Rogov Mikhail Anatolyevich – PhD in Art History, PhD in Economics, Associate Professor, Scientific Director of the Center for Iconographic and Visual Studies (CIVIS) of the New Art Studies Foundation, Associate Professor at Dubna State University; ORCID: 0000-0001-7573-3370
The study examines the possible influence of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Rigoletto (1851) on the origin of the title of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment (1866). The focus is on the famous line from Francesco Maria Piave’s libretto “Lui è il delitto, io la punizione” (“He is the crime, I am the punishment”), which traces back to Victor Hugo’s play Le roi s’amuse (1832), which served as the source of the opera. Employing a research strategy based on an intermedial approach, the study substantiates a new hypothesis regarding the origin of the novel’s title. Through analysis of the typological parallels between Hugo’s play, Verdi’s opera, and Dostoevsky’s novel, as well as historical evidence of the opera’s popularity in Russia during the 1860s and the writer’s personal engagement with operatic music during the period of the novel’s composition, this study demonstrates a high probability of direct or indirect influence of Rigoletto’s libretto and musical imagery on the formation of the title of Crime and Punishment. Particular significance is attributed to the memoirs of the writer’s wife, Anna Dostoevskaya, recounting the events of November 1866, which directly attest to Dostoevsky’s profound familiarity with Verdi’s opera and his emotional attachment to its melodies.
Dostoevsky; Verdi; Hugo; Crime and Punishment; Rigoletto; Le roi s’amuse; intermediality