Reading, narrating, scripting: psycho-poetic strategies in Dostoevskii's Idiot

The thesis examines the role played by the characters in the structuring of Dostoevskii's novel Idiot. Taking into account the author's lack of a fixed plan for the novel, it assumes a future as yet uncreated and susceptible to being influenced and shaped by the characters. It identifies...

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Main Author: Young, Sarah J.
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2001
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11030/
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author Young, Sarah J.
author_facet Young, Sarah J.
author_sort Young, Sarah J.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The thesis examines the role played by the characters in the structuring of Dostoevskii's novel Idiot. Taking into account the author's lack of a fixed plan for the novel, it assumes a future as yet uncreated and susceptible to being influenced and shaped by the characters. It identifies the concept of ‘scripting', incorporating the strategies used by the protagonists to orchestrate their own lives and those of others, and thus to take control of the text, and the impulses behind these strategies. Both aspects are used to explore two connected issues; self-other interactions, connected primarily to the strategies employed, and the questions of faith and doubt faced by the characters, which are grounded in the same impulses as scripting. The concept of presentness links both areas. By looking in detail at the hero's and heroine's ideas and actions, how they affect each other and the other protagonists, the thesis examines how they steer the direction of the narrative and their primary motivation in doing so. Widening the focus to explore the implications of this analysis on the ethical and narrational planes, the thesis draws together the strands of scripting, presentness, self-other interactivity and problems of faith and doubt in order to discuss the nature of the ethical and narrational ideals posited by the novel, and the role these themes play in creating a sense of unity in the text, despite its unusual structuring.
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spelling nottingham-110302025-02-28T11:10:52Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11030/ Reading, narrating, scripting: psycho-poetic strategies in Dostoevskii's Idiot Young, Sarah J. The thesis examines the role played by the characters in the structuring of Dostoevskii's novel Idiot. Taking into account the author's lack of a fixed plan for the novel, it assumes a future as yet uncreated and susceptible to being influenced and shaped by the characters. It identifies the concept of ‘scripting', incorporating the strategies used by the protagonists to orchestrate their own lives and those of others, and thus to take control of the text, and the impulses behind these strategies. Both aspects are used to explore two connected issues; self-other interactions, connected primarily to the strategies employed, and the questions of faith and doubt faced by the characters, which are grounded in the same impulses as scripting. The concept of presentness links both areas. By looking in detail at the hero's and heroine's ideas and actions, how they affect each other and the other protagonists, the thesis examines how they steer the direction of the narrative and their primary motivation in doing so. Widening the focus to explore the implications of this analysis on the ethical and narrational planes, the thesis draws together the strands of scripting, presentness, self-other interactivity and problems of faith and doubt in order to discuss the nature of the ethical and narrational ideals posited by the novel, and the role these themes play in creating a sense of unity in the text, despite its unusual structuring. 2001-12-13 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11030/1/391431.pdf Young, Sarah J. (2001) Reading, narrating, scripting: psycho-poetic strategies in Dostoevskii's Idiot. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Fyodor Dostoyevsky Idiot Fictional characters Protagonists Faith and doubt Self-other interactions
spellingShingle Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Idiot
Fictional characters
Protagonists
Faith and doubt
Self-other interactions
Young, Sarah J.
Reading, narrating, scripting: psycho-poetic strategies in Dostoevskii's Idiot
title Reading, narrating, scripting: psycho-poetic strategies in Dostoevskii's Idiot
title_full Reading, narrating, scripting: psycho-poetic strategies in Dostoevskii's Idiot
title_fullStr Reading, narrating, scripting: psycho-poetic strategies in Dostoevskii's Idiot
title_full_unstemmed Reading, narrating, scripting: psycho-poetic strategies in Dostoevskii's Idiot
title_short Reading, narrating, scripting: psycho-poetic strategies in Dostoevskii's Idiot
title_sort reading, narrating, scripting: psycho-poetic strategies in dostoevskii's idiot
topic Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Idiot
Fictional characters
Protagonists
Faith and doubt
Self-other interactions
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11030/