Fyodor Dostoevsky
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While Nietzsche credits Dostoevsky with inspiration, it's truly the other way around. The idea of the Ubermensch (that one man is above law) plagues the protagonist of C&P (I can't for the life of me remember his name anymore, it's been a couple of years since I read it) throughout the book and is ultimately his downfall. I've read and written a lot about C&P, and I can honestly say it's changed my life.Dori wrote:Recently, along with the other books that I'm reading, I decided to pick up Crime and Punishment (by Dostoevsky, of course). I just finished Part I, and it is an amazing read thus far. Has anyone else read this?
Here's a quote from C&P which caught my attention:
This excerpt is, from what I've seen, just a taste of the brilliance of Dostoevsky and only proves Friedrich Nietzsche's claim that "[Dostoevsky] is the only psychologist I have anything to learn from." What do you guys think?Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote:In a morbid condition of the brain, dreams often have a singular actuality, vividness, and extraordinary semblance of reality. At times monstrous images are created, but the setting and the whole picture are so truthlike and filled with details so delicate, so unexpectedly, but so artistically consistent, that the dreamer, were he an artist like Pushkin or Turgenev even, could never have invented them in the waking state. Such sick dreams always remain long in the memory and make a powerful impression on the overwrought and deranged nervous system.
I also recently bought a few more of his works, including Poor Folk, Notes from Underground, The Double, and The House of the Dead. Has anyone read any of these works? Or perhaps The Brothers Karamazov or the The Idiot (which I also own)? If so, what did you think about them?
While, or even after, you read it I suggest reading "Thus Spoke Zarathurstra" by Nietzsche to completely understand the psyche of the protagonist
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I will never forget his characters. They were so well drawn and sympathetic.
One poster said that much is lost in translation. I wish I could read Russian, then, because in English the book is already amazing.
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Sweetos - I too really enjoyed the Idiot. So good.
Belenus - I might have to give the gambler a read. I have always skipped it b/c of the critics. I should never listen to the critics.
I would like to add that House of the Dead is very underrated as well.
First post and loving the Forum so far!
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I once heard a critic compared to a eunuch in a harem .... he know how it's done, he sees it done every night but he still can't do it himself.Eric Tolevsky wrote:Dostoevsky is one of the best writers that i have read. I credit him for getting me back into books.
Sweetos - I too really enjoyed the Idiot. So good.
Belenus - I might have to give the gambler a read. I have always skipped it b/c of the critics. I should never listen to the critics.
I would like to add that House of the Dead is very underrated as well.
First post and loving the Forum so far!
Forgot to say welcome to the forum, so glad you joined us.
- Fran
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- Mel Carriere
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- Mel Carriere
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Try Tolstoy, my friend. Tolstoy will move your soul, but you have to give him a chance.anu_ wrote:Begun reading Crime and Punishment two weeks ago, but the narrative seemed very slow and abandoned it after three days. Not sure whether I would ever be able to complete.
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- Mel Carriere
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- mouseofcards89
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His best long work is "Demons." I do not understand why it is not more generally known today. Some of the political themes are outmoded, yes...but, if that much deters readers, then Tolstoy would be unknown. It's a keen, penetrating psychological study. His best short work is "Notes From Underground," though it was heavily edited by the Russian censors.
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How did you do that? Where do you find the time?mouseofcards89 wrote:I've read everything that Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote, many times over.
Things don't move....it's all dialogue in Brothers Karamazov...he sounds like he's trying to address 500 things in one novel...church vs state, existence of god, morality/good and evil....
Notes from Underground is enjoyable -- I agree.
I just bought *all* his short works.
I tried reading 'The Idiot' many years back; gave up halfway.