• Plotting the ending: generic expectation and the uncanny epilogue of Crime and Punishment

    Author(s):
    Katherine Bowers (see profile)
    Date:
    2020
    Subject(s):
    Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 1821-1881, Russian literature, Nineteenth century, Literary form, Literary theory, Crime, Punishment
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    epilogue, Dostoevsky, 19th-century Russian literature, Genre theory, Crime and punishment
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/0vh2-g513
    Abstract:
    This article examines the epilogue of Dostoevskii’s novel Crime and Punishment from the perspective of genre and generic expectation. Considering two generic plots that appear in the novel, the detective plot and the redemption narrative, the author argues that the imagined reader’s generic expectation is both satisfied and thwarted in each case. The author introduces the idea of “generic stasis” to refer to Raskol'nikov’s situation vis-à-vis generic plot in each plot trajectory of the epilogue. In upsetting generic expectation, this state of generic stasis creates an opening that enables the novel’s ending to occur. In this sense, the article argues for the utility of the epilogue’s generic hybridity in resisting narrative pre-determination.
    Notes:
    This is the post-print manuscript generated by Canadian Slavonic Papers, but it is not the final published version, in accordance with the journal's green open access policy. To read the final, published version, click here: https://doi.org/10.1080/00085006.2020.1750765
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.1080/00085006.2020.1750765
    Publisher:
    Informa UK Limited
    Pub. Date:
    2020-5-5
    Journal:
    Canadian Slavonic Papers
    Volume:
    62
    Issue:
    2
    Page Range:
    95 - 108
    ISSN:
    0008-5006,2375-2475
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    3 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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