Comparing Dostoyevsky and Voltaire's Views on the Role of Art in Humanity

The role of social commentary in art and literature is an often controversial one. After the publication of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses – a book which comments on the experience of Muslims in Britain – a fatwā calling for the author’s death was put out. While contemporary examples of commentators being beset by hardship are not uncommon, artists in the past were regularly censured for their views and artworks. Dostoyevsky, for example, was put into exile for years and nearly put to death for his views. Voltaire was banned from Paris by Louis XV. Both of these writers understood well the impact their artwork could have on society. As such, comparing their views on the role of art in humanity is beneficial.

Voltaire’s work Candide is a satirical commentary on many things, including how to live a fulfilling life. The work’s protagonists undergo many hardships and learn, eventually, to avoid boredom, vice, and poverty, in order to be satisfied. Dostoyevsky certainly would have read Candide, and offered his own advice for living a fulfilling life in Notes from Underground. Dostoyevsky claims that mankind must prove to itself it’s not a purely rational being and can only be free by rejecting total rationality. By comparing these works, it becomes clear how these differences in teleology trickle down to their views on all things, including the role of art.

To Voltaire, nothing is more important in art than provoking an emotional response. This is the primary basis linking each of his comments on art in Candide. The eponymous protagonist sees a play during his stay in Paris. Despite the protest of those around him, he weeps almost uncontrollably during parts of the tragedy. The critics who see this react coldly and the hatred Volt...

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.... Dostoyevsky might contend that his work was not intended as informative, but just became so by avoiding utilitarianism and over-emotionalism. Voltaire, however, appears to have written a utilitarian work despite his dislike for such things.

The comparison of the authors’ views on the role of art in society falls from their overarching views on leading satisfying lives. Voltaire thinks one should cultivate their garden, and so art – much like many divertimentos – are unnecessary and possibly harmful. Dostoyevsky believes in becoming free by rejecting reason-based existence. There is hardly a better way to do this than by creating art. Despite their differences, the commentary on society present in the works of both authors caused them great trouble and – necessary in living a fulfilling life or not – it’s clear that great art drastically affects those who view it.