What is the secret of Dostoevsky’s genius: the opinion of literary scholar Yevgeny Zharinov

What makes a person a genius: talent, suffering or the ability to see further than others? Doctor of Philology, Professor at Moscow Pedagogical State University, writer, literary scholar and publicist Yevgeny Zharinov is convinced that the secret of Fyodor Dostoevsky cannot be explained by illness or by life’s dramas. According to him, a true genius is always beyond the norm. The expert spoke about this during a meeting of the Literary Club "What to Read?!", which was held in the format of an intellectual duel on the topic "Battle of Talents: Dostoevsky vs Bulgakov".

"In general, all the female characters are Dostoevsky’s painful experience of love. He was a passionate man, he was a gambling addict, he was an epileptic. But if only all epileptics, if only all gambling addicts were Fyodor Mikhailovich. There is no need to put an equals sign here, a sign of identity. Because epilepsy and gambling addiction are side effects. Any ailment knocks a person out of their usual rut forever. As Leskov said: 'Soon you will be fainting from health.' Health is also, you know, a dangerous illness. And, of course, genius is always outside the norm. Genius always looks somewhere further. As it is said: 'Deep calls to deep.' Genius is an abyss, and it speaks with the abyss," Yevgeny Zharinov said.

Watch the full recording of the livestream on the russia.ru website.

The Literary Club "What to Read?!" is an original project by the National Centre RUSSIA. The club’s meetings help participants look at familiar texts in a new way, discover a living conversation about the present day in the classics, and feel that literature remains a space of personal choice and meaning. Anyone can take part in the club’s events and other educational programmes of the National Centre RUSSIA free of charge by registering in advance on the russia.ru website in the "Events" section.