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Every Woman Loves a Nihilist: Stavrogin and Women in Dostoevsky's "The Possessed"Author(s): Nina Pelikan StrausSource: NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Spring, 1994), pp. 271-286Published by: Duke University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1345645 .
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Every
Woman
oves Nihilist:
tavrogin
and
Womenn
Dostoevsky'sThe Possessed
NINA
PELIKAN
STRAUS
Dostoevsky's
itle
Besy),
ranslated
he Possessed
r The
Devils,
uggests
hat
the
nhabitantsf
Skvoresniki
re
"possessed"
by
a modern
evolutionary
de-
ology
dedicated to violence and
separatism
from
ordinary
community.
Dostoevsky's
ttitude
owards
modern
ocial
problems,
o
his characters'
is-
cussions of "the ncidence frobberynd violence .. doubled" (326),to the
"unrestrained
ttitude
that]
was
the fashion"
303),
and
particularly
o
"the
woman
question,"
s
frequently
ead
as evidence
of his
Slavophile
conser-
vatism.
Yet,
as the
philosopher
Charles
Taylor
has
recently
oted,
what is
significant
bout
ThePossessed
is the
way
in
which
hemodern
dentity,
ith
its
transformingowers,
as become
ncorporated
n
Dostoevsky's
ision,
ven
while he
opposes
t"
452).
In
what
sense is
Dostoevsky's olemic
gainst
ocialist/terrorist
eminism
modernist,
nd
what s
that
polemic's
ubtext?
Whatdoes
the
author
mean
by
surrounding
is
nihilist
ero
Stavrogin
with everal
womenwithwhom
he is
sexually
ntimatendwho
successively
xposehisweakness?A woman eading
the
text
n
1995
may
seek differentnswers
to
this
question
han
the
mostly
male traditional
ommentary
ffers.
he tradition
ow
includes
n
incorpora-
tionof
Bahktinian
oetics:
henotion
hat
Dostoevsky's olemic
gainst
mod-
ernist
women s
disturbed,
ndermined,
nd confused
y
a "double-voiced
is-
course"
and "hidden
polemic"
Problems
96).
Does this
polyphony
ffect
ym-
pathy
or
heforces
atirized
nd an
exposure, hrough
tavrogin,
f the
mas-
culinist
yranny
rom
which
feminism
springs?1
he
Possessed
uggests
how
deeply
the
question
f womendisturbed
ostoevsky,
ow
in
writing
gainst
t
hewouldbe compelled oexploret,particularlyntheoncesuppressedhap-
ter,
"At
Tikhon's,"
n
which
Stavrogin
onfesses
to his
rape
of the
girl
Matryosha.
Dostoevsky's
ssociation
of violence with
demonic
possession,
coded
as
the
"great physical
strength"
f
Stavrogin
44)
and the
phallic
"flickeringip
of
[Verkhovensky's]
ongue"
172),
nscribes iblical
llusions
that,
while
osing
only
ome of their
riginal
orce,
an
now be re-contextual-
ized
within
late
twentieth-century
eading
horizon
of
modernist/feminist
questions
nd
critiques
f
masculinist
ulture.
urprising
ntersections
eween
Dostoevsky
nd
contemporary
eminism
merge
rom
he
novel's
references
o
Dostoevksy's
affair
with the feminist
Appolinaria
Suslova,
the fact that feminist
words
were the air he
breathed
and
the
evidence that a
perverse,
willful revisionism
might
be
an
important part
of
his own
writing tendency,
indicate that
Dostoevsky's
relation
o "the feminine
was
anything
ut
simple.
Female heroism
during
the Crimean
war had
persuaded
him that women deserved
"full
equality
of
rights
with the
male
in
the fields of
education,
professions,
enure
of
office,
he
in whom at
present
we
place
all our
hopes
... Of her
own
accord,
she strode
over those
steps
which until
now
had set the
limit
o
her
rights.
She has
proved
what
heights
he
can
ascend,
and
what she is
able
to
achieve"
(Diary
of
MWiter,
46).
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8/18/2019 Straus - Every Woman Loves a Nihilist
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272
NOVEL I SPRING
1994
the
abuse and
rape
of
girls
224-25),
the
terrible]
ot
of theRussian
woman"
(285),
and
"women's
rights"
25).
The novelist's
ifficultelations
with
femi-
nists
particularly
.
Suslova), nformed y his readingofChernyshevsky,leave
deep
tracesn
Dostoevsky's
iscourse-so
deep,
on
occasion,
hat emale
voices and
gestures
may
occasionally
shout down the
author,"
s
Jacques
Catteau
uggests
3):
particularly
he uthor's
ossipy
narrator
n
Besy.
This
essay
glances
briefly
t
the
question
f whether 860s
Russian
ocial-
nihilist
women an
be
profitablyompared
with
ne strand
f U.S.
female er-
rorism
hat
rose
in
anti-establishment
roups
of
the
1960s-groups
ike
the
Weathermen nd
Charles
Manson's.
Manson's
ordering
of the Tate
and
LaBianca
murders,
ike
Stavrogin's rdering
f
the
Lebyatkins'
eaths,
n-
volves
a
masculinist
omplex
nd
a
perverse
Nietzschean"
elf-identification.
Atthe ndofthis ssay, will uggestome onnectionsetweenhe onstruction
of
femininity
n
The
Possessed's
nd
Manson's
"family,"
ased
on
Manson's
re-
mark
that "women
...
were
only
a
reflection f their
men,
..
an
accumulation
of
all
the
men
they]
ad
been
close
to."2
In
recent
e-theorizings
f
Dostoevsky's
iscourse,
he
traditional
dea
that
Dostoevsky's
women "mirror"
he hero is transformed
y
the
idea
of a
"structure
f
alterity"
nd
the
rgument
hat
Dostoevsky's
narrator
ejects
n
essentialist
onception
f man
and an
objective
vision
of ideas." Tzvetan
Todorov
rgues
hat
we
have to transcendhe
dea
ofthe utonomous
ext
een
as an
authentic
xpression
fa
subject,
ather
han s a reflection
fother
exts,
as play among interlocutors"89). In The Possessed, ne of thesetexts s
Chernyshevsky's
nd
some
of
these
interlocutors
re women.
Following
Todorov'snotion
hat
n
Notes
rom
nderground
isa
"rejects
oth he
master's
role
and
the
slave's"
(90),
we become
aware that
Liza
Tushina,
Maria
Lebyatkina,
nd
Matryosha ttempt
o free themselves
f
possession
by
Stavrogin's
masculinist
power.
Rather than
reflecting
tavrogin
himself,
women
reflect
itsof
new
consciousness,
races
f
alien views
which
tavrogin
must
ainfully
onfront.'
