Essay
Dostoevsky’s "The Idiot" as a Cultural Artifact and an Object of Deconstruction in a Psychoanalytic Perspective
The text is based on a report presented at a Conference at the Mikhail Shemyakin Center, St. Petersburg, 2025
Artist Statement for the Project “3D Idiot”
In 2022, a Western institution proposed removing Fyodor Dostoevsky’s books from Western cultural circulation under the pretext of a political ban. This gesture was not mere censorship but an attempt to erase an entire stratum of thought previously acknowledged as “world literary classic.” Although this proposal received no positive reception, the very possibility of such a ban became material for reflection and inspired the creation of a new art object within my artistic practice.
The project “3D The Idiot” responds to prohibition not through polemic but through form. Rather than defending the text, I propose its transformation: the book is no longer read—it is seen.
Drawing on the methods of deconstruction (Jacques Derrida) and the logic of structural psychoanalysis (Jacques Lacan), I treat the ban as a form-generating act. Just as the incest taboo in the psyche produces not emptiness but a complex symbolic structure, so too does Dostoevsky’s cultural prohibition give rise not to disappearance but to the emergence of a new book-form.
In this project, each page of the novel is folded into a sharp, origami-like shape. The text remains visible yet unreadable—meaning is displaced by form. The reader gives way to the viewer; sequential pages yield to spatial construction. The title acquires the prefix “3D”: this denotes not only volume but also the three dimensions of the book’s existence—historical (Dostoevsky), material (paper, form), and contemporary (the artist as witness).
The project “3D The Idiot” asserts: art cannot be forbidden.
The 3D Idiot project: when a ban turns text into a form.
Trajectories of an Object’s Entry into the Postmodern Cultural Field
The art object “3D The Idiot” is a book translated into a new dimension. Under the pressure of contemporaneity and sociopolitical shifts, Dostoevsky’s novel assumes a new form, employing methods characteristic of postmodernism. Postmodernism, by its very nature, operates through negation—not destruction, but transformation. It reveals hidden structures concealed within what appears “familiar,” “known,” or “obvious”—that is, within the stereotype.
One of the key instruments enabling such reinterpretation is Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction. This approach destabilizes fixed meanings and exposes the binary oppositions underpinning the stereotypical integrity of an object (or text). When such an object—for instance, a book by Dostoevsky—is placed into a new context (in this case, that of cultural prohibition), its structure deforms and reveals its own foundational supports.
Jacques Lacan’s theory of structural psychoanalysis helps outline possible trajectories of this transformation. If we consider the cultural object as a subject formed according to specific laws, its reaction to external pressure becomes predictable—provided that this pressure aligns with psychoanalytic mechanisms. In our case, the point of contact lies precisely in the logic of prohibition.
The sudden emergence of proposals to ban Dostoevsky from the international information sphere became, for me, raw material for an artistic practice in which I entertain the hypothetical reality of a ban on Russian literature. In Lacanian theory, the prohibition of the incestuous object (the mother) is not merely a limitation but a form-generating act: it produces a lack that, in turn, initiates the process of symbolization and the complication of psychic structure. Analogously, a ban on Dostoevsky can be perceived not as annihilation but as an invitation to create a new, more complex form.
Analysis of the Book as a Cultural Construct
The ban on Russian culture—even if brief and unofficial—triggered a powerful reaction, less political than aesthetic. Dostoevsky’s works, especially The Idiot, became focal points precisely because they are not merely literature but cultural stereotypes: “complex,” “gloomy,” “profound,” “difficult to understand.” This stereotype makes them ideal candidates for deconstruction: simultaneously stable and vulnerable.
A book can be conceptualized as a construct composed of the following elements:
— Cover
— Pages
— Title
— Text as a system of signs
— Content as the transmission of meaning
— Author (Dostoevsky as figure)
— Reader
— Stereotype (“a Dostoevsky book” as cultural code)
Traditionally, the reader enters into dialogue with the text—agreeing, arguing, interpreting. Yet it is precisely the reader who binds all other elements into a unified whole. Remove the reader, and the book ceases to function as a cultural object.
The Logic of Prohibition in Structural Psychoanalysis
In psychoanalysis, prohibition is not mere forbiddance but a cultural law depriving the subject of direct access to a desired object (in the classical case, the mother). This loss produces a lack that becomes the driving force behind subjectivation through symbolization. The subject begins seeking substitutions, constructing metaphors, and complicating its internal structure.
Similarly, a ban on Dostoevsky creates a cultural lack. Yet instead of vanishing, the object seeks transformation—searching for new modes of existence. It is at this juncture that deconstruction commences.
Dismantling the Reader and Generating Lack
If a ban targets Russian culture, its direct addressee is the reader—as the representative of contemporaneity capable of receiving and transmitting this cultural code. Deprived of its reader, the book loses its function. Deconstruction thus begins precisely with the dismantling of this element.
