Date: 2009-02-10 20:45 Subject: (no subject) Security: Public Tags: fyodor_dostoevsky, loss_of_faith_2008, russia

Crime and Punishment: A Novel in Six Parts with Epilogue (1866)
by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky
564 pages - Vintage Classics

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is a former student, having dropped out before finishing his studies, who currently lives in a small garrett apartment, and is barely scraping by without much hope for the future. A plan occurs to him to murder an old woman who works as a pawnbroker, but complications occur as he tries to carry out his plan. Inter-weaved with the plot of the killing is the story of Raskolnikov's mother and sister arriving in Petersburg so that his sister can be married (strictly because they are in need of money), and as well another thread where Raskolnikov gets to know a drunkard civil servant and his chaotic family, which includes an eldest sister who has become a prostitute to support them.

This was my second time reading this much-praised story, though it was the first time I read this translation. The first one I read was by Constance Garnett, who is criticized for making all the authors she translated sound the same, like late-period Victorians. That was my first read by Dostoevsky, and went to read most of his works (many in translations by Pevear & Volokhonsky) and I suppose he became one of my favourite authors. But in reading this particular work in the more faithful translation, I have to say it was a bit of a slog, and I didn't thoroughly enjoy it, though I'm not sure if that's because of the rough and scattered style of the original, or simply because time has moved on. Dostoevsky's style has always been very frantic and a bit disorganized (with often noticeable changes in focus over the course of a novel, the result of having originally been published in serialized form), and I did feel like he perhaps could use a good editor like Garnett. The sweep and final resolution of the novel is still very affecting, but I can't say the novel as a whole lived up to my previous memories.

'Do you know how I regard you? I regard you as one of those men who could have their guts cut out, and would stand and look at his torturers with a smile--provided he's found faith, or God. Well, go and find it, and you will live. First of all, you've needed a change of air for a long time. And suffering is a good thing, after all. Suffer, then. Mikolka may be right in wanting to suffer. I know belief doesn't come easily--but don't be too clever about it, just give yourself directly to life, without reasoning; don't worry--it will carry you straight to shore and set you on your feet. What shore? How do I know? I only believe that you have much life ahead of you. I know you're taking what I say to you now as a prepared oration, but maybe you'll remember it later and find it useful; that's why I'm saying it to you. It's good that you only killed a little old woman. If you'd come up with a different theory, you might have done something a hundred million times more hideous! Maybe you should still thank God; how do you know, maybe God is saving you for something. Be of great heart, and fear less.' (pg. 420)

Date: 2007-02-17 11:12 Subject: Notes From Underground by Dostoevsky Security: Public Tags: fyodor_dostoevsky, re-read, russia, the_dostoevsky_project

Notes From Underground (1864)
by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky
136 pages - Vintage Classics

'...all this will produce a most unpleasant impression, because we've all grown unaccustomed to life, we're all lame, each of us more or less. We've even grown so unaccustomed that at times we feel a sort of loathing for real "living life," and therefore cannot bear to be reminded of it. For we've reached a point where we regard real "living life" almost as labor, almost as service, and we all agree in ourselves that it's better from a book.'(pg.129)

The narrator introduces himself in the first part of the book, "Underground", and proceeds to go on a rant/screed/confession. He is a former civil servant who has retired to a meager little apartment after inheriting some money, and though he is full of misery and spite and many other things, he is happy that at least his spite is his own. The narrator goes at a lot of targets here, but one of his primary attacks is against the idea that scientific and economic progress will lead to universal human happiness. He attacks the idea that life can be refined down to a scientific formula, and that once everybody's motivations are put on a chart, and harmonized, we can all progress together, in peace. The underground man says this is nonsense, because people do not act in enlightened self-interest, and in fact if you built someone a life that was happy and well-ordered and rational, the one human thing that that person would be sure to do is to mangle and destroy it, if only to assert that he still has some measure of freedom. Interestingly, Dostoevsky apparently included a Christian alternative to the isolation and hatred of the narrator, but that was cut out by the censors.