The
challenge
f
re-reading
ostoevsky's
eferences
o
cruelties
xperienced
by
females
hrough
men
n
the
novel-to
beating,ape,
nd murder-involves
resistance o
reducing
hem o
symptoms
f
Dostoevsky's
ssentialistiewsor
his
pornographic
nd
misogynist
mpulses,
s Freud
tendedto do.
As Louis
Breger
otes,
ostoevsky's epictions
f thematernal
omplex
re
as central
o
his
fiction
s
his
oedipal
and
parricide
themes.
Dostoevsky's
maternal
metaphors
re
associated
with
the dea of the
feminine
omponents
f
faith,
with
arth nd
Russiaas a
mother,
nd with
Jesus
s themother's on
incorpo-
rating
raits
f
suffering,
elf-sacrifice,
nd
compassionate
ove often
ssoci-
ated
with
femininity.
his
sentimental,
nd as Elizabeth
Dalton
notes,
dis-
2 VincentBugliosi, nHelterSkelter,uotes these remarks fManson's
along
with his Nietzscheanbelief n "the masterrace"
and in
the
necessity
f
surrounding
he
Strong
Man
with
women
lovers
225).
3
Dostoevsky's
letter
from1865
see
Selected
Ltters, 212-131
ndicates
that
Apollonaria
Suslova's
fiery
riticisms
f him had
their
effect.These
criticisms
were related to
her feminist deas
in
regard
to sex
(she
found
Dostoevsky
an
inadequate
lover),
and
to
marriage
he
treated
Suslova like
a
bourgeois
mistress
nd refused
o
divorce).
Dostoevsky's
interaction
with
socialist
feminism
esonates
throughout
his
work. See Nina Pelikan Straus's
Dostoevsky
nd the Woman
Question:
Rereadings
at
the
End
of Century
New
York:
St. Martin's
Press,
1994).
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NINA PELIKAN
TRAUSI STAVROGIN'S EVISIONIST
WOMEN
273
turbing
iew
of
femininity
evertheless
erges
with
powerful
ision
of
fe-
male
destructiveness,
ebelliousness,
nd disenchantment
ith men
in
The
Possessed. he
novelshareswith atetwentieth-centuryeminismariousex-
plorations
f female
ictimage
nd
critiques
f
masculine
antasy. ostoevsky
explores
he
eminine
ubject,
ot s feminismoes for he
purposes
f
iberating
women,
utfor
he
different
urposes
f
representing
he vilsofthe
oul/body
schism
he
associates
with
westernized
artesian
metaphysics;4
or
he
pur-
pose
of
exposing
he
breakdown f
the acred
hrough
he
mage
of
sexual
vio-
lation;
and
for
the
purpose
of
throwing
nto
symbolic
elief
he
picture
f
Mother
Russia
raped
by
her
nihilist-terrorist
ons.
Stavrogin's
nvolvements ith
Liza,
Matryosha,
aria,
nd
Mary ppear
n
relation
o the
political
activities
he
inspires.
n
The Possessed here re no
metaphysics ithoutrotics. tavrogin's od-defianceakes heform fraping
Matryosha
nd
ruiningMary
Shatov,
s
his
involvement
n
the
revolutionary
cause
takes
the form
of
allowing
Peter
Verkhovensky
o order Maria
Lebyatkina
murdered
o
that
tavrogin
an
run
way
with
Liza.
In
whichever
direction
he
reader
urns
o
interpret
he
novel,
violated
female
ppears,
monstrous
mage
f
masculinitymerges.
The
temptation
o
dolize
Stavrogin
s
nevertheless
major
tumbling
lock
in
attempting
feminist
pproach
ocused n
the
novel's
woman
uestion.
his
temptation
s
not
confined o
characters ithin he
ext,
ut s
part
f the
text's
critical
eception.
tavrogin's
rimes
have
been
described
n
terms f
a
mas-
culinistublime hat he tructurefthe ext ndermines.hePossessedncludes
scenes
f
male
cruelty
nd
self-empowerment
t
woman's
xpense
which ritics
identify
s
Russian
Don
Juanism
Mochulsky
34),
associate
with
Nietzsche's
Superman
hilosophy
Slonim),
nd
describe
n
heroic nd
metaphysical
erms
(Wasiolek).
Mochulsky
otesthat four
women
re
grouped
roundthehero"
and
that
all
of
them,
ike
mirrors,
eflect
arious
mages
of
the
charming
e-
mon."
Feminist
deas
may
be
more f a
problem
or
Dostoevsky's
arrator
nd
less for
ritics
ho
subsume
ostoevsky's
oman
uestion
nder he
tereotype
of
the
"'eternal
eminine'
n
respect
f
which,"
Mochulsky
rgues,
[Stavrogin]
commits
is
greatest
rime
Matryosha)
nd
his oftiestction
hismarriage
o
the
cripple)"
434-35).
Dostoevsky
hints hat hesecret ourceof
Stavrogin's
political
harisma
s his
sexual
activity
withwomen-his
name indicates he
phallic
tag
horn,
fter
ll-and that
cruel
exuality
will
produce perverse
male
following
and a
cruel
politics.
A
focus on
this
cruelty
suggests
Dostoevsky's rovocative
ontributionso
gender
iscourse.
A
negative
nd
de-romanticized
ersionof
Stavrogin
lowly emerges
s
women
close
in
on
him,
deconstructing
oth
his
"lofty"
nd
profane
ctivities
through
their
different
oices
and
perspectives.
Just
s
the
womanizing
Nachaev
(upon
whom
Dostoevsky
ased his
character)
eems
to close in
on
Dostoevsky's
attack on
modern
dualism
associated
with Descartes
and
masculinist
aggressiveness
resonates with
some
recent
feminist
haracterizations
f
Cartesian
philosophy
as "the
pure
masculinisation
of
thought"
and a
"flight
rom he
feminine"
Bordo
441).
Dostoevsky
shares with
feminists ike Bordo but
also with
philosophers
of
postmodernism
ike
Borgmann,
"doubt
whether he
ego
has
the
ndubitable
olidity
hat
Descartes claimed for
t
and ...
whether
t
could serve
as
the
beginning
for he
rational
reconstruction
f
reality....
The modern
project
s
not
simply
the advancement
of an
age-old
human
striving
for
more
comfort
nd
security
but the
mobilization
f
a
peculiar
masculine
ggressiveness
hat
breaks
hrough
ancient
estraints
nd
reserves"
(Borgmann
0-51
my
talics]).
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274
NOVEL
SPRING 994
Dostoevsky'smagination
s
he constructed
erkhovensky
nd
Stavrogin
n his
notebooks or
he
novel,
o
women
perform
hat evisionist
unction
n
the
om-
pletednovel'sstructure.eadersremain uzzledabout thechaotic elation f
the
Notebooks
or
ThePossessedo
the
novel,
s well as therelation f
thenov-
el's
two
centers o
each
other.
n
his
introduction
o the
Notebooks,
asiolek
suggests
that the
reader will
be
"skeptical
of
Dostoevsky's
appraisal
of
Nachaevas
naiveand
ignorant"
19),
ut t
s
precisely
men's
gnorance
nd ha-
tred
f
women
that
Dostoevsky's
ovel
exposes.
