Ideas of F.M. Dostoevsky in the Context of M. Prishvin’s Worldview Formation at the Turn of 19th–20th Centuries

Background: The relevance of the study stems from the fact that historically the cultural life of Russia from 1917 to the early 1990s was under strong pressure of the communist dogma. The article aims to analyze the global impact made on Prishvin’s world view by Russian and European thinkers whose works were banned by censors during the Soviet era. Method: Basic approaches to the study of ideological and philosophical context of Prishvin’s worldview development at the turn of 19-20th centuries include biographical, dialectical, cultural and historical, comparative-historical and hermeneutical methods. Their application enabled to determine such crucial point as the impact made on the writer by such philosophers and thinkers as Nietzsche, Marx and Dostoyevsky. This allows not only to consider the distinctive features of Prishvin’s works, but also to compare them with the ideas of both Russian and European philosophers as well as texts of other wordsmiths. Findings: The paper proves that the reason for notable spiritual gravitational attraction of Prishvin to Dostoevsky was the ideological closeness of their views on life, the recognition of the primacy of moral principles in people’s lives. Both writers share the belief in the inherent value of a life of each “little” man. Dostoevsky’s ideas and images form the context which allows Prishvin to comprehend the laws of his time and to evaluate philosophical and ideological views of the domestic and European thinkers. Dostoyevsky’s works help Prishvin to better understand the development of Nietzscheanism in the Russian public consciousness, these ideas mixing with Marxism into one revolutionary and nihilist worldview. While in the middle of the 19th century the author of The Possessed witnessed the initial stage of the revolutionary socialist movement in Russia and denounced with all the passion of his talent the negative impact of this trend, at the beginning of the 20th century Prishvin could see the final phase of the movement, when the supporters of the revolutionary ideas staged a coup. Following in Dostoevsky’s footsteps, Prishvin considered the pressing issues of his time in a wide context of national and European cultural tradition, debating with a variety of thinkers quite frequently belonging to opposite ideological positions. Improvements: The article can be used in school and university courses of cultural and literary subjects, for extracurricular activities, preparation of term papers and graduation theses.