Dumas and Dostoevskii — Deflowering the Camellia

Abstract

‘A charming novel, a poem which in my opinion is fated neither to die nor grow old. The charm of the narration, the originality of the main character’s portrayal, this alluring world which is analysed so subtly and of course all these enchanting details scattered in the book (for example about the alternate use of bouquets of white and pink camellias)’ says Totskii of Dumas fils’s La Dame aux camélias (1848) in Dostoevskii’s Idiot (1868).¹ The links between Dumas fils and Dostoevskii extend far further than this unprepossessingly fulsome tribute might imply, and the camellia is a device which Dostoevskii takes up from the French novelist, dramatist and raisonneur to throw in his face.