A FEW NOTES ON THE IMAGE OF THE MOUSE IN F. DOSTOEVSKY’S “NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND”

Abstract

Aim. The article examines the reason that led F. Dostoevsky to use the image of a mouse in his work "Notes from the Underground". The purpose of the article is to explore the image of the mouse, its meaning and relevance. Methodology. The author of the article enters into a scientific dispute with scientists-Dostoevsky scholars, expanding the idea of the functional features of the image. "Notes from the underground" are being investigated. Approaching this work as an image of an experiment that the paradoxical narrator conducts on himself, the author of the article notes here the contrast of the "natural" person, whose behavior is subject to irrational impulses, to the "retort" person, who obeys the rational pursuit of "benefits". Special attention is paid to the problem of self-creation and the internal dissonances associated with this process. The paper uses textual, analytical, comparative and axiological methods of research. Results. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that it was the association with the experiment that allowed Dostoevsky to apply the image of a mouse. This is the main starting point of the paradoxalist narrator and protagonist of the "Notes"; it is the result of his observations on others and, above all, on himself, the result of his direct laboratory experiment, in which he served as a test subject-object. That's why he's a paradoxalist, and that's why he's entitled to talk about the mouse. Research implications. The theoretical significance of the work is to deepen the understanding of the artistic world of F. M. Dostoevsky. Practical significance is determined by the possibility to use the article material in higher school, in preparation for lectures and practical classes on Russian literature of the XIX century and for a special course on the work of the writer.