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Apr. 19, 2007 I read Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov in the original Russian in 1989, when I was living in Santa Monica, California. With a Russian reading speed of about 50 words a minute, I spent all day every day at the library for about a month to complete the 1000-page book, so I recall it reasonably well, despite the intervening years. I had read it many years earlier in English, when, being still very impressionable, I approached it with the preconceived attitude that I was reading the greatest novel of all time. I wasn't critical enough at that age to form my own opinion or to question the "greatestness" of the novel. Dostoyevsky left notes explaining what he meant and why he said what he said at each juncture in the book, but I have not read them, so my idea of what he was saying and what he said he meant to say may be at great odds. I've read 10 other novels by Dostoevsky in the original Russian too. In a nutshell, the plot is like this: There are four brothers, Mitya, Vanya, Alyosha and Smerdyakov, the last named, Smerdyakov, being the illegitimate son of Fyodor Karamazov, the father of the four, and Lizaveta, a street person of the day. Mitya, a wild, profligate sort, is engaged to Katya, a Russian noblewoman, but instead loves Grushenka, a looser lady, also beloved of the father. Vanya is a young atheist intellectual and esthete, man about town and publisher of an avant-garde magazine. Alyosha is a good, pious sort who becomes a monk under the care of Father Zosima, at a nearby monastery. He idolizes Zosima, but when Zosima dies, his body begins to emit a stench the very first day, contrarily to notions of his sanctity, whereupon Alyosha leaves the monastery. Smerdyakov, portrayed as a coward and cheat, is envious of the role of his three half-brothers, who have the run of the aristocratic house they all live in, while he is merely a servant in the household. Smerdyakov murders the elder Karamazov, and an investigation is begun. The police conclude ultimately that Mitya killed the old man, because of their rivalry for the affections of Grushenka. Mitya stands trial, and he is found guilty, despite the fact that Vanya testifies that Smerdyakov, who has hanged himself, confessed to him that he had killed the old man. Vanya's testimony is neglected, because by this time, Vanya has gone quite mad. Mitya is sentenced to 20 years in Siberia. One of the most famous parts of the book is a chapter called The Grand Inquisitor, wherein Vanya describes what would happen if Jesus had returned during the Spanish Inquisition. Only if you are Christian, or if you are still willing to listen to Christian apologetics, will a chapter like this have any meaning for you, regardless of its reputation. The book contains some incredible episodes. For example, at one point, the debauched Mitya, hoping to throw a big party for Grushenka, goes to great lengths trying to raise 3000 rubles, visiting bankers and pawn-brokers, beating a peasant money-lender, and exhausting every possible source. Then he squanders the money in a single night, knowing that on the morrow, he will be penniless, without a hope of raising another 3000. No one, but no one, could be so prodigal and impetuous, except of course in a Dostoyevsky novel. Another unlikely and offensive matter is that the witty, enlightened atheist, Vanya, goes stark raving mad in the end. One can only presume that the Christian Dostoyevsky is contriving false derogations on atheism in general, typical enough of his benighted age. One has to consider also that Dostoyevsky had spent four years in prison and served another three on the front lines for opposing the tsarist regime. One wonders if those experiences didn't help bend his mind towards tsarist Christianity just a little. In other words, he may have been watching his mouth. Dostoyevsky apparently shared the prejudices of his age concerning bastardy. Poor Smerdyakov gets no better treatment from Dostoyevsky, who makes him a virtual imbecile, than he does from the Karamazovs. As is usual in almost all Russian novels of the nineteenth century, there are several remarks that tend to slight Jews. Mitya's trial occupies many pages of the book. To me, the presentation is not especially superior to what one might find in a book by Agatha Christie or Erle Stanley Gardner, neither of whom has been nominated as the greatest writer of all time. Generally, The Brothers Karamazov is very depressing. If it is a perspicacious overview of the human condition, this world is truly a vale of tears. Many people, most notably Sigmund Freud, have come out saying that this is the greatest novel of all time. But on the other side of the coin, Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the USSR, said, "I don't have time for such garbage." My opinion is somewhere between these two extremes. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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