Stavrogin
ives
n
a worldof
narcissistic
elusionuntil
Dostoevsky
ramatizes
he
way
women
mock,
un-
mask,
nd
repudiate
im.
Yet the
novel
also
contains cenes
n
which
women,
particularly
ocialist
women,
re
sadistically
mocked.
No
doubt
thenarrator's
atire
n
Virginsky's
"student ister"whohas a "frightfulow" withher uncleover "his viewson
the
mancipation
f
women"
375)
confirmshat
ostoevsky
inds
women
s
so-
cialist
revolutionaries
o
less
misguided
nd fanatical han
men.
Dostoevsky's
attack s
directed
mainly
owardswomenwho mouth rude
ocialist ismissals
of
family
ies
and
marriage.
n
the
scene
where
the
nihilist
irl
tudent
alls
her
uncle
"moron" nd
argues
hat is views
"explain
he
behavior
f
ll
your
generation"
379),
we
see
a
mirror f
the
"generation
ap"
violence that
haunted
the
American 960s.
Dostoevsky
atirizes
girls
who
savagely
ttack
the
older
generation,
hile
on the
otherhand he
exposes
the
consequences
f
violentmale
sexism
through tavrogin's
elationswith
the
proud
Liza,
the
childMatryosha,he
crippled
Maria,and the submissive asha. Whether r
not
Dostoevsky
xplicitly
ecognized
he
connection etween
is own
repeated
representations
f
sexually
iolated
nd
oppressed
emales
nd
the
need for
e-
form
nd
protest
gainst
women's
ondition
rticulated
y
feminists,
is
novel
creates
continuum
etween
he
choolgirl's
ruelty
o
her
lders,
evolutionary
ideology's
ruelties o
ordinary eople,
nd
Stavrogin's
exual
ruelties o
ndi-
vidual
women.
Dostoevsky's arody
f
women's earch
or ew
dentities,
isconsecration
f
saintly
ut
"mad"
female
igures
ike
Maria,
nd his
inability
o invent
fe-
male heroinewhois not lso a victim fmalecruelty,as been nterpreteds
evidence f his
male chauvinism
Heldt
37).
Yet
the
question
f
reformulating
female
dentity
ccording
o
strictly
estern eminist
odels has
recently?
n-
vited
rethinking
ithin
eminism
hat
parallels
some
modern
thicists'
m-
braceof
Dostoevsky's
ritique
f
modernism.ilvia
Tandeciarz,
n
her
reading
of
Gayatri
pivak,
notes
some feminists' endencies o
"mechanically
pply
the same
dictums
egardless
f context nd an evident
need to
reexaminehe
presuppositions
which
inform
the feminist
anguard'"
(Tandeciarz
88).
Dostoevsky
irected similar
riticism owardthe
feminist
anguard
of his
own time
which
appeared
to be
"unparalleled
elsewhere
in
the
nineteenth en-
turyWesternworld" in itsdedication "to destroying he administrative ore of
the
Empire
through
ssassination"
(Stites
125).
The Possessed
ndicates how the
"oversaturat[ion]
with
deas about
a
new movement"
22)
offers o some
women
an
exciting
pportunity
or riticisms f the status
quo
but also
for ruel self-em-
powerments
t other
women's
expense.
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NINA PELIKAN
TRAUS
I
STAVROGIN'S EVISIONIST
WOMEN
275
Mrs.
Stavrogin
nd Mrs.
Von Lembke
use"
Maria
Lebyatkin
o show
how
progressive they
are. The
crippled
woman whom
Stavrogin
marries
to
"lacerate"himself ecomes thetemporarymascotof radicalfeministhic,
group
supported y
inherited
monies,
uggesting
ostoevsky's
dea
that
the
structuresf
money
ay
at the
heart f socialist
hought,
lthough
t claimed
o
dominate
hem"
Catteau
157).
f
Catteau
draws
our attention
o theeconomic
contradictions ithin
ocialist
evolutionary
tructures,
oanna
Hubbs
illumi-
nates the
political-religious
omplexities
f
Dostoevsky's
woman
question
n
her
comment
bout
Maria. She is "the con
of
Mother
Russia abandoned
and
martyredy
those elf-willedntellectuals
ho claim
o be
her
champions
nd
yet,
ike
petty
utocrats,
espise
her"
Hubbs
229).
Dostoevsky's
ortraits
f
presiding
women,
xaggerated
nd
sadistic,
timulate
difficult
uestion:
If
thepsychological ower ompulsionfmenoriginatedmaledominance], hat
originated
hat-and what can
supersede
t,
other than
the
psychological
power-compulsion
f
women?"
Mitchell
78-79).
The addiction o
cruelty
nd
to the charisma
f a cruel
male leader
is
the
novel's
central heme.
f
one
part
f
Dostoevsky's
ttack
n socialist
ihilism
s
configured y
male violation
f
females
nd female
age
at their
ppressors,
another
nvolves
his
description
f
the
way
women
re
influenced
o
remodel
their
ersonalities
n
masculine
ypes
hat
esult,
n Liza's
case,
n "Amazon"
challenges
to our
society"
nd a
conquerer's
sychology
104-5).
According
o
Mrs.
Drozdov,"
thenarrator
tates,
it had all
started
with
Liza's
'headstrong,
sarcastic ttitude,' hichNikolai Stavrogin],roud s hewas ... couldn't ake
and
returned
n
kind"
64).
Under
the
pressure
f
nihilist
deas,
the
relations
between
tavrogin
nd
Liza
signal
the breakdowns
etween
married
ouples
like
the
Virginskys
nd the
Shatovs,
eading
o
furtherreakdowns
f
ife-con-
firming
estraints
n
sexuality
nd
violence.
Mrs.
Stavrogin's
ontempt
or
Stepan Verkhovensky's
ld-fashioned
iberalism,
ike
Mrs. Von
Lembke's
championship
f
political
revolutionaries
gainst
her
husband's
befuddled
conservatism,
ndicates hat
destroying
radition
may duplicate
what
radical-
ism
eeks o
change.
WithLiza and Stavrogin's elationships a paradigm, ostoevsky eveals
the sado-masochistic
omponents
n
male
chauvinism,
ouples
these
with
he
revolutionary
mpulses
fboth
exes,
nd then
xposes
ontradictions
s
oppres-
sor
and
victim hift
ositions.
ne
result
s the
exposure
f
masculine
aivete,
the
result
f
sexist
gotism.
ike
Nachaev's,
Stavrogin's tupidity
may
consist
in
his
gnorance
f
ove's
power,
is resistance
o
Dostoevsky's
dea,
s
he
put
t
in
The
Diary f
Writer,
hat
in
women
esides
ur
onlygreat
hope,
one
of
the
pledges
of our revival"
Diary
846).
