Fyodor Dostoevsky and Siberian Regionalism. Article Two

Based on the materials from Memoirs by Grigory Potanin and Russian Community in Prison and Exile by Nikolai Yandrintsev, this article aims to illustrate the crucial role of the Petrashevtsy in forming Siberian regionalism (oblastnichestvo) and analyse their contribution to shaping regionalism-related views and ideas. The Petrashevtsy played a key role in the development of Siberia. However, the present understanding of their contribution to the life in Siberia requires further study. Potanin, the leader of Siberian regionalism, repeatedly referred to the Petrashevtsy in his Memoirs, emphasizing the fact that it was the Petrashevtsy who played a crucial role in shaping his worldview; however, this material is rarely introduced into scientific discourse. Potanin’s Memoirs gives special prominence to Sergey Durov, a member of the Petrashevtsy circle. According to Potanin, it was Durov who stipulated his spiritual turn: “I have become a Siberian patriot”. In addition, at some point, he unprecedentedly called himself “a Petrashevtsy member”: “after a meeting with Durov, I turned to the Petrashevtsy”; “Siberian patriot” and “a Petrashevtsy member” are synonyms in Potanin’s text. Siberian regionalists (oblastniki) shared the fate of the Petrashevtsy in the most direct way. Arrested in 1865, they spent three years in Omsk prison waiting for the sentence at the place where Durov and Fyodor Dostoevsky, the Petrashevtsy members, served years of exile in the 1850s. The Siberian image of Dostoevsky and the thoughts about him in terms of Siberian regionalism were primarily shaped by Yandrintsev. In this respect, the article “Dostoevsky in Siberia” (1897) by Yandrintsev was the most significant. Siberian regionalists considered Notes from a Dead House to be the most outstanding and finest work by Dostoevsky. In Yandrintsev’s opinion, it was exclusively exile that shaped Dostoevsky as a writer. When in Omsk prison, Yandrintsev rather deliberately continued the tradition of Russian prison writing initiated by Notes from a Dead House: based on the materials collected in Omsk prison, he wrote a book Russian Community in Prison and Exile (1872), in which where he repeatedly referred to Notes from a Dead House intensively quoting Dostoevsky and reflecting upon him. Thus, the works by Potanin and Yandrintsev analysed in the present article irrefutably demonstrate that the Petrashevtsy made a significant contribution to shaping and developing Siberian regionalism, its views and ideas. It is worth noting that Siberian regionalists always perceived Dostoevsky exclusively as a member of the Petrashevtsy.

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