Temporal Predicament: Dostoevsky and Paul de Man

Abstract This essay revisits Raskolnikov’s dualistic consciousness in Crime and Punishment through the theory of irony developed by Paul de Man. While critics have often explained Raskolnikov’s divided nature as the alternation between opposing psychological tendencies, this article argues that his self-division originates from a deeper temporal predicament. Drawing on de Man’s account of symbol and irony, it proposes that Raskolnikov is situated between two irreconcilable orders of time: the immediacy of empirical reality and the reflective production of mystified self-images. His attraction to Napoleon, his elaboration of the theory of extraordinary individuals, and his repeated attempts to justify the murder all reveal a process of self-mystification in which lived reality is displaced by abstract narratives. Porfiry Petrovich’s investigations function as a force of demystification, revealing the difference between Raskolnikov’s mystified identity and his empirical existence. His meetings with Sonia and Svidrigailov also reveal Raskolnikov’s deeply mystified world and its inability to be reconciled with the actual world. Raskolnikov’s unswerving desire for originality generates an ever-proliferating series of fictional selves. The irony of existence is that the more authenticity is sought, the further the individual moves away from it.