By
dramatizing
he connection
etween
bloody
evolution
nd theviolation f
women's odies
nd
minds,
he
writer
l-
legorizes
the
fit
between
male terrorist
ape
and
imposition
of Western
deas
on
MotherRussia.
Dostoevsky's
exploration
of masculine violence has
engaged
readers,
partic-
ularly
afterFreud's
argument
that
Dostoevsky's "sympathy
for
thecriminal
s
boundless"
(Dostoevsky
nd Parricide
77).
The Possessed
uggests
a turn
n
sympa-
thy
for
the second
sex, however,
dramatized
through
female characters'
ges-
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276
NOVEL
I SPRING1994
tures f
rebellion
gainst
menwhich eaders
aturated
n Freud
hardly
oticed.
In
scenes
nvolving
tavrogin
with
Liza
and
Matryosha,
ostoevsky
epeat-
edly nscribes gesture ffist-raisinghat ignals linkbetween eministnd
Christian
rotest.
While
Dostoevsky
mocks
the
revolutionaryarticipants
t
the "cell"
meeting
who
"raised heir
ight
ands,"
ut
then after
aising
hem
at
first,
t
once
put
themdown
again"
381),
he
gesture
ignifies
difference
when
women
enact t. Liza's
anguished
elations
with
tavrogin
ulminate
t
their
meeting
n
Father
emyon's
doorway
nd
her
raising
her
hand
to
the
level of his
face"
o
strike
im
318).
The
gesture
oreshadows
er
exposing
nd
denying
im
ater. he
"unconscious its
f
hatred
hat
Liza]
couldn't
ontrol"
(317)
lso
resonatewith
Matryosha's esture
f
raising
her
"threatening
..
lit-
tle fist"
t
Stavrogin
fter
e
rapes
her
430).
The
revolutionary's
ist-clench
becomes,whenwomen nact t, protest gainstmasculinistruelty, gesture
Mary
Shatova's
"Stavrogin's
beast "
613)
verbalizes.After
iving
birth o
Stavrogin's
hild,
Mary's
words
underscorehe
onsequences
fmen's
ddiction
to more
powerful
men:
"I
bet
f
said
I
wanted o
give
him
that
ther
horrible
name
i.e.
Stavrogin's],
ou'd
have
approved....
Ah,
you're
n
ungrateful,
on-
temptible
unch,
he
ot
of
you "
614).
While
he
bravestwomenunmask
hemale-bonded
lot"
whose
game
s
ex-
ploitation
and
radical
posturing,
he silliest women
succumb
to
men's
"progressive"
deas with unbridledenthusiasmfollowed
by
indignation.
Women
lay
n
importantart
n
thenovel
byestablishing
onnections
etween
what several ritics escribe s thenovel'sdual centers f
gravity:
tsone cen-
ter
ike
a
political
pamphlet
nd
the other
metaphysical
rama
Wasiolek
111);
r
its
division
nto two
plots,
ne
involving
eter
Verkhovensky
nd the
other
Nikolai
Stravrogin
Guerard
62).
Gordon
Livermore
olves
the
novel's
seemingly
racturedtructure
y
emphasizing
ts
"dialectical
nity"
nd
the
tension
etween
levels
of
reality" epresented
n
it
by
the
word
"secret"
185).
But what
s
that ecret nd
whose secret
s it? The
novel's
two
evels of
dis-
course
represent
gendered
chism.
he
revolutionary
nd
religious
trands
n
the
novel-suggested
by
Stavrogin
s the eader
who
will
"bring
s
theNew
Truth" 404) and Stavrogins "a complete theist who]still stands on the
next-to-the-top
ung
of
the adder of
perfect
aith"
421)-cannot
be
severed
from
tavrogin's
nvolvement
n
"sordid"
ove
affairs escribed
s
"whims"
(118)
r
from
he
fact hat
Stavrogin
s unmasked
by
the several
women
he
harms.
Women re
theclues to
the
ecret's
iscovery
nd to the
differencee-
tween
Stavrogin's
evels
of
being
his
appearance
and
his
reality)
s
repli-
cated
by
the
novel's
tructure.
Stavrogin's
ecret
wife,
Maria,
unmasksher
"prince"
s "the
false
tzar"
nd
"the
pretender"
n
Chapter
of
Part
Two.
The
story
f
Matryosha
Stavrogin's
confession)
nmaskswhat
Stavrogin
imselfallshis "sickness"
418).
iza ex-
poses Stavrogin in Part Three,Chapter 3, as an impotentman in need of a
"nurse"
(545).
If
"behind it
all stood Peter
Verkhovensky
with
his ...
mysteri-
ous
network"
685),
behind this s
anothernetwork
of
exploited
but
eventually
courageous
women who
grow
to hate
Stavrogin
afteronce
being
in
love with
him.
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NINA
PELIKAN
TRAUS
I
TAVROGIN'S
EVISIONIST
WOMEN 277
Considering
hese
xposures,
he
Possessed
anberead s
a
deconstruction
f
particular
indof
romanticized
asculinistickness
with
evolution,
ape,
the
will to
power,
and emotionalanaesthesia coded
as
symptoms
f
a
cruelNachaevianmodernism. s inKafka's
world,
itis womenwho ... offer
he
only
chance
of
finding
way past
the
barrierwhich
eparates
he alien
from
the world"
(Anders
32).
From
Stavrogin's
relations
with
Matryosha
to
Shatov's
experience
with
his wife
pregnant
y
Stavrogin,
men's
radical,
oot-
tearing
deologies
re
challenged
y
women's
groundings
n
bodily
vulnerabil-
ity
nd the
nsights
ained
as a result.
ven Peter
Verkhovensky's anipula-
tions
f
Julie
Von
Lembke
ackfire
pon
him
s
"her
yes
opened
at
last"
ust
moments
efore
he nnouncement
f
thefire
et
by
revolutionaries
ut
destroy-
ing
only peasants
524).
Mikhailovsky
otes
that
Dostoevsky analyzed
the
sensationsfa wolfdevouring sheepwith uchthoroughness.. even ove"
11-12),
ut
does
not
emphasize
how
many
of
these
sheep
are
female.
n
The
Possessed
his
devouring
s never
ungendered.
t is
specifically
inked
o
what
Albert
Guerard alls the
"paedophilic
hemes
n
Dostoevsky's
works"
93).
