Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.32728/tab.21.2024.8

The Poetics of the Number “four” in the Novels of F. M. Dostoevsky

Irena Mikulaco ; Sveučilište Jurja Dobrile u Puli, Filozofski fakultet
Galina Romanova ; Moskovsko gradsko sveučilište, Rusija

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Abstract

The article considers examples of the frequency of use of the number “four” and related words in Dostoevsky’s novels “Poor People”, “The Humiliated and Insulted”, and “The Idiot”. This number denotes periods lasting four hours, days, weeks, and years, primarily in the heroes’ backstories. This number is no less often used to denote sums of money (a quarter of a ruble, four rubles, four hundred rubles) and great wealth (four houses, four thousand serfs). It is concluded that the poetics of numbers in Dostoevsky’s works do not characterize rational consciousness, the tendency to count, measure, and determine everything by calculation, but rather convey a vague impression of the multitude, quantity, significant for those who surround him. In the numerology of Dostoevsky, who often used the number “four”, the writer’s desire to move away from the traditional mysticism of numbers is manifested, which becomes a special artistic technique aimed at enhancing authenticity, creating the illusion of reality and a special artistic effect.

Keywords

Dostoevsky; numerology; poetics; four; artistic image; sign; meaning

Hrčak ID:

321208

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/321208

Publication date:

3.10.2024.

Article data in other languages: russian croatian

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