Haunted by innocence: the debate with Dostoevsky in Wright's 'other novel,' "The Outsider."

African American Review, Summer, 1996 by Michael F. Lynch

Further approximations of Dostoevsky's novel extend to situations, expressions of feeling, and even dialogue. For example, the description of Cross's "wave of self-loathing" (71) upon quitting the university correlates to Raskolnikov's feeling upon abandoning his studies. When Cross bolts up in bed and remembers the bloody handkerchief, one recalls Raskolnikov's identical action over his bloody trouser fringes and stolen items. The shame of crushed pride drives both young men quite close to suicide. The scene of Cross's confession to Eva recalls Raskolnikov's to Sonya, especially when Cross falls to his knees, "clutch[ing] his arms about her legs" (530). Perhaps the most explicit and extensive borrowing involves the character of Ely Houston, the district attorney who understands Cross's rebellious impulses and suspects him of murder. A direct but inert copy of Dostoevsky's examining magistrate Porfiry Petrovich, Houston bears some touches of his model's intellectual and psychological perspicacity, but his character remains rather flat, lacking Porfiry's irony and charm. Wright lifts intact the motif of the cat-and-mouse game between the investigator and the criminal, including Porfiry's winking and confidential banter. Just as Porfiry eventually drops all pretense and compassionately advises Raskolnikov to confess in order to avoid suicide, Houston finally speaks openly and points out the torment Cross will undergo in freedom if he does not confess.

In many instances, Wright utilizes dialogue which involves a virtually explicit restatement of Dostoevsky. For example, echoes of "The Grand Inquisitor" section of The Brothers Karamazov can be heard in Wright's emphasizing the cynicism of the communist leaders as well as the masses' weakness and longing for some figure to give them security in exchange for freedom. Cross attacks capitalism and communism for enslaving humanity, in a clear paraphrase of the Grand Inquisitor:

"Those few strong men who do not want to be duped, and who are stout enough in their hearts to accept a godless world, are quite willing, aye, anxious to let the masses of men rest comfortably in their warm cocoons of traditional illusions.... the slaves of today are those who are congenitally afraid of the new and the untried, who fall on their knees and break into a deep sweat when confronted with the horrible truth of the uncertain and enigmatic nature of life." (484-85)

And Wright uses Hilton's nihilistic lecture to Cross just as Dostoevsky employs Svidrigailov's comments to enlarge Raskolnikov's self-knowledge. Hilton sounds very much like Svidrigailov when the latter mocks idealism and discusses eternity as nothing but a room full of spiders:

"You're an inverted idealist. You're groping for some over-all concept to tie all life together. There is none, Lane.... Living in this world, Lane, is what we make it, and we make what there is of it. Beyond that there's nothing, nothing at all.... To think that there's something is foolish; to act as if there is something is mad." (401)