Università degli Studi di Trieste - Scuola Superiore di Lingue Moderne per Interpreti e Traduttori
Abstract
The article sets out to analyse the evolution of the architectural image of the future in Dostoevsky’s work. Two fundamental lines are identified – the City and the Garden. Both are of Biblical origin. In Dostoevsky the image of the City is from the very beginning the negative symbol of possible social development in contrast to the Garden which, on the basis of a perceived folk tradition, is presented as the positive image of the autochthonous Russian utopia.
The analysis of the literary evolution of the two utopian images is then extended to early 20th-century Russian literature. The dichotomy between negative City and positive Garden proves to be clear in most Russian writers with a few notable exceptions (Chayanov, Khlebnikov and above all Platonov) who are orientated towards the difficult task of a synthesis between the two.
