Disturbing the Balance – Woody Allen Reads Dostoyevsky

Abstract

Esej je namenjen polemični medbesedilni korespondenci, ki se pojavlja med dramo Woodyja Allena Zločini in prekrški ter romanom Fjodorja Dostojevskega Bratje Karamazovi. V okviru primerjalne analize avtor predstavlja semantične in strukturne podobnosti med obema deloma, hkrati pa opozarja na bistvene svetovnonazorske razlike. Tematika moralnih posledic zavrnitve vere, ki jo je Dostojevski predstavil s perspektive vernika pravoslavne cerkve, je postala za Allena izhodiščna točka za razmišljanje o eksistencialni osamljenosti človeka. This paper discusses the polemic, intertextual correspondence which occurs between Woody Allen’s drama Crimes and Misdemeanors and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov. Through a comparative analysis, the author reveals structural analogies between both works, but also fundamental ideological differences. Dostoyevky’s approach to the subject of the moral consequences of rejection of religious faith was that of a follower of the Orthodox faith. For Allen, a similar topic became the pretext for deliberations on man’s existential solitude.