Érico Veríssimo lecteur de Dostoïevski. Crime et châtiment, une source de Olhai os lírios do campo

Abstract

Érico Veríssimo, Reader of Dostoyevsky. Crime and Punishment, a source of Olhai os lírios do campo.

We analyze in this article Érico Veríssimo’s Olhai os lírios do campo, basing ourselves on the study of sources. We try to show from this point of view that Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment constitutes an almost unconscious source of Olhai os lírios do campo. To begin with, we will sum up very briefly the principles of the study of sources, and then we will compare Olhai os lírios do campo and Crime and Punishment. We will see that the two novels share a similar narrative structure that we will describe. We will study afterwards the characters of Eugénio and Raskolnikov on the one hand, and of Olívia and Sonia on the other hand, and we will underline their similarities. We will especially observe that Érico Veríssimo and Dostoyevsky convey the same values with Olívia and Sonia. We will also notice the presence of a passage almost identical in Olhai os lírios do campo and Crime and Punishment. Nevertheless, we will remind in our conclusion that even if the similarities between Olhai os lírios do campo and Crime and Punishment are deep, so are the differences, and we will mention the main ones: there is a kind of optimism in Olhai os lírios do campo and more generally in Érico Veríssimo’s work which is absent from Dostoyevsky’s; on the contrary, Érico Veríssimo does not share Dostoyevsky’s worship of suffering; and whereas Dostoyevsky reveals all his anxiety without trying to calm it, Érico Veríssimo manages to go beyond it.