Among
Dostoevsky
ritics,
armolinksy
nd Guerard
most
fully
evelop
the
question
of
why
Dostoevsky
was haunted
y
the
particular
rime f
raping
young
girl
nd
why
he
punished
tavrogin
ith t. While
Yarmolinksy
nder-
plays,
but
does not
entirely
ismiss
Strakhov's
llegation
hat his secretde-
sire
was
Dostoevsky's,
he
notes
that "the theme s
adumbrated"
n "A
Christmas ree
and
a
Wedding",
n
The
nsulted
nd the
njured;
hat
t
is ex-
ploredthroughvidrigaylovn Crime ndPunishment,nd that the ame n-
clination s
vaguely
scribed o
Versilov
n A
Raw Youth" s well as
to
Dmitri
Karamazov
312).
Guerard
rgues
hat
Dostoevsky's
esire
o
commit his
rime
forced he
novelist
o
repeatedly
edeem
himself
ymbolically
n
confessional
fiction
101).
riticswho notethat
Bakhtin's
ersion
f
Dostoevsky's
iscourse
does not
take
nough
ccount f "the
negative,
estructive
otential
f
dialogic
discourse
n
a
constant
ower struggle"
Jones
96),
might
eturn
gain
to
Yarmolinsky's
nd
Guerard's
ocus. ower
truggles
ccur etween
tavrogin
nd
the
women
who
finally
efuse o
"mirror"
im.s
Responsibilities
or
rape
and for
female
deaths, hrough
uicidal
hanging,murder,rafterhildbith,re
part
f
Stavrogin's
istory
nd
significance.
is
crimes
re
particularly
asculinist.
n
the
shifting ender
world whereMrs.
Stavrogin
can
advise
Dasha to
marry
Stepan
Verkhovensky
for
his
"helplessness"
67),
where
Mayor
Von
Lembke
goes
"down
on
his
knees to
atone" for
his words
to the
perfectly
diotic
Mrs.
Von Lembke
488),
where
Lebyatkin
an
compare
himself o an
amoeba
n
a love
letter o
Liza
(126),
nd
where
Liputin
an thank
tavrogin
or
humiliating
im
with
his wife
49)-
Stavrogin
lone
plays
the
role
of
the
essentialist
male.
Dostoevsky
urrounds
Stavrogin
with
those the
narrator alls
"scum."
At
the centerof what Maria
5
Dostoevsky's
capacity
for
negative capability
and
writing gainst
himself s remarked
frequently
n the
critical
iterature,
both
by
Bakhtinians nd
by philosophers
like
Charles
Taylor. Lunarcharsky,
or
example,
noted
that
"Dostoevsky's
split
personality,
ogether
with the
fragmentation
f
the
capitalist
ociety
n
Russian,
awoke in him the
obsessional need
to
hear
again
and
again
the
trial
of
the
principles
of
socialism
and
reality,
nd
to
hear this trial n
conditions
as
unfavourable as
possible
to
socialism"
(219).
Dostoevsky's compulsive
need to
put
his ideas about
women
on
trial
is
particularly
vident
in
those
novels
in
which
rape
figures.
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278
NOVEL I
SPRING
1994
calls
"this
hird-rate
rowd"
261),
tavrogin
ives
out
a macho
dvertisement
for
himself hat
hrills is
radicalfollowers. he
worship
f
power,
he
dol-
izationofa man"who does notknowwhatfear s,"who "couldkill n cold
blood,"
who
"retained
omplete
ontrol
verhimself"
194)
describes
world
f
masculinist
alues
familiar
o us.
Stavrogin
mbodies
the absence
of
values
that
feministsike
Annete Baier and Carol
Gilligan
associate
with
female
ethics: motional
esponsiveness
s
a
part
f
cognition,
he
values
of
empathy,
and
thedesireto
communicate.
s
the
strong
ilent
ype
who
moving
thers,
remains
unmoved
himself,
tavrogin
eceives
Shatov's
strike
merely
s
an
"opportunity
o
take
ognizance
f
Stavrogin's]
wn
mmense
trength"
233).
A
Lacanian
might
ind
n
Shatov's
mage
of
Stavrogin's
mmobility
he
fan-
tasy
of an
eternally
rigid
phallus,
but
the
most
important
lement in
Stavrogin'sconographys hisrefusal o admitpity r terror.Whatfascinates
[Stavrogin's isciples],
f
course"
ays
the
narrator,
is
overcoming
heir
ear"
(194).
he
overcoming
fmasculine
ear
onstitutes
he
ource
f the
male-bond-
ing
that
educesnot
only tavrogin's
ollowers ut
also some
male
readers
nto
the
masculinist
ircle.
Although
o
critic an
approve
f
Stavrogin's
ctions,
choes
between
isci-
ples
inside nd outside f thetext
emain
art
f the
novel's
critical
pparatus:
"You're the
only
one who
could
have
raised
that
banner,"
ays
Shatov
to
Stavrogin
240).
"In
[Stavrogin's]
oul the
mpulse
o crime
s
paradoxically
he
impulse
to
freedom,"
writes
Wasiolek.
Responding
o critics
who describe
Stavrogin s the"mostcomplete .. embodimentf freedomwithoutGod"
(Wasiolek
131,
36),
he feminist eader utsideof the circle
notes
whose free-
dom s
violated
n
order
or
hat
mbodiment
o be
signified.
f
Stavrogin epre-
sents
hose
who
"challenge
od
and
society
nd their
wn conscience
y
willful
actions
beyondgood
and evil"'
(Slonim
00),
why
must
tavrogin
xpress
his
metaphysical
efiance
hrough ape
or
harming
women?
Among
Stavrogin's
followers,
nly
Kirilov sks the
mportant uestion:
"What has
Stavrogin's
sordid
private
ove affair
o do
with ur movement?"
564).
The moment
f this
answer
begins
with he
narrator's omment hat
tavrogin's
viciousness
was
cold
and controllednd
...
reasonable-themost epulsivenddangerous
here
is"
(195)
and continues
with the
mages
of Liza and
Matryosha
aising
heir
fists
o
Stavrogin.
he
answer
climaxes
n
Stavrogin's
onfession
nd with
Liza's
unmasking
f
Stavrogin
s a
diseased
manwhosefreedom
s
a
negation
f
others hat
rives
him
to
sexual
mpotence
nd suicide.
One
sentenceuttered
y
Shatov releases
Stavrogin
romhis
silence
and
drives
him
to
confess
t Tikhon's: Is
it true hat
you
entice hildren
nd
abuse
them?"
Stavrogin
nswers
Shatov with
a
lie:
"I
never
harmed
hildren,"
statement
which Richard Peace takes
seriously
in his
reluctance
to
find
Stavrogin
a
rapist
(211-13).
et the narrator'scomment-"He
said
it
after
si-
lence that had lasted too long. He had turned pale and his eyes glowed"
(240)-points
to
Stavrogin's guiltypreoccupation
with
his
rape
of
Matryosha.
The
preoccupation appears
even earlier
when
Stavrogin
s
discussing
suicide
with Kirilov.