In the second part, "Apropos of the Wet Snow", the narrator relates some episodes that occurred in his past, in his mid-twenties, when he was still something of a frustrated dreamer. First, he is insulted by a burly officer who moves him out of the way as though he's a chair, and our narrator then neurotically tries to 'get back' at him, following the officer around, fantasizing different schemes day and night while the officer is not even aware that this man exists. Then, the narrator forces himself into a circle of old school acquaintances whom he actually despises, and invites himself to a going-away dinner they're holding for one of them. The narrator does not want to be there, the others don't want him there, but he stubbornly stays and endures humiliation, awkwardness, hostility. The night ends at a brothel, where, while lying beside a prostitute, he starts talking romantic bookish nonsense which he doesn't believe himself, but sounds quite nice when divorced from reality. He plants a seed of hope in this prostitute, but when she comes to his apartment to see him several days later, he is back to being ridden with anxiety and neurosis, and he tries to insult and demean her in as cutting a way as possible so that she'll leave.

I've been fond of referring to this book as my autobiography, at least in some emotional sense. Re-reading it again (probably at least my 3rd reading), I don't think I felt the connection quite as intensely, but it's unquestionably a staggering piece of writing. It's a monumental work on several levels. Philosophically, it condenses the argument against the systemization of reality, and Hegel-derived socialism; and in mocking the meager limits of reason it's probably the best fictional representation of the existentialist position. In terms of literature, it is an unsurpassed example of the extreme subjectivity possible when using an unreliable narrator, and how the character's psychology shapes the style of the book; and in terms of Dostoevsky's development as a writer, it's really the gateway into his greatest works. And, on a personal level, for the individual reader, it's hard to find any greater or more intimate and intense exploration of alienation, anxiety, social awkwardness, and of the outsider who both shuns and is shunned by society, but also torments himself about it at every moment.

A very rewarding re-read, though I'm not sure I was quite in the mood for it. Up next month is Crime and Punishment, in the Pevear & Volokhonsky translation which I have not read before.

Date: 2007-02-11 12:35 Subject: Winter Notes on Summer Impressions by Dostoevsky Security: Public Tags: essays, fyodor_dostoevsky, russia, travel

Winter Notes on Summer Impressions (1863)
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Kyril FitzLyon
93 pages - Quartet Books

These are some thoughts and reflections on Dostoevsky's trip to Western Europe in the summer of 1862 that were originally published in a periodical he edited. This book is mostly focused on his time in France and England, though to be honest there is minimal space given to actual impressions and experiences, and they mostly serve as a springboard for FD to talk about whatever he feels like talking about. It's also written in a sort of jokey, repetitive, often ironical style, and there's not a lot of development of thought; though on several pages he does articulate thoughts that he would develop in later, more weighty works. This was kind of a disappointing read, as it's just not very much of anything at all.

Date: 2007-02-02 13:55 Subject: The Dostoevsky Project Security: Public Tags: fyodor_dostoevsky, projects, the_dostoevsky_project

I've never been much of a re-reader, even though most people seem to agree that the best books really only start to reveal themselves after multiple readings. So, for the first half of 2007, along with my regular reading, I'm going to set myself the project of re-reading Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'Big 5'. Hopefully this won't feel too forced and artificial, and instead will be a good opportunity to revisit some real quality stuff that I usually don't do because there's always 'something else' that looks tempting that I don't know anything about yet. So, the schedule is as follows:

Feb - Notes from Underground
Mar - Crime and Punishment
Apr - The Idiot
May - Demons
Jun - The Brothers Karamazov

In addition to that, I also have D's short Winter Notes on Summer Impressions out from the library already, so I will probably get to that soon as well, probably first. I'm not much for picking 'favourites', but I Brothers Karamazov is what I usually consider to be my favourite novel, and I suppose I consider Dostoevsky to be the greatest writer of fiction - so it will be interesting to see if those opinions hold up.

