Has anyone read this novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky? Has anyone been wanting to read it? I'm currently reading it (1/3 of the way done) and it's really freakin wonderful. So thought-provoking, especially in big topics like religion and morality, family, guilt... Anyway, I'd like to have a cool discussion with anyone interested
I'm about to take the plunge, but last time I got caught up in Dostoevsky (C & P) I found it a bit too much to trudge through. It was basically The Stranger, but 5x longer lol. Brothers Karamazov I have more hope for though. Will report back in due time.
This, and Dostoevsky's works in general (I haven't read any of his writing yet), are at the top of my to-read list. I can't wait to read this book, it's supposed to be one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written. However, it will be a while before I can get to it, sadly. Too much reading for classes at the moment.
i read the book about a year ago, very very intense but good read im thinking about reading it again, that will be when school finishes though - that being in late april
Yeah I'm enjoying Bros K much more than I did C&P. I did like C&P very much, the writing is very very good but the story seemed simple for such a long novel. Bros K is also very long, but man, there are soo many conflicts and issues going on that it never feels like you're reading the same topic for very long. I just finished the chapter The Grand Inquisitor. It's basically a poem that brings Jesus as a character. A lot of questions about good and evil and religion and all that, really great stuff. This chapter is often published on its own, so if anyone is thinking about picking up Bros K but is still rather doubtful, I'd read this chapter to get a taste of what you'll be getting into.
Dostoyevsky, along with Nabokov and Tolstoy, is one of my favorite writers. C&P was good, BK was fantastic, but The Idiot is my personal favorite of his works. I highly suggest both Pale Fire and Lolita by Nabokov those are two of my favorite books. Lolita in particular I love because despite the disarmingly controversial nature of the topic, Nabokovs writing and description of it is simply incredible. I'm currently reading The Irony of Democracy, but I think i might hit up BK afterwards as I havn't read it in 4 years, a reread might give some new insight.
You should read Nabokov's Invitation to a Beheading; he considered it his best work, and I completely understood why when I read it (the first work of his that I read after Lolita). He basically wrote it one night in a sudden surge of creative enlightenment...the man was a God. I still don't understand why he didn't like Dostoyevsky, though. Probably just jealous
Mod I definitely appreciate the insight as I've never even heard of that book before, I'm adding that to my to-read list right now
No problem, man. When you do read it I suggest that you keep an open mind, because the book is a little complicated and quite bizarre (it is a dystopian fiction, after all). It's definitely a book worth re-reading and spending some extra time with. When I was writing my essay on it last year I remember that some critical analysis from other writers was pretty helpful. Also, as you surely know from having read Nabokov before, you'll probably need a dictionary This little essay is really helpful, and the works cited has some other good stuff too if you really want to dig deep: Timothy Langen - The Ins and Outs of Invitation to a Beheading - Nabokov Studies 8 The introduction has no spoilers, but from "Order And Chaos" on, read at your own risk!
I don't have much time before work but I checked quick and I couldn't find who translated. It is published by Grosset & Dunlap. Ill do more research when I get home. What is wrong with that particular translation?
I read The Brothers Karamozov translated by David Magarshack, which really was good. In fact, every translation I've read by him has been really good.
Constance Garnett was one of the first translators of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky and her translations were the standard in English for a long time. She's a really bad translator, though, and her writing style is slightly outdated. Vladimir Nabokov really hated her and actually scolded her in his lectures, apparently. "The reason English-speaking readers can barely tell the difference between Tolstoy and Dostoevsky is that they aren't reading the prose of either one. They're reading Constance Garnett." "In her translations, she worked quickly, and smoothed over certain small portions for "readability", particularly in her translations of Dostoevsky. In instances where she did not understand a word or phrase, she omitted that portion." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Garnett Anyway, it's not really a big deal--you'll still be reading Dostoyevsky. The translation by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky is generally considered to be the best out there, though.