Psychology lLessons: notes on the Nietzschean reading of Dostoyevski’s The Insulted and Injured

Abstract

This text, part of an extensive study on the Nietzschean reading of The Insulted and Injured by Dostoevsky, begins with a reflection on the currency of the analysis of the relations between both authors, as a challenge that remains open in the ‘Nietzsche-Forschung’. From the documents we testify that reading and its effects («mit dem grössten Respekt vor dem Künstler Dostoiewsky») there is evidence to clarify the artist’s concep-
tion shown here. Nietzsche’s letters show, moreover, that the philosopher praised the Russian writer especially as psychologist, and this is the second issue we want to explain. The texts on Dostoevsky by E. M. Vogüé, most likely read by Nietzsche, highlight three aspects which consolidate our analysis: the tragic art of the novelist, the peculiar philosophical mood traits of Humiliés et offensés, that make this book a predecessor of The Idiot and, consequently, a source of The Antichrist.