Brumfield W. C. Invitation to a Beheading: Turgenev and Troppmann

(Tulane University, New Orleans, USA)

Abstract ♦ The article examines a complexity of questions surrounding Fedor Dostoevsky's perception of Ivan Turgenev's perception, in his essay "Kazn' Tropmana", of one of the most notorious public spectacles of the 19th century: the execution of the convicted murderer Jean Baptiste Troppmann in January 1870. Turgenev's disgust at the execution, which he attended as a distinguished guest, aroused the intense criticism of Dostoevsky. The article comments on this antipathy and explores earlier 19th-century perceptions of public executions in their relation to the work of both Turgenev and Dostoevsky.

Keywords: Ivan Turgenev, Fedor Dostoevsky, public executions, Jean Baptiste Troppmann, Maxime Du Camp, Victor Hugo, Paris, Henry James, Napoleon III, Michel Foucault, Konstantin Sluchevskii, Cesar Beccaria, death penalty.

Brumfield William Craft, PhD, Professor of Slavic Studies, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA. Postal address: 6823 Saint Charles Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70118, USA. Tel.: +1 (504) 865-5276. E-mail: William.brumfield@gmail.com

Citation: Brumfield, W. C. (2015) Priglashenie na kazn': Turgenev i Tropman [Invitation to a beheading: Turgenev and Troppmann]. Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie, no. 1, pp. 244–254. (In Russ.).

DOI: 10.17805/zpu.2015.1.23

Submission date: 12.12.2014.

RUSSIAN VERSION

REFERENCES

Dostoevsky, F. M. (1974a) Polnoe sobranie sochinenii [Complete works] : in 30 vols. Leningrad, Nauka Publ. Vol. 9. 528 p. (In Russ.).

Dostoevsky, F. M. (1974b) Polnoe sobranie sochinenii [Complete works] : in 30 vols. Leningrad, Nauka Publ. Vol. 10. 520 p. (In Russ.).

Dostoevsky, F. M. (1975) Polnoe sobranie sochinenii [Complete works] : in 30 vols. Leningrad, Nauka Publ. Vol. 12. 376 p. (In Russ.).

Dostoevsky, F. M. (1985) Polnoe sobranie sochinenii [Complete works] : in 30 vols. Leningrad, Nauka Publ. Vol. 28, book 2. 616 p. (In Russ.).

Dostoevsky, F. M. (1986) Polnoe sobranie sochinenii [Complete works] : in 30 vols. Leningrad, Nauka Publ. Vol. 29, book 1. 576 p. (In Russ.).

Muratov, A. B. (1977) Turgenev i Maksim D'iukan (K tvorcheskoi istorii «Kazni Tropmana») [Turgenev and Maxime du Camp (Towards the composition history of “The Execution of Troppmann”]. In: Turgenev i ego sovremenniki [Turgenev and his contemporaries] / ed. by M. P. Alekseev. Leningrad, Nauka Publ. 286 p. Pp. 136–142. (In Russ.).

Turgenev, I. S. (1964) Polnoe sobranie sochinenii i pisem [Complete works and letters] : in 28 vols. : Pis’ma [Letters] : in 13 vols. Moscow ; Leningrad, Publ. House of the Academy of Sciences. Vol. 8. Pis'ma [Letters]. 1869–1870. 615, 3 p. (In Russ.).

Turgenev, I. S. (1965a) Polnoe sobranie sochinenii i pisem [Complete works and letters] : in 28 vols. : Pis’ma [Letters] : in 13 vols. Moscow ; Leningrad, Publ. House of the Academy of Sciences. Vol. 9. Pis'ma [Letters]. 1871–1872. 651 p. (In Russ.).

Turgenev, I. S. (1965b) Polnoe sobranie sochinenii i pisem [Complete works and letters] : in 28 vols. : Sochineniia [Works] : in 15 vols. Moscow ; Leningrad, Publ. House of the Academy of Sciences. Vol. 9. Povesti i rasskazy. Dym. 1860–1867 [Novellas and short stories. Smoke. 1860–1867]. 557, 3 p. (In Russ.).

Turgenev, I. S. (1967) Polnoe sobranie sochinenii i pisem [Complete works and letters] : in 28 vols. : Sochineniia [Works] : in 15 vols. Moscow ; Leningrad, Publ. House of the Academy of Sciences. Vol. 13. Povesti i rasskazy. Stikhotvoreniia v proze. 1878–1883. Proizvedeniia raznykh godov [Novellas and short stories. Poems in prose. 1878–1883. Works of various years]. 734, 1 p. (In Russ.).

Turgenev, I. S. (1968) Polnoe sobranie sochinenii i pisem [Complete works and letters] : in 28 vols. : Sochineniia [Works] : in 15 vols. Moscow ; Leningrad, Publ. House of the Academy of Sciences. Vol. 15. Korrespondentsii. Rechi. Predisloviia. Otkrytye pis'ma. Avtobiograficheskoe i prochee. 1848–1883 [Correspondence. Speeches. Forewords. Open letters. Autobiographical and other works]. 494, 1 с. (In Russ.).

Turgenev, I. S. (1983) Polnoe sobranie sochinenii i pisem [Complete works and letters] : in 30 vols. : Sochineniia [Works] : in 12 vols. Moscow, Nauka Publ. Vol. 11. «Literaturnye i zhiteiskie vospominaniia». Biograficheskie ocherki i nekrologi. Avtobiograficheskie materialy. Nezavershennye zamysly i nabroski, 1852–1883. Proizvedeniia raznykh godov [“Literary reminiscences and autobiographical fragments”. Biographical sketches and obituaries. Autobiographical materials. Incomplete fragments and notes, 1852–1883. Works of various years]. 525, 2 p. (In Russ.).

Slychevsky, K. K. (1962) Stikhotvoreniia i poemy [Poems]. Moscow ; Leningrad, Sovetskii pisatel' Publ. 468 p. (In Russ.).

Foucault, M. (1977) Discipline and punish / transl. by A. Sheridan. New York, Pantheon Books. 333 p.

Freud, S. (1961) Civilization and its discontents / transl. and ed. by J. Strachey. New York, W. W. Norton. 109 p.

Manzoni, A. (1964) The Column of infamy / transl. by K. Foster and J. Grigson. London, Oxford University Press. xxii, 212 p.

Paris under siege, 1870–1871: From the Goncourt journal (1969) / ed. and transl. by G. Becker. Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press. 334 p.

See also:

• Brumfield W. C. Invitation to a Beheading: Turgenev and Troppmann (English version of the article)