Oblastnoy text in A Writer's Diary by Fyodor Dostoevsky: Statement of the problem

The article, within the theoretical framework of the local text, introduces and employs the category of the "oblastnoy" (regional) text. While this term does not currently hold the status of a universally accepted scientific term, its introduction allows for raising a specific question about the place and significance of the "oblastnoe" (regional) word in Fyodor Dostoevsky's works. The basis for this inquiry is his article "Oblastnoe novoe slovo" ("A New Regional Word") in the May 1876 issue of A Writer's Diary. The entire A Writer's Diary by Dostoevsky is truly polyphonic; however, Dostoevsky's position regarding the "oblastnoe" word in this specific article comes into a certain contradiction with the general polyphonic orientation of A Writer's Diary, as he expressed doubts there about whether the "regions and peripheries" possess the right to their own independent "new" word. Certain aspects of his publishing policy in the 1860s-1870s also attest to this. Thus, the "oblastnoe novoe slovo" indicated in the article's title appears in Dostoevsky as a problem: does it exist in reality, or does it not yet exist? An important aspect of analyzing this issue is The Siberian Notebook, which is dated approximately to the 1850s-1860s. This is primarily a record of the voices of the prison and Siberia captured by Dostoevsky, and more broadly-the voices of various regions and provinces of Russia. The Siberian Notebook is intuitively organized by the writer as a polyphony of the entire Russian people. Moreover, in the first chapter of the December 1877 Writer's Diary, in connection with the court case of Ekaterina Kornilova, the writer himself, as a former convict and Siberian resident, considered himself entitled to include his own voice in this polyphony of regional texts. Therefore, by the early 1880s, his position regarding the regional text fundamentally changed, and in the final Writer's Diary for January 1881, the writer advocates for the concept of a polyphonic regional text of the Russian people, based on a "thirst for truth." Thus, in Dostoevsky's view by the early 1880s, the "oblastnoy" text becomes the foundation and support for the further fruitful development of Russia. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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