Fyodor Dostoevsky and Mikhail Zagoskin: A Mention of the Novel Roslavlev, or the Russians in 1812 in the Short Story “The Demobbed”

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Author: Nikolay N. Podosokorsky
Information about the author:
PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher, Research Centre “Dostoevsky and World Culture,” А.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya St., 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6310-1579

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For citation:
Podosokorsky, N.N. “Fyodor Dostoevsky and Mikhail Zagoskin: A Mention of the Novel Roslavlev, or the Russians in 1812 in the Short Story ‘The Demobbed’.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 1 (33), 2026, pp. 47–65. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2026-1-47-65
Received: 21 Nov. 2025
Approved after reviewing: 15 Jan. 2026
Published: 25 March 2026
Issue: 2026 no. 1 (33)
Department: POETICS. CONTEXT
Pages: 47–65
DOI: Visit Website
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https://elibrary.ru/SRTKCQ
UDK: 821.161.1.0+82.0
BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)52+83
Publication Type: Research Article
Keywords: Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Demobbed,” Mikhail Zagoskin, Alexandr Pushkin, “Stories of an Experienced Man,” “Roslavlev, or the Russians in 1812,” A.S. Figner, Napoleon, the Napoleonic Wars, War of 1812, characters, Russian people, patriotism, book in the book
Abstract: This article explores the relatively understudied topic of “F.M. Dostoevsky and M.N. Zagoskin” through the lens of Dostoevsky’s early short story “The Demobbed,” part of the cycle Stories of an Experienced Man (From the Notes of an Unknown) (1848). The study focuses on a reference in the authorial footnote of the story, which primarily describes the retired Russian soldier and the memoirs of a veteran of the 1812–1813 Napoleonic Wars—Astafy Ivanovich—who recounts his participation in the partisan movement under the courageous yet ruthless A.S. Figner. This footnote cites Zagoskin’s historical novel Roslavlev, or the Russians in 1812 (1831), in which Figner appears as a “silent artillery officer.” The article argues that the footnote’s author is most likely not Dostoevsky himself, contrary to the claim in the most recent academic 35-volume Complete Works, but rather an unnamed narrator, the author of Notes of an Unknown. Presenting the reference to Zagoskin’s novel as a page-by-page footnote is an unusual and unique example of the “book in the book” technique in Dostoevsky’s oeuvre. The paper examines the function of this footnote in “The Demobbed,” analyzes how Dostoevsky reinterprets Zagoskin’s Roslavlev, and compares the two writers’ perspectives on patriotism and literary heroism. Additionally, the study highlights the recurring expression “strange character” in Dostoevsky’s early works, which appears in the same footnote referencing Zagoskin. It also considers Alexander Pushkin’s unfinished novel Roslavlev, first published in the third volume of Sovremennik (1836), as another potential source of inspiration for the author of Stories of an Experienced Man.

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Fyodor Dostoevsky and Mikhail Zagoskin: A Mention of the Novel Roslavlev, or the Russians in 1812 in the Short Story “The Demobbed”

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