The conflict between dream and reality in the works of F.M. Dostoevsky (based on the novel "Crime and Punishment," the story "White Nights," and "Notes from Underground")

The subject of this study is the artistic representation of the fundamental conflict between dream and reality in the prose of F. M. Dostoevsky. The analysis focuses on key works of the writer that reflect the evolution of this conflict: the novel "Crime and Punishment," as well as the novellas "White Nights" and "Notes from Underground." Special attention is paid to tracing the genesis and transformation of the archetypal image of the "dreamer," the mechanisms of forming the so-called "third sphere" of consciousness, and a deep philosophical-ethical interpretation of this opposition. The methodological basis of the research is grounded in a synthesis of literary and philosophical approaches and includes tools for comparative, structural-semantic, and motivational analysis, as well as an intertextual approach. The scientific novelty of the work lies in a systemic examination of the conflict between dream and reality not as a simple binary opposition of "illusion – objective world," but as a complex generator of a particular subjective reality. Within the framework of the study, the concept of the "third sphere" is introduced and substantiated – a psychological space of mutual penetration, diffusion, and transformation of dream and reality. The conducted analysis allows us to conclude that in Dostoevsky's work, dream undergoes significant evolution: from a romantic escape from reality, it transforms into a powerful tool for moral experimentation and existential breakthrough. The conflict in Dostoevsky is resolved not through the victory of one side, but dialectically – through the emergence of a new, often tragic, subjectivity. This is vividly demonstrated by the central images: Raskolnikov's theory collapses when confronted with an existential reality that does not fit into rational schemes; the dreamer from "White Nights" embodies the tragedy of a consciousness that has enclosed itself in a self-sufficient illusory world; and the Underground Man absurdly pushes back against the total rationalization of human existence. Thus, Dostoevsky's work represents a profound artistic anthropology of the crisis of modern consciousness, torn between utopian projects and the existential truth of human nature.