorchestve F. M. Dostoevskogo [“The Case of the Kumanin Inheritance” in the Life and Work of F. M. Dostoevsky]. Ufa, PechatniK Publ., 2021. 268 p. (In Russ.)

Vetlovskaia, V. E. Roman F. M. Dostoevskogo “Bednye liudi” [F. M. Dostoevsky’s Novel “Poor People”]. Leningrad, Khudozhestvennaia literatura Publ., 1988. 208 p. (In Russ.)

Vetlovskaia, V. E. “Istochniki i literaturnyi kontekst romana Dostoevskogo ʽBednye liudi’.” [“Sources and Literary Context of Dostoevsky’s Novel ʽPoor People’.”]. Slovesnost’ i istoriia [Literature and History], no. 3, 2020, pp. 7–31. (In Russ.)

Vinogradov, V. V. “Siuzhet i arkhitektonika romana Dostoevskogo ʽBednye liudi’ v sviazi s voprosom o poetike ʽnatural’noi shkoly’.” [“The Plot and Architectonics of Dostoevsky’s Novel ʽPoor People’ in Connection with the Poetics of the ʽNatural School’.”]. Tvorcheskii put’ Dostoevskogo [Dostoevsky’s Creative Path]. Leningrad, Seiatel’ Publ., 1924, pp. 49–103. (In Russ.)

Grossman, L. P. Poetika Dostoevskogo [Dostoevsky’s Poetics]. Moscow, Gosudarstvennaia akademiia khudozhestvennykh nauk Publ., 1925. 191 p. (In Russ.)

Darovoe Dostoevskogo: materialy i issledovaniia: kollektivnaia monografiia [Dostoevsky’s Darovoye: Materials and Research: A Collective Monograph], ed. by A. S. Bessonova. Kolomna, Liga Publ., 2021. 543 p. (In Russ.)

Zhiliakova, E. M. Traditsii sentimentalizma v tvorchestve rannego Dostoevskogo (1844–1849) [Traditions of Sentimentalism in the Works of Early Dostoevsky (1844–1849)]. Tomsk, Tomsk University Publ., 1989. 272 p. (In Russ.)

Komarovich, V. L. “Ves’ ustremlenie”: stat’i i issledovaniia o F. M. Dostoevskom [“The Whole Aspiration”: Articles and Studies on F. M. Dostoevsky], ed. by O. A. Bogdanova. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2018. 927 p. (In Russ.)

Lendova, O. V., and M. V. Novikova. “Onomastika v romane F. M. Dostoevskogo ʽPrestuplenie i nakazanie’.” [“Onomastics in Dostoevsky’s Novel ʽCrime and Punishment’.”]. Aktual’nye voprosy sovremennoi filologii i zhurnalistiki [Current Issues of Modern Philology and Journalism], no. 1 (28), 2018, pp. 69−74. (In Russ.)

Likhachev, D. S. Poeziia sadov. K semantike sadovo-parkovykh stilei. Sad kak tekst [Poetry of Gardens. Towards the Semantics of Garden and Park Styles. The Garden as a Text]. Moscow, Soglasie Publ., Novosti Publ., 1998. 469 p. (In Russ.)

Mikhnovets, M. V. “Istochniki znaniia o geografii Rossiiskoi imperii kak osnova geopoliticheskikh predstavlenii F. M. Dostoevskogo” [“Sources of Knowledge about the Geography of the Russian Empire as the Basis of F. M. Dostoevsky’s Geopolitical Ideas”]. Geopoliticheskaia karta i kartina mira F. M. Dostoevskogo [“F. M. Dostoevsky’s Geopolitical Map and Worldview”]. Tomsk, Tomsk State University Publ., 2021, pp. 59–68. (In Russ.)

Nechaeva, V. S. V sem’e i usad’be Dostoevskikh [In the Dostoevsky Family and Estate]. Moscow, Sotsekgiz Publ., 1939. 160 p. (In Russ.)

Nechaeva, V. S. Rannii Dostoevskii. 1821–1849 [Early Dostoevsky. 1821–1849]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1979. 288 p. (In Russ.)

Podosokorskii, N. N. “ʽRusskaia istoriia’ S. M. Solov’eva v romane F. M. Dostoevskogo ʽIdiot’.” [“ʽRussian History’ by S. M. Solovyov in F. M. Dostoevsky’s Novel ʽThe Idiot’.”]. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul’tura. Filologicheskii zhurnal, no. 3 (27), 2024, pp. 64–80. (In Russ.)

Saraskina, L. I. Dostoevskii [Dostoevsky]. Moscow, Molodaia gvardiia Publ., 2011. 825 p. (In Russ.)

Storozheva, A. A. Evoliutsiia stepnogo teksta v russkoi literature XI–XIX vv. [The Evolution of the Steppe Text in Russian Literature of the 11th–19th Centuries: PhD Thesis]. Ryazan, 2024. 213 p. (In Russ.)

Iakubovich, I. D. “Poetika romana ʽBednye liudi’ v svete evropeiskoi traditsii epistoliarnogo romana: N. Leonar — Pushkin — Dostoevskii” [“The Poetics of the Novel ʽPoor People’ in the Light of the European Tradition of the Epistolary Novel: N. Leonar — Pushkin — Dostoevsky”]. Dostoevskii. Materialy i issledovaniia [Dostoevsky. Materials and Research], vol. 16. St. Petersburg, IRL RAS Publ., 2001, pp. 80–96. (In Russ.)