DOSTOEVSKY & ELIJAH

[Piotr Skowronek]

(RESPONSE TO NANCY GREEN'S QUERY:)
Nancy, today I combed through the indices of just about every book on Dostoevsky in our library, and I did not find a single reference to the prophet Elijah. It's highly unlikely that all Dostoevsky scholars would overlook the supposed allusions to Elijah if they were truly of any significance. I think you can trust the judgement of your professors, who never mentioned Elijah in their lectures. When you think about it, the likelihood of a truly major discovery in the fiction of a writer of such great fame as Dostoevsky (a writer who has been read and reread by millions of readers for 150 years) is so improbable that it is almost ludicrous. You would do better to put your money in the lottery. Another factor that goes against the idea that Dostoevsky might have used Elijah as an important symbol is the Jewish identity of Elijah. The antisemitism of Dostoevsky is well known. Marmeladov, by the way, is the name of Sonya's father in Crime and Punishment, not that of a modern-day sc
holar. The author of your book ("Hogtown"?) has evidently stolen the name of Dostoevsky's character. Who is the author of Hogtown?
  Piotr Skowronek



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