도스토옙스키와 바라봄의 문제 : 구경, ‘어시디아’, 그리고 스타브로긴

Abstract

This paper is intended to examine the ‘mystery’ of Stavrogin, the hero of Dostoevsky’s The Devils, in terms of patristic literature, especially the teachings of St. Augustine and Evagrius Pontus. In order to scrutinize the ontological void in Stavrogin, this paper focuses on one scene in the novel where the nihilists including Stavrogin go to look at a corpse, a recent suicide. Their “greedy curiosity” to look at a scene of ugliness, what St. Augustine calls “the lust of the eyes”, arises from the dark abyss of boredom, which in its turn refers back to one of the seven mortal sins classified by the Desert Fathers, ‘acedia.’ Acedia, the so called “Noonday Demon”, is regarded the most oppressive of all the demons, since it renders one prone to almost invincible apathy. It freezes Stavrogin’s soul and mind. Stavrogin’s total indifference to the world and life is duplicated in his relentless search for divertissement. Acedia is a synonym of “the state of being possessed” and the root cause of all the demonic acts listed in Stavrogin’s ‘Confession.’