Date: 2006-03-23 16:41 Subject: Village of Stepanchikovo by Dostoevsky Security: Public Tags: fyodor_dostoevsky, russia

The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants: From the Notes of an Unknown (1859)
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Ignat Avsey
202 pages - Penguin Classics

The narrator receives a somewhat confusing letter where he is invited to his uncle's estate in the village of Stepanchikovo, is encouraged to propose marriage to the governess of his uncle's children, and hears the first of many confusing tales about Foma Fomich Opiskin, who was once an assistant of the uncle's stepfather, and has now somehow set himself up as a tyrant of the household. When he arrives at the estate the narrator is introduced to the self-centred, egotistical, and outrageous Opiskin, begins to suspect that perhaps his widower uncle and the governess are actually in love with each other, and meets a whole range of other eccentric characters, such as a half-mad lady who has recently inherited a fortune, and who has a number of suitors looking to marry her strictly for her money. This book has sometimes been translated as The Friend of the Family.

This is the first novel Dostoevsky wrote after he was released from prison, and it's a bit odd to see him try his hand at provincial comedy, without taking much care to provide depth or reality to the personality of the characters. There's some amusing moments, and the last chapter or two actually work quite well, the happy note of the ending somewhat anticipating the ending of Karamazov, but overall the book is just mediocre. The horrible and grating Opiskin is somewhat modeled on Gogol, specifically on the stuffy and paternalistic personality he projected in nonfiction writings, and it seems a bit mean of Dostoevsky to do that to someone he was obviously heavily influenced and inspired by. Actually, it reminds me of another character in Demons, who is an over-the-top spiteful portrait of Turgenev. As you can tell, not really interesting at all except in how it foreshadows future writings.

Date: 2005-07-28 12:53 Subject: Netochka Nezvanova by Dostoevsky Security: Public Tags: fyodor_dostoevsky, russia

Netochka Nezvanova (1849)
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
translated by Jane Kentish
173 pages
Penguin Classics

This is the first part of a novel that was never finished, as soon after this first part was published the Czar set FD up with a date with a firing squad, eventually commuted to several years in Siberia. He never picked up the narrative again, but it still stands up quite well as the story of a girl's childhood and adolescence. The title apparently loosely translates as 'Nameless Nobody'.

The story is narrated by the title character, and starts with the story of her stepfather, who is a frustrated musician who believes himself to be a genius but just spends his time drinking and boasting and otherwise wasting away his life instead of doing any diligent work. The family is then formed, which consists of the girl, her mother, and the stepfather living in one room in abject poverty, as the mother is the only one who works while the father is driven mad by by his thoughts of being the world's only violin genius, totally unrecognized. After both parents die miserably the girl is taken in by a rich family, though all her relationships are still quite aloof until she gets into a romantic relationship with the daughter of the family, who is of a similar age. Eventually that family needs to move from Petersburg to Moscow, and so she moves in with another branch of the family where everyone is very introverted and secretive and isolated from the outside world.

This book was quite a surprise, as it's one of FD's lesser-known works, but I found it a riveting read, even though it is more like a string of short stories than a unified novel. Apparently when FD was young his family used to read the novels of Ann Radcliffe aloud on long cold winter nights, and that influence shows here more than anywhere else, as it's all definitely very gothic and desperate and melodramatic, and people spend a lot of time wandering around empty rooms and crying. I was also surprised at the lesbian relationship, as it's not merely 'hinted' at, but really right up front page after page. It's never quite clear how old the girls are at the time, so if you're talking about physical stuff who knows what goes on there exactly, but on an emotional level that's exactly what it is, which was pretty surprising for something published in the middle of the 19th century. There's also a wonderful sequence at the end where she steals a key to the library and spends years immersed in reading various books, that's just very evocative in the sort of way that the love of books portrayed in books can be.

The fact that it was such a relief and delight to take a break from my laborious reading of Pride and Prejudice to read this tale of a miserable childhood probably says a lot about my psychological makeup ;)
( quotes )

Date: 2005-07-05 00:58 Subject: Poor Folk & Other Stories by Dostoevsky Security: Public Tags: fyodor_dostoevsky, russia, short_stories

Poor Folk and Other Stories
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
translated by David McDuff
271 pages
Penguin Classics

Poor Folk is Dostoevsky's first novel, fairly short and told in the form of letters between a poor older civil servant and a young orphaned female 'relative' of his who he sacrifices much for, and is clearly infatuated with. The other stories included are The Landlady, about a young man who is a sort of recluse, who is intrigued by an old man and young woman he sees in church, and follows them home to rent a room and move in with them, Mr. Prokharchin, about a stingy old man living in a rooming house who is teased by everyone he lives with, and Polzunkov, which features the classic Dostoevsky type of character who just can't keep his mouth shut or behave properly in society, and suffers misfortune because of it.

