call for papers / numerology in Crime and Punishment

[Julia Verkholantsev]

Dear members of the list,

I am writing on behalf of my Czech colleague, Anezka Kindlerova of the Slavonic
Library in Prague. She is interested in organizing a panel at next year's
ASEEES on the history of the idea of union between Slavic Orthodox and Catholic
Churches in central and eastern Europe (from Middle Ages to modern period). If
you are interested in contributing to the panel please write off-list to Anezka
Kindlerova at Anezka.Kindlerova at nkp.cz.

***

The lively discussion of the importance of the number "4" in "Crime and
Punishment" made me think that Dostoevsky, who is known to have been an
attentive reader of the Apocalypse (The Book of Revelation), could have
associated the number "4" with the following imagery (King James, Revelation,
7:1):

"And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the
earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on
the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree."

If I am not mistaken (and, unfortunately, I can’t think of a good reference at
the moment), in the Orthodox exegesis, the four angels are interpreted as the
image of the Christian world that emphasizes its steadiness and constancy.

With best wishes for the holidays,
Julia Verkholantsev
-- 
Julia Verkholantsev
Assistant Professor, Slavic Languages and Literatures
University of Pennsylvania
745 Williams Hall
255 South 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/slavic/faculty/verkholantsev.htm

Tel: 215-898-8649
Fax: 215-573-7794

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------