Siblings in Tolstoy and Dostoevsky

Siblings in Tolstoy and Dostoevsky is the first book about siblings in Russian literature. Combining close readings with diverse theoretical perspectives on kinship, attachment, and brotherhood, the book offers a new understanding of love, family, and the way these intimate topics constitute the core of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky's philosophical and religious ideals in their major novels. Berman shows how these two great writers built upon their conceptions of the literal sibling bond-that is, intimacy without the dangers of Eros—to arrive at their ideals of universal brotherhood. In the nineteenth-century, between two major revolutions (French and Russian) where "brotherhood" was a central tenant and rallying cry, ideas about siblinghood and its expansive potential were not merely family concerns, but of social and political significance. Russia's more inclusive conception of family ties made possible an extension of intimate family ties to the spiritual unity of the human family. The book’s conclusion discusses other Russian and British family novelists, situating Tolstoy and Dostoevsky’s treatment of siblings in its literary context, and making Siblings in Tolstoy and Dostoevsky an important resource for scholars of the family novel.

RUS

В книге Анны А. Берман раскрывается значение братства в произведениях Л. Н. Толстого и Ф. М. Достоевского. В исследовательской литературе, посвященной их романам, психология отношений между героями изучалась преимущественно сквозь призму эротической любви у Толстого и конфликта поколений у Достоевского. Внимательно читая главные романы писателей, Берман показывает изображение отношений братьев и сестер как стабилизирующую силу, прl