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 A.M.GORKY INSTITUTE OF WORLD LITERATURE
OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Povarskaya 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia
fedor@dostmirkult.ru

ISSN 2619-0311 (Print)
ISSN 2712-8512 (Online)

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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

    E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

  • For citation:

    Podosokorsky, N.N. “The Landlady by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Mysteries of Sleep and Magnetism by Auguste Debay.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 2 (34), 2026, pp. 83–112. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2026-2-83-112

  • Received: 25 March 2026
  • Approved after reviewing: 22 Apr. 2026
  • Published: 25 June 2026
  • Issue: 2026 no. 2 (34)
  • Department: POETICS. CONTEXT
  • Pages: 83-112
  • DOI: Visit Website
  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/TADRMV

  • UDK: 821.161.1.0+821.133.1.0+82.0
  • BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)+83.3(4Фра)+83
  • Publication Type: Research Article
  • Keywords: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Auguste Debay, The Landlady, theory of dreams, nightmares, somnambulism, “Otechestvennye Zapiski,” magnetism, hypno- tism, mesmerism, E.T.A. Hoffmann, “The Magnetizer”
  • Abstract: The article substantiates the need to study the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky in the context of literary journals in which they were first published. The academic significance of this approach is demonstrated by comparing the mystical story The Landlady by the great Russian writer and the book Mysteries of Sleep and Magnetism: An Explanation of the Wonders Produced by This State of Human Life by French military doctor Auguste Debay (the second part of the Russian adaptation and translation of Debay's work appeared in the same tenth issue of the Otechestvennye Zapiski in 1847 as the first part of Dostoevsky's short story). Special attention is paid to the strange dreams and visions that the "artist in science" Vasily Ordynov painfully experiences in Koshmarov's house. The figure of Ilya Murin, the owner of the apartment, is interpreted as the artistic representation of a powerful mesmerist who subordinated young Katerina to his power and exerted influence over his lodger Ordynov. The study complements the existing historical and cultural commentary on Dostoevsky's short story and, among other things, addresses the history of the ideas of mesmerism in Russia and Europe in the first half of the 19th century.

Acknowledgments: The author expresses his gratitude to Olga I. Dernova-Pigareva, Chief Bibliographer of the Reference and Bibliographic Department of the State Public Historical Library (GPIB), for her assistance in locating the literature necessary for this article.

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