Dostoevsky
Thesis: Dostoevsky's manic and depressive episodes aided
in his ability to
properly illustrate the workings of the human mind, through
his writing.
Outline: I. Introduction II. What is Manic Depression and
Depression? III. Other
Writers with Mental Illnesses IV. Dostoevsky's
Life V. Analysis of
"Notes+" VI. Conclusion Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky,
author
of several acclaimed books-including "Notes From
Underground"-a
semi-autobiographical story, introduced a new form of
writing,
"stream-of-consciousness", to Russia and Europe. Soon, this form
of
writing that would become the mark of the Existentialist, spread to
the
America's. Interestingly enough, the "stream-of-consciousness"
that
manifested itself in his writing was actually the product of a mood
disorder,
which can be characterized by intensely emotional thoughts. Caught
in a rift of
contrasting thoughts, the Manic-Depressive-commonly endowed with
superior
artistic abilities, can be very insightful to the ways of man.
Manic-depression
can clinically be defined as a mood disorder with two
contrasting states: mania
and depression. There must be an occurrence of one
or more Manic or Mixed
episodes and often, the individual has also had one or
more Major Depressive
episodes in the past. In Manic-Depressive disorder,
also known as Bipolar
disorder, the manic and depressive episodes recur in
varying degrees of
intensity. The DSM-IV describes Manic and Depressive
episodes as: "The
essential feature is a distinct period when the predominant
mood is either
elevated, expansive or irritable, and when there are
associated symptoms of the
manic syndrome." These symptoms include
hyperactivity, pressure of speech,
flight of ideas, inflated self-esteem,
decreased need for sleep,
distractibility, and excessive involvement in
activities that have a high
potential for painful consequences, which are not
recognized. The manual
describes depressive episodes as: "The essential
feature is either a
dysphoric mood, usually depression, or loss of interest
or pleasure in most
usual activities and pass-times. This disturbance is
prominent, relatively
persistent, and associated with other symptoms of the
depressive syndrome."
These symptoms include appetite disturbance, change
in weight, sleep
disturbance, psychomotor agitation or retardation, decreased
energy, feelings of
worthlessness or guilt, difficulty concentrating or
thinking, and thoughts of
death or suicide, or suicidal attempts. Manic
Depression is also due to a
biochemical imbalance in the brain. These
biochemical reactions include the
"increasing and decreasing of intra- and
extracellular sodium, chloride,
and potassium (Beck 65)." The inclining and
declining of these functions
support the contrasting manic and depressive
moods. "The spirit of genius
no free-floating, absolute power, but is
strictly bound to the laws of
biochemistry and the endocrine glands." This
again credits the idea that
manic-depression can stimulate artistry. Though
it is difficult to prove
Manic-Depressive disorder among those who have
passed away, the occurrence of
this behavior and has been traced through
letters written to friends and family,
and personal accounts. Creative
people, such as Keats, Woolf, and Dostoevsky,
have been named among those who
had this illness. Keats's notes and letters were
evidence of his violent mood
swings; his surgery lecture notes, embellished with
many impromptu sketches
in the margins were evidence of his wide-ranging
interests, and also of his
mercurial nature. Woolf became violent and delusional
in her manic episodes,
and when she was in a depressive state, she barely spoke
or ate, and
attempted suicide. Born in the hospital for the poor, Dostoevsky was
the
second of seven children. He led a happy and peaceful childhood where he
held
particular warm feelings towards his family. "It is not abnormal for
one with
the Manic-depressive syndrome to live a life of normalcy+ that
is, of course,
until an element of unpleasantry enters his life (Ostow
82)." His father,
murdered by his own serfs, had a hot tempered and
irritable state of mind.
His mother, described as tender and sensitive with a
literary and musical
talent, died when Fyodor was fifteen-years-old. After
graduating from St.
Petersburg's Academy of Military Engineers as lieutenant, he
was assigned to
a military department. Dostoevsky worked there for one year
before he
realized that working in a department gave him no satisfaction, and
that he
wanted to write and work as an author. Later, he became acquainted with
the
utopian socialist group, for which he seemed to have become strongman.
This
association got him four years in Siberian prison. After a four-year
stay at the
Siberian prison, he married a widow and later regained his
rights as a nobleman.
