The matter of violence? W. Faulkner’s “Sanctuary” and F. Dostoevsky

Focusing on the comparative studies of works of Fyodor Dostoevsky and William Faulkner, this article analyzes the embodiment of admittedly archetypal pattern of thinking and behaving of the Underground Man (first expressed in Dostoevsky’s works) in Faulkner’s “Sanctuary” considered to be the one inspired the most often comparisons with Dostoyevsky’s thematic preferences. However, when searching for parallels in “Sanctuary” and works of the Russian writer, just the two Dostoevsky’s novels are usually mentioned — “Crime and Punishment” and “The Brothers Karamazov”. This article argues that not only the parallels between “Sanctuary” and these novels discovered by researchers earlier exist but also new ones can be traced, including the novels “Devils” and “A Raw Youth”, which (all together) make it possible to explore such parallel characters as Popeye — Svidrigailov, Stavrogin; Temple Drake — Liza Khokhlakova; and the “underground” traits of Horace Benbow (first presented in “Sartoris”) can be further revealed as well. The character of Popeye represents the “underground” of the “Stavrogin” type (without self-punishment for inconsistency with the ideal); affinity for evil and self-destruction embodied in Temple Drake and Liza Khokhlakova can be considered to be close to the self-punishment of the Underground Man. It is concluded that the very state of moral alienation, the “underground,” manifested in the works of Dostoevsky and Faulkner is characterized by violence, but it is the “underground” problematics and not violence so often noted by researchers that opens a promising avenue (common ground) for a comparative analysis of their works. © St. Petersburg State University, 2025.