"Man is
unhappy
because
he
doesn't
know he's
happy,"
the
the-
ory-soaked
Kirilov
rants. "That
stepdaughter
will
die,
the
little
girl
will re-
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NINA PELIKAN
TRAUS
I STAVROGIN'S EVISIONIST
WOMEN
279
main-and
everything
s
good,"
he
continues. So it's
good,"
says
Stavrogin,
"that
people
die of
hunger
nd
also that omeone
may
abuse or
rape
that
ittle
girl" 224).
As
a
figure
ramed
n
masculine mbivalence owards emales
nd "modern
vacuity
nd
sullenness"
Borgmann
-12),
tavrogin
s
simultaneously symbol
of
the
Great
Tradition's
machismo,
he Charles
Manson
bad-boy
nside
re-
pressed
male
consciousness,
nd the
ymbolic
iller f
patriarchy
hom
uasi-
liberated
women
hate
to
love. For men ike Peter
Verkhovensky,
hatov,
nd
Kirilov,
tavrogin
s
initially revolutionary
con.
As the narrative
evelops,
however,
tavrogin'smeaning
or
hewomen
undergoes
hange.
or
Liza,
Mrs.
Stavrogin,
ary,
nd
Dasha,
Stavrogin
t first mbodies
n absence ach
mag-
ines can
be
filled
with
herown
presence-either
s
lover,
mother,
ellow
adi-
cal,ornurse.His mask-likeace,uponwhichwomenhungry orpowerpaint
their
antasies;
is
political
harisma
nd
muscular
exuality,
resent
chal-
lenge
to
women
because
these
ualities ignifiy
subversion
fRussia's
patriar-
chal
order
through
which "new"
women
experience
heirrelease.
Stavrogin
represents
is
mother's new
hopes
and evena new
daydream
fhers"
45).
To
Liza
he
embodies
masculine
rchetype
he
wishesto confront
ithher
own
"uncannypower"
and will
to "dominate"
105).
As a model of
rebellion,
Stavrogin
epresents
n
inventory
f
potential
eminist/subversive
ttitudes.
He is
fearless
f and
irreveranto theestablishment
athers. e
is
unconven-
tional
n
his
sexual
behavior,
theistic
ntil
onfessed,
nd
supposedly
dedi-
cated torevolutionaryhange.Desperatemen and frustratedomen thrilled
by
the
thought
hathe
was a killer"
44),
love the
nihilist s Liza loves the
big
male
spider
he
magines tavrogin
ill
omeday
how
her
545).
But
Stavrogin
annot
ive
up
to the
expectations
mposed upon
him. This
"secret"
s never
precisely
rticulated
y
the
narrator,
ut
clearly
evealed
by
women
he is
involvedwith.
Confronting
asha,
Stavrogin
emarks
hat he
seemsto
be
attractedo him
s a nurse s
attracted
o
"a
particularly
harming
corpse"
277).
At
various
times
n
the novel
Maria,Dasha,
and Liza
all
imply
that
he
needs a
woman's
nursing
are
261,
45).
What
ppears
as
theweak
tie
between he woparts f thenovel's tructureurns ut to occurupona female
borderline
here
tavrogin's
dentity
s an erotic nd
political
hero
collapses.
In
scenes
nvolving
omen,
tavrogin
s
revealed o
be
an amateur s a
political
leader,
s
a
lover,
nd even as a
criminal,
icking
n the mostvulnerable
f
women,
he
"mad"
Maria,
and
allowing
thers
o do
his
dirty
work
with
he
Lebyatkins.
f,
as
Catteau makes
clear,
Dostoevsky's epudiation
f revolu-
tionary
ocialism nd
Chernyshevskian
eminism as
part
of his
critique
f
Russian
utopianism
380),
the
utopianism
f
masculinity,
ssociated
with a
western
artesian
isionof
rationality
nd
control,
s
just
as
forcefully
econ-
structed
hrough
henovel's
trange
reed fwomen.
The unmaskingofStavroginbywomen intensifiesn thenovel's second half,
marked
by
Stavrogin's
confession at Tikhon's that
Matryosha's
gaze frightens
him.
He also
craves the
experience
of
that
nforming
ear:
"I
wish she would
look at
me with
her
big
feverish
yes, just
as
they
were
then,
as
if
she could
see...."
Stavrogin
leaves this
sentence
unfinished,
rediting
Matryosha's
view
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280
NOVEL
I
SPRING
994
of him
with
power
and
knowledge
e
ambivalently
eeks.He writes
hat
he
could
"keep
Matryosha
way
if
chose
to do
so
...
But that'sthe
snag.
I've
neverwanted okeepher ut andI neverwill.Andso itwillgoon until go in-
sane"
430).
Stavrogin's
xtraordinary
onfession
uggests
he
engths
men
will
go
to avoid
identifying
ith
women's
experience
nd the
way
they
re
also
drawn
back
to t as
they egin
o
understandhe errorist
onsequences
f
their
masculine
rerogatives.
he
description
f
male
eyes
watching
emale
yes
ac-
cords
with n
analysis
f
Dostoevsky's
lterity,ramatizing
hefemale
ubject
as
a
force
hat,
n
penetrating
ale
consciousness,
s
sometimes
apable
of
trans-
forming
man's
alienation
rom
imself.
or
Stavrogin-a
type
of
nineteenth-
century
econstructionist/nihilist
heorist-this
lienation
s
connected
o
a
morality
hat
has
becomes
a
sliding
ignifier:
I
formulated o
myself
n
so
manywords the dea that neither new norfeelwhatevil is; ... that twas
all
a
convention."
et
Stavrogin
lso
understands
he
sexual-political
onse-
quences
of his
self-deconstruction:
I
could be free
f
all
convention,
ut
.. if
ever
ttained
hat
reedom
'd be
lost"
426).
Once
Stavrogin's
ecret oses ts
mysterious
tatus o become
sordid
ymp-
tom,
t
changes
he
way
we read
the
novel.Not
only
do
Stavrogin's
rimes
f
rape
and
complicity
n
the
murder
f
women
allegorize
the destruction f
Mother
Russia,
but
they
lso
illuminate
ostoevsky's
esponse
o
allegories
f
the
romantic
apist
n
modern
ovels
ince
Clarissa.
tavrogin's
ecret
oints
o
a
culturally
onstructed
asculinist
iscourse hat
ationalizes,
ven
cherishes s
"charmingemon[ology]"ntheonesex what twouldrepudiatewithout o-
mantic
excuses
in
the
other. The
Tikhon
chapter
reveals
that
Stavrogin's
"sordid
private
ove
affair[s]"
re
the
central ecret
hat
readershave
been
seeking.
he
crime
f
girl
rape
becomes he
paradigm
or
violent exist
ick-
ness,
delivered
finally
f
romantic
ssociations with aestheticized
rapes.
Stavrogin's
eed to
"kill"
thechild
n
Matryosha
nd
himself,
o
"see"
his/her
eyes
watching,
rives
him
towards
death which
replicates
er uicide and
identifies
is
pain
with
hers.
