THE MILITARY LEGACY OF THE NARRATOR OF A GENTLE CREATURE BY FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

Abstract

The article is a contribution to the historical and literary commentary on Fyodor M. Dostoevsky’s novella A Gentle Creature. It focuses on the narrator’s past as a military officer. The article offers a theory concerning the narrator’s branch of service and reveals why it was important for Dostoevsky to make his protagonist the Junior Captain and how the character’s rank shaped his relationship with his wife. The article offers an explanation as to how the military hierarchy exacerbated the potential scandal of the wife’s possible affair with Lieutenant (Poruchik) Efimovich, why the narrator found himself in dire straits after retirement, and how deeply he was shaken by the verdict of the officers’ court of honor. It is suggested that the form of the narrator’s monologue is partially defined by this traumatic experience through which he recounts his marriage — a monologue that, in essence, constitutes the whole text of A Gentle Creature.