Joseph Frank's Dostoevsky Bio

[Anonymous No.20998297]

Am not even 100 pages in and already hate Turgenev.
Really good book though.

[Anonymous No.20998307]

>>20998297
Turgenev was a POS to be honest but a good writer.

[Anonymous No.20998326]

>>20998307
I must have a bad translation of Fathers and Sons because it's very wooden, and like he's beating you over the head with each character symbolizing a certain philosophy. Kinda like The Fountainhead.

[Anonymous No.20998359]

>>20998326
>he's beating you over the head with each character symbolizing a certain philosophy
It's literally the same in Russian

[Anonymous No.20998369]

>>20998326
I like Notes of a Hunter (unsure of the English name).

[Anonymous No.20998406]

>>20998307
He wasn't a good writer.

[Anonymous No.20998439]

>>20998359
So why do people think he's a good prose stylist? I don't get it. Dostoevsky isn't even close to that transparent; but even if he was, he's much more lively and realistic a storyteller anyway.

[Anonymous No.20998678]

>>20998369
Sportsman's Sketches or something like that.

[Anonymous No.20998765]

I'm reading Demons right now and it's remarkable. I've enjoyed Russian music and cinema for a while now, and the literature hasn't disappointed.

[Anonymous No.20998773]

>>20998297
le sad russian guy

[Anonymous No.20998791]

>>20998765
Really good novel. Constantly debating whether C&P, BK, or Demons is the most insightful novel.

[Anonymous No.20998795]

>>20998326
i'm reading a really neat book about russian short stories and the guy makes a good argument for how turgenev is a great writer despite being clunky and awkward because of the emotional depths of his stories

[Anonymous No.20998814]

>>20998326
>like he's beating you over the head with each character symbolizing a certain philosophy
Is that really a problem, though, for such a simple, short story?

[Anonymous No.20998838]

>>20998791
Insightful is a good word. I've conveniently arrived at a similar place in my life as Dostoyevsky was in some ways, so I can relate the characters he created with archetypes that spread out throughout time and space to seed themselves in our present reality. Very enjoyable.

[Anonymous No.20998849]

>>20998297
Has anyone here read The Double? How is it? I got all the Dosto books from Wordsworth but realize they the bastards don't have The Double.

[Anonymous No.20999104]

Why does he want people to be Christian so bad? I relate to him a lot, but he took the christcuck cope pill through the anus.

[Anonymous No.20999125]

>>20999104
ywnbaw

[Anonymous No.20999145]

>>20999125
Correct I am a Man

[Anonymous No.20999227]

>>20999104
Because he recognized that it was the right path to take and anything less leads to nihilism or something equally harmful.

[Anonymous No.20999244]

>>20998297
what did turgenev do to you desu?

[Anonymous No.20999262]

>>20998791
you wouldn't say The Idiot is in contention for his most insightful? I definitely would.

[Anonymous No.20999354]

>>20998849
It's pretty good. Takes a lot of inspiration from Gogol. If you like the Overcoat or Diary of a Madman you'll enjoy it.

[Anonymous No.20999429]

>>20998773
Yes

[Anonymous No.20999828]

>>20999227
>judaism light is the right path

So in your mind before christianity there was no right path? Which Christian offshoot? Is mormonism fine in his worldview?

[Anonymous No.20999889]

>>20998849
it was my first exposure to dostoyevsky, believe it or not, and i absolutely loved it. mr. golyadkin is an extremely enjoyable character

[Anonymous No.21000239]

>>20999828
The word you're looking for is "lite," and no, prior to that there was Judaism which Christ came to destroy and rebuild, as it had fallen into sinful decay. Christ corrected course and fulfilled prophecy. Christian sects are of little concern to me. There is no one church that is perfect, but Orthodoxy appeals to me for various reasons. Mormonism is too far removed to be considered anything but heretical and it's really quite silly.

[Anonymous No.21000653]

>>20999244
Not to me, but to the young Dostoevsky. He was an absolutely malicious prick.
>>20999262
I only read that novel once, when I was too young to appreciate it. Have to reread it before I assess that.

[Anonymous No.21000658]

>>20999828
Mormons literally believe that God is an alien that has a wife, and that if they don't drink coffee and wear special clothes there too can be God.

[Anonymous No.21000664]

Just looked up Turgenev on wikipedia and his family estate looks exactly how I pictured Varvara Stavrogin's estate where Stepan lives.

[Anonymous No.21000669]

>>21000664
forgot pic:

[Anonymous No.21000769]

Dostoevsky's only true friend, it seems (other than his brother): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollon_Maykov

[Anonymous No.21000777]

>>20999227
>the validity of a path is in the quality of life it gives me
This is a nihilistic thought process in itself.

[Anonymous No.21000802]

>>21000777
how can you say so? The "quality of life" surely isn't referring to superficial pleasures, but the quality of fulfilment, accomplishment, and morality.

[Anonymous No.21000810]

>>21000777
>>20999104
Why don't you trannies just go back to twitter?

[Anonymous No.21000842]

>>21000802
Because the validity of a path should be determined solely by faith in it being right. Concepts like fulfilment or accomplishment depend on other factors in practice, which are corrupting and make for a congregation that will desert when times are tough.
If faith tells you a path is right, then even if that path leads you to something 'harmful', it's spiritually preferable.

[Anonymous No.21000856]

>>21000842
I won't disagree with your closing statement, but your assertion that some moral, philosophical, or fulfilling measure of "quality of life" is nihilistic is patently false, unless everything except blind faith is nihilistic, which I don't even think the most enlightened church fathers would assert.

[Anonymous No.21000902]

>>21000777
Harmful in the sense that it lifts you from the path of salvation; a path Dostoevsky followed in faith. Its effect on quality of life isn't necessarily what I had in mind. Nevertheless I think
>>21000842
Is a bit extreme, with the exception of your final sentence.

[Anonymous No.21000924]

>>20998791
I would definitely say that every book I've read by Dostoevsky changed me in some way. So far I've read C&P, BK, The Idiot, Notes from Underground, and some minor works (Poor Folk, Doppelganger); all in Russian (it's my second language). For me though, I think C&P is the one that changed me the most. It gave me so much insight into myself and how we don't notice our own pride. I also found the Napoleon complex idea interesting - the taking down of the idea of "me vs the masses" is phenomenal. BK i thought was a bit bland (maybe i just didn't get it), but none of the characters appealed to me besides Ivan. For the Idiot, I started off hating everything about it, but about 2/3 through i started getting it. Still can't beat C&P though.

[Anonymous No.21001691]

Agree with C&P, that it stands stronger and taller than the others. But I'm due to reread BK so that perception might change.

[Anonymous No.21001729]

>>20999262
Not him but it depends. The beginning where Myskin explains how he lived with his sickness and the portrayal of the human mind seconds before execution execution were absolutely stellar and almost felt as a word for word retelling of how the man himself was almost executed. But besides that it felt like a very long Russian soap opera. I enjoyed the book but it had no reason to be as long as it was and you can tell that the madman wanted it to be EVEN LONGER judging by how much stuff goes on off screen so to speak. If you want a really insightful book you should pick up Memories from the House of the Dead. It's basically a very entertaining prison journal.

[Anonymous No.21001736]

worth reading if one already has konstantin mochulsky's bio? any new insights?

[Anonymous No.21001742]

>>21001729
>Memories from the House of the Dead. It's basically a very entertaining prison journal
I really enjoyed that one, maybe it's a bit underrated, though it's certainly not as deep as some of his other works