In
this
chapter
the voice and
image
of
the
"other"
inally
enetrates
s
it
dismantles he
hero'sheroism.
There are
readers
who
nevertheless indDostoevsky's emystificationf
Stavrogin
isappointing:
Throughout
henovelwe havea
Stavrogin
fsilence
and
self-containment,"
rites
Wasiolek,
a
portrait
hat
ccords
powerfully
with
the
silent
wasteland
hat
his inner
trength
akes
forhim.
The
analytic
Stavrogin
f
the
confessional
hapter
mars
this
mpassive,
unattached
ir"
(132).
What
Dostoevsky
lso
mars
s
a
romanticmasculinistdeal
of the unre-
stricted will"
as
the
grandest
f
human
ttributes.
ostoevsky's
ecisionto
connect
tavrogin's
onfessionf
rape
to
his admission
hat
he
is
"really
o so-
cialist,"
ut
"has
some
sort f
sickness"
418),
uggests
hefit etween
ibermen-
sch
sexism nd
political
nihilism.
epudiating
chiller's
omantic
onception
of "man" as "most sublimewhenhe resists hepressureofnature,when he ex-
hibits
moral
independence
of
natural
aws
in
a
condition of
emotional
stress'"
(Berlin
84-85),
Dostoevsky
shows
that
Stavrogin's
inability
to
love "nature"
and
"women"
produces
a
wasteland
that
eads to
psychological,
socio-politi-
cal,
and
metaphysical
terrorism.
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NINA
PELIKAN TRAUS
I STAVROGIN'S EVISIONISTWOMEN
281
Exploring
his
own
nihilism,
tavrogin
s
intensely
nvolved
with women
whom
he can
potentially
estroy,
with whom he is
partially
dentified,
nd
whose namesbeginwithMa, implying oththeprefix ortheearthlyword
"mother"
n
Russian nd
the
piritual
ame
of
"Madonna":
Matryosha,
aria,
Mary.
tavrogin
as sexual
relationswith wo of these
women,
while
his
sex-
ual
performance
ith
Liza
appears
to be
a
"complete lop"
550).
As
the
ource
of
Matryosha's
uicide,
Mary's
death,
and Maria's
murder,
tavrogin's
n-
volvements ith
women
uggest
n
unconscious
mother
omplex,
n addictiono
paying
back
or
destroying primal
female
mage.
Louis
Breger uggests
hat
thesewomen
epresent
plit
ragments
f
Stavrogin's
wn
ove-denying
other,
Vavara,
whom
he
has
incorporated
s
the deadened
part
of himself.
f
Matryosha
ymbolizes
he
vulnerable hild
whose
expectations
f
ove
must
be
sadisticallynnihilateds wereStavrogin'sn childhood, tavroginymbol-
izes
for
Matryosha
he
crippling
f
ove
through
exual violence.
Dostoevsky
wrotethat
he
"most
fearful
rime s
to
rape
a child"
because
it
"destroy[s]
faith n
love's
beauty"
cf.
Kjetsaa
327),
confirming
ikhon's
statement
o
Stavrogin
hat
theres not nd
cannot e
any
worse
rime
hanwhat
you
did
to
that
ittle
girl"
(434).
In
his
relation
o Maria
Lebyatkina,
n the other
hand,
Stavrogin
s unable
to
destroy
faith
n
love's
beauty,
and it is ratherMaria
who demolishes
Stavrogin's
aith
n
his
own
impenetrable
ill and
pretensions
o
metaphysi-
cal
sublimity.
eaten
daily by
her
brutal brother
nd
crippled
physically,
Mariadoes notmirrortavrogin'smasculinist athology utrather ears its
marks
n her
body.
Stavrogin
iscovers
hatMaria s not
mad or
docile
enough
to
be
incapable
f
recognizing
hat
he
is a "fraud
..
impersonating"
herevolu-
tion's
"prince"
while
becoming
ts
Jack
he
Ripper.
The wordsof the
crippled
woman
provoke
more
response
n
Stavrogin
han Shatov's
slap
in
the face:
"'What re
you
talking
bout?'"
he
screams
t
Maria,
pushing
heroff
o vio-
lently
hat
he
banged
her head and
shoulders
ainfully."
With
her
words
n
his
mind
bout
the knife"
e
carries
oth s
phallus
nd murder
weapon
263-
64),
he
runs ntothe
treet
houting
a
knife,
knife "-only
o
meet he ow-
life
criminal edka
who is his
truemirror.tavrogin'swill to repress
what
Mariaknowsabout him s
symbolized
n her death
by stabbing
nd fire-a
murder
is
faithful
ollowers
elieve
he
ordered.
In
The
Possessed omen
do not
n
fact
mirror
men
but break nd shatter he
masculine
mirror.
hrough
he
threewomenwho become
disillusionedwith
Stavrogin
nd
eventually
ie,
Dostoevsky
progressively
ramatizes
he de-
grees
and
levels
of
Stavrogin's
uin.
Liza's
final
destruction
f
Stavrogin's
fetish
akesthe
form,
ot of
Maria's
holy
foolChristian
rotest,
ut of
ncipi-
ent
feminist
rotest.
When
Stavrogin
dmits
to her that he has
the
right
o
torment
im,
that"I
knew I
didn't love
you
and
I've ruined
you,"
she
responds
by exposing his "noble sincerity" s anotherformof narcissistic sexism. Her
words contain
feministcid:
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282 NOVEL I SPRING
1994
"I
havenot he
lightest
esire obe
sympathizing
urse o
you. may
nd
up
as a
hospital
urse
f
don't
manage
odie
conveniently
his
ery
ay,
ut
'll
certainlyotnurseyou, lthough,f ourse, ou're
s
badly ff
s
anypoor
legless
rarmless reature."
545)
Liza's
description
f
Stavrogin
s
limbless
puts
a sexual
twist n
Maria's
idea
that
tavrogin
s a fraudwhose
onlypower
s the
knife.
esides
tit-for-
tat
revenge
orhis
impotence
nd
inability
o love
her,
he
engages
him n
a
challenge
o his
image
of her
femininity.
he
imagines
hat
he would
take
her
to
"some
place
wherethere
ived a
huge,
vicious
man-sized
pider
nd that
we'd
spend
therest f our
ives
staring
t
it
n
fear"
545).
She
wishes
to
con-
front heheart
f darkness hedominant ex
takes o
much
pride
n
dramatiz-
ing.Herimageof nsect orror ssociatesherwith everal fDostoevskymale
sensualists:with
the
rapist vidrigaylov
who
imagines
hell
full
of
spiders,
with
pollit's spider
dream
n
The
diot,
with
DmitriKaramazov
who
finds
"riddles"
in
"spider"
sensuality
where
"all contradictions
ive
together"
(Brothers
aramazov
08).
