도스토예프스키와 신경미학:『백치』에 나타난 시각의 문제를 중심으로

Abstract

This paper is focused on the problem of visuality raised in the three real and imaginary paintings in Dostoevsky's The Idiot. Dostoevsky's idea of vision reflected in Holbein's "Dead Christ" and the two paintings about the image of Christ is remarkably similar to that of neuroaesthetics, which studies the art and the problem of beauty on the neural basis. According to Semir Zeki, the pioneer of neuroaesthetics, experiences of beauty depend on the function of the visual brain and thus can only be fully understood in neurological terms. Zeki's argument that the visual brain can retain knowledge of constant and essential properties of an object allows to study Dostoevsky's paintings in terms of neuroscience. However, for Dostoevsky, the idea of the beautiful is always intertwined with the idea of the Good, and the human faces always reflect the image of Christ. This suggests that the experience of beauty is not the only object of art, and the creation and reception of art can overstep the boundaries of the laws of visual brain.