It's interesting to read what Dostoevsky wrote in his early years (he was 22 when Poor Folk was published), before his time in prison and the development and evolution of the themes dealt with in his major novels. There's a definite strain of dreaminess and romanticism that is almost entirely absent in his later works. The influences, from Pushkin and Gogol to Schiller and Dickens, are already there, but it would all get much darker and deeper as the years went on. He'd get much better at dramatic plotting as well, as the two middle stories start well but then sort of scatter about instead of proceeding to an end. Pretty good stuff.

Date: 2005-03-16 00:00 Subject: The House of the Dead by Dostoevsky Security: Public Tags: fyodor_dostoevsky, old_journal_entries, russia

Finished reading The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by David McDuff. A fictionalized account of his own time in a Siberian prison, it sketches the habits, living conditions, and the personalities of convicts and jailers.

This was a really captivating read. The book is somewhat episodic rather than driven by a linear plot, but it is probably the closest you can get to spending several years in prison without actually doing so. One impressive thing was how D would take about a page to sketch out a single person's personality, and this not only fleshed that person out but categorized an archetype of a certain kind of person that you might meet anywhere, at any time. The chapters that stick out most in my mind were the ones on Christmas (both the feast and the play that was put on), the coming of spring, and the relationship between convicts and the animals they sometimes kept.

'How much youth had been buried in vain within these walls; how much power and strength had perished here for nothing! For the whole truth must be told: all these men were quite remarkable. These were perhaps the most gifted, the strongest of all our people. But mighty powers had perished in vain, perished abnormally, unlawfully, irrevocably. Yet who is to blame?' (pg. 355)

Date: 2005-02-17 00:00 Subject: The Adolescent by Dostoevsky Security: Public Tags: fyodor_dostoevsky, old_journal_entries, russia

Finished reading The Adolescent by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. The book has sometimes been translated as A Raw Youth or An Accidental Family. The narrator is a young man about 19 years old who has been raised in boarding schools and such, and is finally traveling to Petersburg to meet his real (not official) father, his mother, and other relations. He also happens to be carrying a document that, if revealed, can change the fate of several lives.

This is quite an obscure and overlooked novel by Dostoevsky, which is strange as it was written during his greatest period, and was actually the second-last one he ever wrote, followed only by The Brothers Karamazov. So I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised! The novel is written in the first person and it's an amazing rendering of adolescent consciousness. It's split into three parts and to be honest the last part does seem to lose steam and focus, so that it descends from the excellent to the good. Still, very unjustly ignored! Sort of a combination of the manic narration of Notes from Underground, the social drama of Dickens, and (I reluctantly reference) the world and self-exploring fragile consciousness of The Catcher in the Rye.

Date: 2005-02-08 00:00 Subject: The Gambler by Dostoevsky Security: Public Tags: fyodor_dostoevsky, old_journal_entries, russia

Finished reading The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett. Follows the story of the tutor of a family that is staying at a gambling spot in Germany following different social intrigues interspersed with the seductive lure of gambling, mostly roulette in this short novel.

This book was really good, considering that it's mainly known for being written in a flash to cover a contractual obligation before a looming deadline. It takes a bit of time to get going, but then the amusing eccentric character of Granny shows up, and then in the later parts of the book the downward spiral of the narrator experiences after he wins a large sum is interesting and somewhat original in D's work.

Date: 2005-02-07 00:00 Subject: The Double by Dostoevsky Security: Public Tags: fyodor_dostoevsky, old_journal_entries, russia

Finished reading The Double by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett. A short novel about a government clerk who is frustrated by a lack of success in his career and his personal life, and then encounters his exact double, with the exact same appearance and name. The double somehow gains a better reputation than the original character, and soon the impostor is acclaimed, while the hero of the novel is defamed.

A somewhat interesting book, but it was D's second novel and you just see some of the seeds he would later develop. Definitely a strong Gogol influence. D's work would become much stronger, deeper, and more complex after his death sentence (commuted at the last minute) and long imprisonment.