Onomastics and Paradox: Dostoevsky and the Collapse of the Ontological Integrity of Character. Onomastics plays a key role in Dostoevsky’s poetics: the names of most of his characters are essential to their portraits, even though these names rarely signify unambiguously. Moreover, a number of his characters are nameless and a semantic tension arises from this absence: the impossibility of “branding” the hero with a name prevents us from identifying his or her features through verbal onomastic symbolism. The portrait of such characters necessarily remains somewhat murky. It is no coincidence that the “nameless heroes” are the most paradoxical and enigmatic characters of Dostoevsky’s creative world. By denying them names, Dostoevsky seeks to destroy the inner integrity of these heroes, their identity, in order that a living, independent, and contradictory personality emerges in them.

Ономастика и Парадокс: Достоевский и крушение онтологической целостности персонажа

Aloe, Stefano
2023-01-01

Abstract

Onomastics and Paradox: Dostoevsky and the Collapse of the Ontological Integrity of Character. Onomastics plays a key role in Dostoevsky’s poetics: the names of most of his characters are essential to their portraits, even though these names rarely signify unambiguously. Moreover, a number of his characters are nameless and a semantic tension arises from this absence: the impossibility of “branding” the hero with a name prevents us from identifying his or her features through verbal onomastic symbolism. The portrait of such characters necessarily remains somewhat murky. It is no coincidence that the “nameless heroes” are the most paradoxical and enigmatic characters of Dostoevsky’s creative world. By denying them names, Dostoevsky seeks to destroy the inner integrity of these heroes, their identity, in order that a living, independent, and contradictory personality emerges in them.
2023
979-12-215-0122-3
Dostoevsky, Onomastics and Ontology, Characters’ names, Nameless heroes, Hermeneutics of the name
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Onomastika i paradoks.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Versione dell'editore
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 283.64 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
283.64 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11562/1108146
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact