Iranian Literary Criticism about Dostoevsky: Works of Fatima Sayyah

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the critical heritage of F. Sayyah dedicated to Dostoevsky. At first the biography of the researcher who linked the cultures of Russia and Iran with her own destiny is briefly presented. The works of the 1920s "Dostoevsky and Contemporary French Literature", "Dostoevsky in Western Criticism" are analyzed. The key methodological guidelines of the researcher are noted: the perception of Dostoevsky as a writer of a crisis era, which determined the psychological characteristics of his novels, duality as a manifestation of the spiritual instability of the heroes, dynamism as a principle of the temporal and compositional organization of the text. The position of I. Parsinezhad on the dominance of the Marxist ideological attitude in the research of F. Sayyah was critically assessed. A short article-preface to the Persian translation of the «White Nights» story is analyzed. It is indicated that the article not only reveals the artistic genius of Dostoevsky for the Iranian reader, but also contains a call to learn from him the skills of writing, to form realistic Iranian prose based on Dostoevsky. The general conclusion of the article is to affirm the relevance of the ideas of F. Sayyah for contemporary Dostoevsky studies.

Extended abstract:

The article is devoted to the study of F. Sayyah's critical legacy dedicated to Dostoevsky. F. Sayyah was a unique scientist who united two countries and two cultures by her own destiny. The works of the 1920s "Dostoevsky and Contemporary French Literature", "Dostoevsky in Western Criticism" are analyzed. The key methodological attitudes of the researcher are noted: the perception of Dostoevsky as a writer of a crisis era, which determined the features of the psychologism of his novels, duality as a manifestation of the spiritual instability of the heroes, dynamism as a principle of the temporal and compositional organization of the text. The position of I. Parsi-Nejad on the domination of the Marxist ideological attitude in the research of F. Sayyah is critically assessed. In this article, looking through F. Sayyah 's articles and the views of critics of her work, with a descriptive-analytical method, we want to answer the question of what impact F. Sayyah's research on Dostoevsky had on Iranian society, and how much it is necessary to review her research in this area. We believe that F. Sayyah's scientific and social activities predetermined active cultural interest that surrounds the name of Dostoevsky in modern Iran. In addition to translations and films adapted from Dostoevsky's works, we can also talk about the development of research approaches, represented mainly by comparative studies.            The prospect of this article is the expansion of ideas about the undeservedly forgotten scientist who instilled in modern Iranian literature a love for the Russian classics and enriched Iranian literary criticism with the methodology of socio-psychological analysis. Philological erudition F. Sayyah brought deeply mastered problems of European studies into the Iranian literature. Her brilliant works on Dostoevsky, published almost a hundred years ago, have not lost their heuristic potential even today. The purpose of this article is to comprehend the direction of F. Sayyah 's researches, to assess its role in realizing Dostoevsky's worldwide influence. The problem posed in the article of comprehending the researches of F. Sayyah found its solution in the analysis of her articles on Dostoevsky of both the Soviet and Iranian periods. The article not only makes the artistic genius of Dostoevsky known to the Iranian reader, but also examines the research of a forgotten researcher on Dostoevsky in its entirety. The general conclusion of the article is to affirm the relevance of F. Sayyah's ideas for modern Dostoevsky studies.