聖愚(Holy Fool)是俄羅斯文化中的特殊現象,是薩滿教和東正教混合的產物,一度成為俄國精神領袖。聖愚在俄羅斯社會的行為表現是矛盾的,人們對待聖愚的態度也是充滿著矛盾的。然而,俄羅斯對待聖愚的矛盾態度,證明俄羅斯文化在一定程度上受到聖愚現象的影響,尤其十九世紀聖愚非常地活躍。十九世紀俄羅斯文學以反映現實生活為特色,為研究聖愚現象提供資料,也就是說藉由俄羅斯文學著作可探討聖愚現象。美國學者湯普森認為杜思妥也夫斯基《白痴》中的主角梅思金公爵,正是聖愚的典型代表。因此,本文藉由分析《白痴》這部小說及作者創作的理念,來探討俄羅斯文化中的聖愚形象。
The Holy fool is a special phenomenon in the Russian culture, serving as the admixture of Shamanism and the Eastern Orthodox Church after it had achieved spiritual primacy in Russia. The behavior of holy fool is antinomy in Russian society and people's attitudes on how to treat the holy fool are at variance. However such a phenomenon demonstrates Russian culture is under the influence of the holy fool to a degree, especially in the nineteen century when the holy fool concept flourished widely. This characteristic of Russian literature in the nineteen century directly reflects actual life and provides the holy fool researchers with plentiful data. Consequently, it is possible to treat the holy fool by means of the Russia literature. E. M. Thompson, an American Scholar, considers that the leading role in Dostoyevsky's ”Idiot”, Prince Mashkin, is a typical example of the holy fool. Accordingly, this article investigates the holy fool imagery in the Russian culture through an analyses of ”Idiot” and the writer's compositional ideas.