In psychoanalytic logic, the loss of an object does not produce emptiness but triggers restructuring. Elements within the construct begin shifting functions, occupying new positions, and forming different connections.
Structure of the “Reader” Object
The reader interacts with a text that simultaneously exists in two registers:
— The Imaginary: as a description of the world
— The Symbolic: as the transmission of meaning
Accordingly, the reader’s function is dual: they read (engage with meaning) and see (perceive the text, the letters). This duality can be articulated as a division into two distinct objects: the reader and the viewer.
Redistribution of Functions Among Objects
When the function of reading is nullified, the viewer emerges as primary. No longer deciphering meaning, they perceive form. In place of content (meaning), the artist’s gesture appears—materialized affect provoked by prohibition. This gesture carries the energy of resistance, but not of destruction: in Lacanian logic, affect subordinated to the law is channeled toward the complication of one’s own structure rather than the annihilation of the source of prohibition.
Crucially, accepting the law is not synonymous with endorsing it. The artist does not justify the ban but incorporates it into their system to generate a new form from within. This is the essence of the postmodern response: art cannot be forbidden—it will always find a way to respond.
Assembling Materials for a New Book Structure
As a result of deconstruction, new objects emerge:
— The artist’s gesture (in the form of affect)
— The viewer
Preserved elements include:
— Pages with text
— The title The Idiot
— The stereotype of the “difficult book”
The author’s function is now partially transferred to the artist: Dostoevsky becomes an ally, a witness, but no longer the sole source of meaning. The cover loses significance—since the viewer does not “enter” the book like a reader, but perceives it as a whole. Sequentiality of pages becomes obsolete: the book can be disassembled to be seen all at once.
The Stereotypical Signifier as Form-Giving Object
The affect provoked by prohibition is associated with something sharp, prickly, aggressive. Origami technique allows each book page to be transformed into a pointed figure—simultaneously threatening and fragile. The text remains visible but unreadable: meaning is displaced by form. This is the visualization of the impossibility of dialogue under conditions of prohibition.
The Book for the Viewer: Reading Form
The new book exists no longer linearly (text in 2D) but spatially. All pages, folded into sharp forms, are arranged sequentially across two planes—like an open book spread, resembling an installation. Each page directs the gaze toward its tip, where the material transitions into the symbolic: precisely there the artist’s gesture is concentrated.
Transformation of the Title
The title The Idiot acquires the prefix “3D”—not merely indicating volume. “3D The Idiot” signifies:
— The Idiot in a cube: a response to attempts to forbid art
— The literal embodiment of the book in three-dimensional space
— Three dimensions of the new book:
• The artist’s dimension (contemporaneity)
• The material dimension (paper, form, object)
• The writer’s dimension (historicity, tradition)
Conclusion
“3D The Idiot” is not merely a reinterpretation of a classic but an act of cultural resistance through form. Prohibition does not destroy the book; rather, it enables its rebirth. In this new configuration, the reader yields to the viewer, meaning to form, linearity to space. But most importantly: the book remains—not as text, but as gesture, as provocation, as an object impossible to ignore.
The art object “3D The Idiot” is a book translated into a new dimension. Under the pressure of contemporaneity and sociopolitical shifts, Dostoevsky’s novel assumes a new form, employing methods characteristic of postmodernism. Postmodernism, by its very nature, operates through negation—not destruction, but transformation. It reveals hidden structures concealed within what appears “familiar,” “known,” or “obvious”—that is, within the stereotype.
One of the key instruments enabling such reinterpretation is Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction. This approach destabilizes fixed meanings and exposes the binary oppositions underpinning the stereotypical integrity of an object (or text). When such an object—for instance, a book by Dostoevsky—is placed into a new context (in this case, that of cultural prohibition), its structure deforms and reveals its own foundational supports.
Jacques Lacan’s theory of structural psychoanalysis helps outline possible trajectories of this transformation. If we consider the cultural object as a subject formed according to specific laws, its reaction to external pressure becomes predictable—provided that this pressure aligns with psychoanalytic mechanisms. In our case, the point of contact lies precisely in the logic of prohibition.
The sudden emergence of proposals to ban Dostoevsky from the international information sphere became, for me, raw material for an artistic practice in which I entertain the hypothetical reality of a ban on Russian literature. In Lacanian theory, the prohibition of the incestuous object (the mother) is not merely a limitation but a form-generating act: it produces a lack that, in turn, initiates the process of symbolization and the complication of psychic structure. Analogously, a ban on Dostoevsky can be perceived not as annihilation but as an invitation to create a new, more complex form.
Analysis of the Book as a Cultural Construct
The ban on Russian culture—even if brief and unofficial—triggered a powerful reaction, less political than aesthetic. Dostoevsky’s works, especially The Idiot, became focal points precisely because they are not merely literature but cultural stereotypes: “complex,” “gloomy,” “profound,” “difficult to understand.” This stereotype makes them ideal candidates for deconstruction: simultaneously stable and vulnerable.
