P. V. Dolgorukov’s lampoon of Odoevsky as the potential proto-text of Keller’s article in The Idiot by F. M. Dostoevsky

The paper suggests that one of the sources of the article in “defense” of “Pavlishchev’s son” against Myshkin in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot” could have been the “Minister Lanskoy” lampoon by P. V. Dolgorukov. It was published in the émigré periodical Budushnost’ (“Future”) and contained an extensive addendum about V. F. Odoevsky. The fact that Dostoevsky had demonstrated an interest and was sympathetic to Odoevsky’s personality and views, specifically, during his work on “The Idiot” substantiate this hypothesis. It is further confirmed by similar motifs and techniques in the texts of the two articles, for instance, the author’s position, hyperbole, distortion of facts, satirical attribution of common features to the lampooned persons (i. e., stupidity, worthlessness, wastefulness, depravity, impunity, proclivity for the opposite sex, passion for the European world). Similarities between the articles also include a personal, rather than an ideological, reason for lampooning and quoting I. A. Krylov, A. S. Griboyedov and others. Meanwhile, Myshkin’s and Odoevsky’s reactions to the lampoon are opposite. This allows us to discuss the substantial differences between the character and his possible prototype. P. V. Dolgorukov’s article “Minister Lanskoy” is published as an appendix to this work.