Page 11 - GALIET BENEATH THE ICON: The Lamp Dostoevsky´s Kirillov IV

According to Shneidman, other notes on Dostoevsky’s diaries show that he views Kirillov as “a truly Russian character... a man who is forever in search of truth and who is ready to suffer and sacrifice himself for a noble idea.” Dostoevsky adds that “to sacrifice oneself for the truth is a national trait of this generation. God bless him (Kirillov) and give him the understanding of the truth, because the main concern of the problem is to clarify what one considers truth. This is the main aim of the novel.”8
In Kirillov’s three crucial dialogues with Govorov, Stavrogin and Peter Stepanovich, we discover Kirillov’s implacable obsession with suicide and with nihilistic ideology as a form of truth. The Russian nihilists (1855-1866) are the “generation of young, radical intellectuals who promoted materialism, positivism and scientism influenced by the west.”9 Therefore, nihilism represents a social and cultural emancipation as well as a doctrine with a potential for “Jacobinism and Anarchism.”10
In his first brief conversation with Govorov, Kirillov confirms that he is indeed investigating and writing about “the causes why men dare not kill themselves.” As a result of his research,
8 Shneidman, N.N. Dostoevsky and Suicide. London: Mosaic Press. University of Toronto. 58
9 Nihilism: Dictionary of Philosophy - Rutledge
10 Nihilism: Dictionary of Philosophy - Rutledge
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