Woronieckiego spojrzenie na Dostojewskiego

Abstract

Woroniecki’s view on Dostojewski derives from an intention to get closer to the literary output of this Russian novelist, it is aimed at reaching his understanding of the world and entire dialectics in the struggle with life and its degenerations. The contemporary world and a man who is living in it, have an irresistible need to see again the mastery of the realistic psychological prose full of philosophical and humanistic issues and better understand the vital ideas related to the fate of a man, the world and God, the ideas, which are still very vivid and so relevant even today. In the pages of this sketch, I reach for the works of Mereżkowski, Szestov, Dostoevsky and Evdokimov, as well as I refer to the thoughts of Father Jacek Woroniecki, and in particular to two of his articles dedicated to Dostoevsky, which are entitled: ‘Kult Dostojewskiego i jego tragizm’ and ‘Chrześcijanizm powieści Dostojewskiego i Mauriac’a’. Jacek Woroniecki is very interested in Russian culture and in the spiritual influence of the Orthodox Church, as well as its practices and rites. Knowing perfectly the rich literary output of this Russian novelist, Woroniecki describes apt and interesting (what is more still relevant) ways of deciphering and understanding of this very complex, heterogeneous and dramatic interpretation of human ways, of a human condition in comparison with the history and others, in the struggle with one’s own weakness and dreams about power, which appear in the works of Dostoevsky. Woroniecki pays attention to the unknown and uncovered threads and themes from the entire oeuvre of this Russian genius, the subjects which are still so fascinating today. The author of ‘Katolickość Tomizmu’ emphasizes the fact that in case of Dostoevsky and his works we undoubtedly deal with a deeply Christian author, particularly in the period after the penal servitude. Dostoevsky presents in an almost visionary way his own original conception of a man and man’s relation with the world and God, the conception that he worked out independently with the use of artistic and theoretical means. The main literary character of the author of ‘Biesy’ [Devils] is a being with an unsettled balance, a being that is marked by a certain ambiguity. In the biggest and ever-lasting novels of Dostoevsky we can see sick’ individuals, who have been put off their existential rhythm, the people from the underground: arguing, presenting (sometimes unclear and irrational) motives of their actions, but most of all people suffering, enduring the pain of existence.