ARCHETYPICAL MOTIF OF A PACT WITH THE DEVIL IN THE NOVELS BY DOSTOEVSKY: "GOD-FORSAKING SCRIPTURE"

The article looks at the motif of a pact with the devil in the plots of Dostoevsky's novels. Just as in the medieval plots the pact with the Devil had to be verified with a written bond, Dostoevsky's ideological characters (Rodion Raskolnikov, Ivan Karamazov) justify their theomachic ideas in the articles they write. A slightly less intense version of this motif can be found in the 'atheistic poem' written by Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky. As such, the “God-forsaking scripture” can take the form of a suicide note (Ippolit Terentiev, Nikolai Stavrogin), followed by suicide as a Goddenying act. In accordance with mythological views, Dostoevsky treats spoken and especially written Word as capable of influencing the world and man's fate. The writer's interest in the archetypical plot of the pact between man and devil stemmed from his remythologization of the novel. This mandated the actualization of the motif of “Godforsaking writing” in the texts of his novels.