Netochka Nesvanova

Njetotschka Neswanowa ( Russian Неточка Незванова ; German issues under the titles Netotschka Neswanowa , Nettchen Neswanowa , The Strange Love Bund ) is a feature novel from the early work of Fyodor Dostoyevsky , he wrote and in the years 1848-1849 the first chapter in January and in February and then in May 1849 in the Petersburg magazine Vaterländische Annalen without naming the author . The work remained unfinished because Dostoyevsky was arrested in 1849 for participating in revolutionary activities against the tsar and exiled to Siberia. Even after his release, Dostoevsky did not deal with it.

action

The story Njetotschka Nesvanowa describes the eight to sixteen years of life of the heroine in first-person form. Her stepfather, Yefimov, is a drunkard , poor violinist who considers himself highly talented. One evening the famous violinist S..za is making a guest appearance in Petersburg. Efimov finally wants to see a violinist who comes close to his own talent. He asks Njetochka to steal the money for the entrance ticket from her mother. With a heavy remorse, she complies with her stepfather's request.

The same evening his mother dies when Efimov returns from the concert. When she lies dead in bed, he plays his violin for the first time in years. He is confronted with the reality that he really has no talent and flees the apartment. Two days later, he dies in a hospital after a seizure.

Njetotschka moves in with a count who lives across the street and takes her in out of pity. After initial shyness and dislike, Njetotschka befriends the count's daughter, Katja. They both kiss incessantly, telling each other their girlish secrets and stories. Katja becomes as nervous and sentimental as Njetotschka. The countess worries about her daughter and separates the two. Eventually the count's family moved to Moscow and Njetochka had to stay behind in Petersburg.

The daughter of the countess from her first marriage Alexandra Mikhailovna takes Njetotschka in with her. Njetotschka develops real affection for Alexandra Michailovna, who is also nervous and often ill, while she ultimately develops contempt for her husband.

One day, Njetotschka discovers an old, lost letter from a lover in a book by Alexandra Mikhailovna. Njetotschka keeps the letter to herself because, in view of Alexandra Mikhailovna's poor health, she does not dare to confront the recipient with it. The husband haughtily forgiven his wife for the affair and is now tormenting her with her weakness and his own generosity.

At the end of the unfinished story, the husband snatches the letter from Njetotschka and considers it to be a love letter addressed to Njetotschka himself. The husband does not allow a love affair to take place under his roof and insists that Njetotschka leave the house. Alexandra Mikhailovna vigorously contradicts and suffers a severe attack. The unfinished book ends when Njetotschka hands the letter to the husband, who realizes that Njetotschka had not entered into a love affair.

Connection to other works by Dostoyevsky

The suffering young girl is a recurring theme in Dostoevsky's work. The figure of Njetotschka Neswanowa has been compared with other emancipating women from Dostoyevsky's work, such as Dunja Raskolnikowa from " Guilt and Atonement " and Aglaya Epantschina from " The Idiot ".

Individual evidence

↑ after Dostoyevsky's arrest on April 23, 1949, the publisher of the "Vaterländische Annalen", Andrej Krajewski, was instructed to publish the sequel anonymously on April 28, 1949, see Nikolai F. Beltschikow (ed.): Dostojewski im Proceed the Petraschewzen . Philipp Reclam jun., Leipzig 1977, p. 220 .
↑ see letters # 69 of December 17, 1946, # 71 of Jan./Feb. 47 and # 72 of April 47 to his brother Michail in David Lowe and Ronald Meyer (eds.): Fyodor Dostoevsky Complete Letters . Vol. 1. Ardis, Ann Arbor 1988, ISBN 0-88233-898-6 . Letters # 71, 72 also in German in Friedr. Hitzler (Ed.): FM Dostojewski Collected Letters 1833 - 1881 . Piper, Munich 1966.

literature

Neuhäuser, Rudolf; Dostoyevsky's early work Literary tradition and social demands, Carl Winter Universitätsverlag Heidelberg 1979
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor Michailowitsch (2004): Poor People, White Nights, Nettchen Neswanowa, Moscow. (in the Russian original).
Dostojewski, Fyodor Michailowitsch (1986): White Nights. Early Prose II, Berlin and Weimar: Aufbau-Verlag

[1] ter Dostoyevsky's arrest on April 23, 1949, the publisher of the "Vaterländische Annalen", Andrej Krajewski, was instructed to publish the sequel anonymously on April 28, 1949, see Nikolai F. Beltschikow (ed.): Dostojewski im Proceed the Petraschewzen . Philipp Reclam jun., Leipzig 1977, p. 220 .

[2] see letters # 69 of December 17, 1946, # 71 of Jan./Feb. 47 and # 72 of April 47 to his brother Michail in David Lowe and Ronald Meyer (eds.): Fyodor Dostoevsky Complete Letters . Vol. 1. Ardis, Ann Arbor 1988, ISBN 0-88233-898-6 . Letters # 71, 72 also in German in Friedr. Hitzler (Ed.): FM Dostojewski Collected Letters 1833 - 1881 . Piper, Munich 1966.