Abstract

In this dissertation I read portions of Dostoevsky's fictive work in light of Nietzsche's conception of ressentiment. This allows me to explore the relationship between Dostoevsky's poetics and his ethics . ;After an introductory chapter, I highlight Nietzsche's characterization of ressentiment. I then show how Dostoevsky gives a nearly perfect poetic representation of ressentiment in his depiction of the Underground Man. In chapter 3, I examine the critique of rationality in Dostoevsky's work. I show how reason and logic, when they do not recognize their own limits, are products of ressentiment. In chapter 4, I show that Dostoevsky presents an alternative to reason and logic in narrative. I claim that narrative accounts avoid ressentiment to the extent that they challenge their own credibility and "accuracy." In chapter 5, I show how an appreciation of the logic of ressentiment vis-a-vis narrative demands that we reject "Euclidean," depersonalized notions of time. In chapter 6, I show how these thoughts tie into Dostoevsky's understanding of Jesus and Christianity. For Dostoevsky, there is a deep connection between self-consciously incomplete narratives and Jesus, because both respect freedom and autonomy. In chapter 7, I contend that the notion of community that is implicated by Dostoevsky's work is one in which freedom and interdependence commingle, one that is devoid of ressentiment