Periods of relative prosperity and happiness
stopped abruptly Dostoevsky's wife
and brother died. He was left alone with
his brother's debts, and was resorted
to gambling as a way out from economic
difficulties. Except for the last ten
years, the Dostoevsky family suffered
from economical difficulties caused by
brother's debts, an always-begging
stepson and Fyodor's gambling spree. They
also were extremely unlucky
regarding their three children. Like Dostoevsky's
life, his writing contained
many avenues down which one could lose his- or
herself. He begins his
two-part "Notes From Underground" with a stream
of ironies, a forewarning to
the reader of what lies ahead. Seemingly unfocused
and ambiguous, it is
possible to see through his writing, and detect his
manic-depression in his
style. An obvious example of this is the terminal
confusion in his writing:
"I am a sick man... I am a week man. An
unattractive man. I think my liver
hurts. However, I don't know a fig about my
sickness, and am not sure what it
is that hurts me. I am not being treated and
never have been, though I
respect medicine and doctors. What's more, I am also
superstitious in the
extreme; well, at least enough to respect medicine. (I'm
sufficiently
educated not to be superstitious, but I am.) No, sir, I refuse to
be treated
out of weakness." This terminal confusion is reminiscent of
human nature, and
its never-ending cycle. Throughout calamity and affirmative
events in human
life, we, as human beings have the tendency to chase our
thoughts, analyzing
and dissecting them. Like those in the depressive state,
Dostoevsky, who
wrote in the same tempo as his thought patterns, basically
illustrated the
way our thought processes work. As though in the midst of
conversation,
Dostoevsky assumes the reader's irritability, "what precisely
am I? -- then I
will answer you: I am one Collegiate assessor". He refers
to himself as his
post. Dostoevsky's depressive episode comes into play.
"During a depressive
episode, feelings of detachment may be exhibited by
the patient, as he may
refer to himself in the third person or as an object (Ostow
128)."
Likely, it is very much so like humans to refer to themselves as
what they
are capable of contributing to society. Detached and forlorn,
depressives get
lost in their own worlds. Frantically grasping for what is solid
before them
is, at times, the only thing that will keep them together. In this
example,
Dostoevsky referring to himself as his post is his way of affirming
his
humanity. Dostoevsky was obviously very aware of his Manic-depressive
disorder,
He repeatedly points out that he is "overly conscious", and
that it is
his sickness and a real sickness. Like some
manic-depressives-those being few in
number, he was somehow able to predict
his mood changes and was able to make use
of them accordingly. An example of
a manic stream of consciousness is as
follows: "To live beyond forty is
indecent, banal, immoral! Who does beyond
forty -- answer me sincerely,
honestly? I'll tell you who does: fools and
scoundrels do. I'll say it in the
faces of the elders, all these venerable
elders, all the silver-haired and
sweet-smelling elders quotation marks! I'll
say it in the whole world's face!
I have the right to speak this way, because I
myself live to be sixty. A live
to be seventy! I'll live to be
eighty!...weights! Let me catch my breath..."
Extremely energetic and
feisty, characteristic of a manic episode, Dostoevsky
once again chases his
tail, and we see into the mind of a human being. We
have a front row seat of his
hyperactivity rise to the point of exhaustion.
He begins with tuning forty, and
goes on to explain how aging beyond this
would be indecent-a morbid thought. We
see him quickly rise to the point of
pure babble. Excessive speech is also
characteristic of the mania syndrome.
Woolf was known to speak on end, night and
day for three whole days,
unceasingly (Jamison 56). Dostoevsky refers to himself
a "normal" human being
-- one who is not overly conscious, as an
insect. There should be no shock
that one would think so lowly of himself.
Behind the mask of "the
Underground Man", he examines his emotional
stamina, referring to himself as
an insect, or a low species of the living (Murry
3). According to
Dostoevsky, not thinking and not being conscious, both
internally and
externally, is a luxury. In "Notes From Underground",
Dostoevsky takes on
a guided tour of the functions of the mind. Debilitating
psychological
illnesses can be held accountable for one compulsively
questioning, and
burdening themselves with existential thoughts.
Dostoevsky's
Manic-depression gave him, ironically, this
ability.
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