But
spiders
n
ThePossessed
re also
associated
with
Matryosha,
nd with
tavrogin'srojection
f
the
nsect
mageupon
herwhich
creates he
young
female s his
horror.
he
big
male
nsect
iza
wishes
o see
as
the
symbol
f the
tragic
iddleof human
nature
s
replicated
n miniature
n
the
dream
tavrogin
xperiences
ollowing
atryosha's
uicide.
In
his
confession,
tavrogin peaks
of
a
paradisal
dream
world
that
s trans-
formed onightmare.Inthemiddleof thebrightight" tavrogineesa "tiny
dot"
which ssumes the
shape
of a
"tiny
ed
spider"
that tabs
him. n that
light
he sees
Matryosha
tanding
reprovingly
nd
threatening
e with
her
little
ist
..
that
mmature reature ith
her mmature rain
hreatening
e
..
but
..
blaming nly
herself"
429-30).
n
Stavrogin's
allucination
e
is
stabbed
by
the female
pider
as he
had stabbed
her
sexually,
o
be
echoed
later
n
Liza's
strange
words.
f
for
iza
the
pider
s
large
nd
male,
for
tavrogin
t
s
small,
female nd
red,
condensation f
his
nsect
ensuality
nd
shame
with
Matryosha's
irgin
lood.
The
fusion f
gender
orrors,
fmale
nd female
en-
etrations
nd
stabbings,
eaches
ts
apotheosis
n
these
two scenes.
While
Matryosha's
esponse
s tokill
herself,
iza's is to articulatehewishto cas-
trate
tavarogin,
o see
themurdered ictims
in
whose
murder
he
knowsher-
self
complicit),
nd to
finally estroy
he
phallocentric
orship
Stavrogin's
image
nspired
n
her.
Dostoevsky's
eduction f
Stavrogin
s not
finally
irected
nly
oother
men.
He
also
mockswomen's
ddictions
o
iibermenschulture
nd
hero-worshipping,
either f
utopian
ocialist deals or
of charismatic
ndividuals.
he
exposure
f
women's
complicity
n
thecreation
f
pseudo-masculinist
eroics s confirmed
n
Stavrogin's
letter
o Dasha
in
which he
expresses
"no
respect"
forher
willing-
ness to sacrificeherself o him,a man who exhibits"negationwithoutstrength
and
without
generosity"
690-91).
Not
through
the
submissive Dasha
but
through
the
resisting
Maria,
Matryosha,
Mary,
and
Liza,
the answers to
Dostoevsky's
woman
question
evolve
through
he
exposure
of
contradictory
hemes with which
contemporary
feminism till
struggles:
women's seduction
by
the dea of
power;
the exhorta-
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NINA
ELIKAN
TRAUS
STAVROGIN'S
EVISIONIST
OMEN
283
tion
o women
o
empower
hemselves
s men
do,
and
at the
ame time
he
fem-
inist
ritique
f
power
s
"patriarchal,"long
with he
description
f
women s
better
nurturers r
nurses.By representinghese
unresolved ontradictions
within he
women's
movement,
ostoevsky's
iscourse
n theThePossessed
bridges
ome
gaps
between
roblems
hared
by
nineteenth-
nd twentieth-cen-
tury
eminists.he
novelist
warns
hat he
masculine
ggressiveness
ssociated
with
radical
politics
and
violenttransformations
f
tradition
may
destroy
what s
best boutwoman'sdifference.
If
Dostoevsky
n
any way
prophesized
Charles
Manson's
"family,"
his
s
because
terrorist
topian
deas
carry
with them
ertain
modern
patriarchal
impulses
not
easily
evered rom he
woman
question.
ike
Stavrogin,
anson
cannot ranscend
ood
and
evil
without
rafficking
n
the
women.
It was
only
throughhewomen .. thatCharlie ould attracthemen,"Manson'sbiogra-
pher
was told.
Like
Stavrogin
ho
cannot
feelwhat
vil
s,"
Manson
believed
evil
"was
all in
the
head,
all
subjective....
D]eath
was
a
fear hat
was
born
n
man'shead
and can be
taken
ut of
man's
head,
nd then
t
would
no
onger
x-
ist."
Dostoevsky's
epresentation
fwomen
followers
orshiping
progress"
n
the
name of
the
murderer
tavrogin,
s echoed
in
"Weatherman,"
ernadine
Dohrn's
reation
fManson s
a
countercultural
ero.
More
vicious than
Dostoevsky's
ocialist
irl
who mocks
the
older
genera-
tion,
ohrn
old
Students or Democratic
ociety
onvention
n
1970
hat
he
Manson
family's offing
hose
rich
pigs
with heir wn
forks
nd
knives
nd
then ating meal nthe ameroom"was "far ut " Bugiosi 24,221).The m-
age
of
murderers'
feasting
while victims die
is enacted
both
in
the
Tate/LaBianca
slaughter
nd "The End of
the
Festivities"
hapter
of
The
Possessed. he "true"
murder f
the
pregnant
haron
ate,
whose
arms
re
held
by
the"Manson
woman"Atkinswhile
Tex
does
the
killing"
Bugliosi
81),
nd
the
women's
omplicity
n
theRussian
male terrorism
hat
estroys
he
"mad"
Maria
Lebyatkina
s
she
hallucinates
regnancy,
uggest
rotesque
eplications
of
"art" nd "life"
n
the
history
f
misogyny.
onnections
etween
adical
pol-
itics,
female
sexual
vulnerability,
nd male sexism
link
our
world
with
Dostoevsky'shrough
ne
continuous
istorical
ontext:
heromantic
deologyofthe
uperman
ith ts
ccompanying
yth
fwoman sman's"mirror."
By exploring
he
meanings
f
Stavrogin's
iolations
f females
nd their
e-
actions
o
that
violation,
ostoevsky
makes
his
contribution
o the
politics
f
rape. By
exposing
he maimed
esthetics
f
super-masculinity
s
incorporated
by
bothmen nd
women,
he
Possessed
xposes
he
paradoxes
nspired
y
the
n-
cipient
eminization
f
politics
nd
literature.
6
The
feminization
f
iterature"
hat
ccurred
uring
ineteenth-century
asbeen emarked
y
Terry
agleton
nd
Rita elski
among
thers. elskiwrites
hat
an
maginary
dentification
ith he
feminine
ermeates
uch
f
he
writing
f
hemale
European
vant-garde
n the
atenineteenth
entury,period
n
which
ender
orms
ere
being rotested
nd
redefined
from
variety
f
tandpoints"
"Counterdiscourse"094).
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284
NOVEL SPRING 994
WorksCited
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n
English
re taken
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R.
MacAndrew's ranslation
f
Fyodor
Dostoevsky's
hePossessed. ew York:
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ibrary,
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rans
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nd
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n
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nd
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ohns
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ikhail. roblems
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imber
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