도스또예프스끼의 「영원한 남편」에 관한 일고―중심 캐릭터의 정형성에 관하여

Abstract

Unlike his major works, novelist F. Dostoevsky’s The Eternal Husband has been mentioned merely on a titular basis not only in Korea but also in Russia, which may evidence that it is a minor work with minimal attraction as an object of literary study. Consequently, any review of the novel still remains on a comparatively shallow state as compared with those of his major novels.This novel starts with the theme of ‘broken matrimonial ethics,’ which has been frequently adopted as a classical as well as contemporary subject matter. The love triangle ‘among wife, husband, and lover’ and the ‘human conflict’ derived from, and instigated by the affairs constitute the core of the story. The story develops around the characters of Natal’ya, the ‘unfaithful wife,’ Trusotsky, the ‘betrayed husband’ and Vel’chaninov, the ‘lover’. The state of their psychological conflict constitutes the heart of the novel. The novel specifically casts light upon how the two men come up to the eventual catharsis through the psychological conflict felt between each other. Two major characters are proved to be typical characters, < The eternal husband> and < The eternal Don Juan>.By the bye, the literary value of The Eternal Husband lies in its inherent universality existing beyond the external banality of its subject matter and its syuzhet. It can be safely said that Dostoevsky’s The Eternal Husband has proved to be such a work as it has transcendentally gauged a matter of fundamental human nature through these typical characters. Even if The Eternal Husband is a novel of 19th century, it still effectively illuminates the universality of human nature through Dostoevsky's great talent.