Dostojewski i sprzeczności XIX wieku .......... 265

DOSTOEVSKY AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF THE XIXTH CENTURY

This article concerns selected themes of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s work (1821–1881), which directly relate to the problems of 19th century civilization. Referring to “images-ideas”: “Tower of Babel”, “Crystal Palace” and to the views of Charles Fourier and Nikolai Chernyshevsky behind them. The considerations suggested in the article are aimed at highlighting the problem of freedom. Nonetheless, they do not omit, as omnipresent as the shadow, the danger of enslaving the human spirit that goes along with it. Generally speaking, this concerns the attitude of the Russian writer and thinker towards the ideal world of technology, the crisis of civilization, the rebellion of “the man from the underground”, and the perception of culture as a space for “the battle of ideas”.