The International Dostoevsky Society has the sad duty to inform you that Prof. Dr. Horst-Jürgen Gerigk passed away on February 9, 2024 in Heidelberg at the age of 86. Horst-Jürgen Gerigk was one of the founding members of our Society, he was its President from 1998 to 2004 and was subsequently appointed Honorary President. From 1999 to 2018, he was the Managing Editor of Dostoevsky Studies. His numerous monographs and essays on Dostoevsky have not only considerably expanded knowledge of this author in the German-speaking world, but have also provided decisive impulses in an international context. The International Dostoevsky Society will continue to honor his memory.
23 February 2024
It seems hard to believe that forty-four years have passed since we met in Bergamo at the International Dostoevsky Symposium. As always with Horst-Jürgen, there was no small talk, but rather lively discussions of Heidegger, hermeneutics, Dostoevsky, and American popular culture, which I found that he knew better than I did. I had read his book on The Raw Youth before we met, and I had expected him to be at least a generation older. Little did I know then that could write serious and profound books as rapidly as the rest of us write reviews or articles. Indeed, he wrote over twenty books and edited a number of multi-author volumes. The range of topics was more impressive than the number, and the depth of critical and philosophical insight was most memorable of all.
We would see each other at these IDS symposia every three years or so, also when he came to America to visit friends and colleagues and to deliver lectures in English on a great variety of subjects. Our conversations became no less intense with the passing of years, and – on his part – no less witty and playful. One of the most memorable was a few years ago when I was preparing a dinner party for him (my wife was out of town) and, as I stirred the sauces, we were discussing philosophical hermeneutics. He slipped, naturally enough, into German, and I remember being challenged to keep pace without burning our dinner.
Over the years I have taken many photographs of us all at these Dostoevsky symposia. My favorite of Horst-Jürgen comes from Naples, 2010, in which he is standing in front of an anarchist graffito which says “Disobedience.” This slogan unintendedly captures his salient scholarly and intellectual virtue, one which his writings, talks, and conversations embodied in the best possible way. It did not prevent him from being a wise and firm president of the IDS, diplomatically and creatively helping to bring us into the twenty-first century.
William Mills Todd III
Cambridge, Massachusetts
