About the motives of hell, purgatory, and paradise in the works of F.M. Dostoevsky

Abstract

The article examines the philosophical and metaphysical ideas of Dostoevsky in comparison with the images of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. The comparison is based on the theurgic approach to art advocated by both artists, which assumes that art is designed to serve the transformation of man and reality. At the same time, art is called upon to communicate to a person the truth of life, which can become an effective program for his life. Such a truth is the state of universal unity (All-in-One), which is also the state of universal love. Aiming to show the content of this truth and the ways to achieve it, Dostoevsky unfolds in his work a panorama of hell, purgatory, and paradise not as separate areas of being, but as three dimensions of a single reality. The above considerations were accompanied by references to the works of Vyacheslav Ivanov, who convincingly substantiated the comparison of Dostoevsky with Dante, as well as reminiscences from the works of Vladimir Solovyov, who embodied Dostoevsky’s ideas about universal love into the philosophical concept of universal unity.