A book can be conceptualized as a construct composed of the following elements:
— Cover
— Pages
— Title
— Text as a system of signs
— Content as the transmission of meaning
— Author (Dostoevsky as figure)
— Reader
— Stereotype (“a Dostoevsky book” as cultural code)
Traditionally, the reader enters into dialogue with the text—agreeing, arguing, interpreting. Yet it is precisely the reader who binds all other elements into a unified whole. Remove the reader, and the book ceases to function as a cultural object.
The Logic of Prohibition in Structural Psychoanalysis
In psychoanalysis, prohibition is not mere forbiddance but a cultural law depriving the subject of direct access to a desired object (in the classical case, the mother). This loss produces a lack that becomes the driving force behind subjectivation through symbolization. The subject begins seeking substitutions, constructing metaphors, and complicating its internal structure.
Similarly, a ban on Dostoevsky creates a cultural lack. Yet instead of vanishing, the object seeks transformation—searching for new modes of existence. It is at this juncture that deconstruction commences.
Dismantling the Reader and Generating Lack
If a ban targets Russian culture, its direct addressee is the reader—as the representative of contemporaneity capable of receiving and transmitting this cultural code. Deprived of its reader, the book loses its function. Deconstruction thus begins precisely with the dismantling of this element.
In psychoanalytic logic, the loss of an object does not produce emptiness but triggers restructuring. Elements within the construct begin shifting functions, occupying new positions, and forming different connections.
Structure of the “Reader” Object
The reader interacts with a text that simultaneously exists in two registers:
— The Imaginary: as a description of the world
— The Symbolic: as the transmission of meaning
Accordingly, the reader’s function is dual: they read (engage with meaning) and see (perceive the text, the letters). This duality can be articulated as a division into two distinct objects: the reader and the viewer.
Redistribution of Functions Among Objects
When the function of reading is nullified, the viewer emerges as primary. No longer deciphering meaning, they perceive form. In place of content (meaning), the artist’s gesture appears—materialized affect provoked by prohibition. This gesture carries the energy of resistance, but not of destruction: in Lacanian logic, affect subordinated to the law is channeled toward the complication of one’s own structure rather than the annihilation of the source of prohibition.
Crucially, accepting the law is not synonymous with endorsing it. The artist does not justify the ban but incorporates it into their system to generate a new form from within. This is the essence of the postmodern response: art cannot be forbidden—it will always find a way to respond.
Assembling Materials for a New Book Structure
As a result of deconstruction, new objects emerge:
— The artist’s gesture (in the form of affect)
— The viewer
Preserved elements include:
— Pages with text
— The title The Idiot
— The stereotype of the “difficult book”
The author’s function is now partially transferred to the artist: Dostoevsky becomes an ally, a witness, but no longer the sole source of meaning. The cover loses significance—since the viewer does not “enter” the book like a reader, but perceives it as a whole. Sequentiality of pages becomes obsolete: the book can be disassembled to be seen all at once.
The Stereotypical Signifier as Form-Giving Object
- The stereotype of the “difficult book” acquires a literal meaning: the book becomes physically folded. A play on words between “difficult” (slozhnaya) and “folded” (slozhenная)—reinforced by their acoustic similarity—generates a new signifier. This slippage determines the choice of artistic technique: origami, in which a sheet of paper is folded into a new form while retaining the recognizability of its original material.
The affect provoked by prohibition is associated with something sharp, prickly, aggressive. Origami technique allows each book page to be transformed into a pointed figure—simultaneously threatening and fragile. The text remains visible but unreadable: meaning is displaced by form. This is the visualization of the impossibility of dialogue under conditions of prohibition.
The Book for the Viewer: Reading Form
The new book exists no longer linearly (text in 2D) but spatially. All pages, folded into sharp forms, are arranged sequentially across two planes—like an open book spread, resembling an installation. Each page directs the gaze toward its tip, where the material transitions into the symbolic: precisely there the artist’s gesture is concentrated.
Transformation of the Title
The title The Idiot acquires the prefix “3D”—not merely indicating volume. “3D The Idiot” signifies:
— The Idiot in a cube: a response to attempts to forbid art
— The literal embodiment of the book in three-dimensional space
— Three dimensions of the new book:
• The artist’s dimension (contemporaneity)
• The material dimension (paper, form, object)
• The writer’s dimension (historicity, tradition)
Conclusion
“3D The Idiot” is not merely a reinterpretation of a classic but an act of cultural resistance through form. Prohibition does not destroy the book; rather, it enables its rebirth. In this new configuration, the reader yields to the viewer, meaning to form, linearity to space. But most importantly: the book remains—not as text, but as gesture, as provocation, as an object impossible to ignore.