Brothers Karamazov
I finished my book last night/this morning. Way, way over-written, if you ask me. Dostoyevsky devoted something like 100 pages near the end to summarizing the 900 pages that came before it. I realize that he has an interest in court rhetoric, but the closing remarks from the prosecution and defense struck me as pretty dispensable.
How Russian was the conclusion! Though it was cast in spiritual light, I couldn't help but think that Alyosha got the ass end of life. His one brother is exiled for a crime he didn't commit, his other brother is on his deathbead, his mentor is dead, and his girlfriend is a hoochie. All he has to comfort himself are a passel of little boys, and even that's sad because one of them has died. Love and brotherhood, redeeming our sins by teaching our children - these are the lessons that Alyosha learns, but still, it would take a true optimist to appreciate them when he's left with nothing but a lot of grief.
There were some good parts, though I must confess I found a lot of the book boring. Most of the beginning was entertaining: Fyodor Pavlovovich is comic gold in description. In dialogue, he becomes more irritating and less funny. The chapter about Ivan Fyodorovich's conversation with the devil was simply brilliant. The devil's rhetoric is masterfully crafted, and I couldn't get enough. And finally, I was thoroughly moved by the ending. True, the depressing circumstances were less than satisfactory, but if we must have the Russian ending, that was the most powerful way to do it.
All in all, a dynamite grasp of character, though perhaps too mathematical at times (eg, Ivan = sinful, conscience-free father + holy fool mother = tortured intellectual who wants to be progressive and reject God, but can't).
* * *
"'Yes, yes, two heads are better than one,' impatiently supplied the public procurator, who was long familiar with the old fellow's habit of talking slowly and at inordinate length, unembarrassed by the impression he made or by compelling everyone to wait for him but, on the contrary, greatly savouring his own slow, potato-like and always joyfully self-satisfied German wit."
Potato-like! I wonder if that's a common Russian idiom. If it isn't, this was a moment of inspired insight.
How Russian was the conclusion! Though it was cast in spiritual light, I couldn't help but think that Alyosha got the ass end of life. His one brother is exiled for a crime he didn't commit, his other brother is on his deathbead, his mentor is dead, and his girlfriend is a hoochie. All he has to comfort himself are a passel of little boys, and even that's sad because one of them has died. Love and brotherhood, redeeming our sins by teaching our children - these are the lessons that Alyosha learns, but still, it would take a true optimist to appreciate them when he's left with nothing but a lot of grief.
There were some good parts, though I must confess I found a lot of the book boring. Most of the beginning was entertaining: Fyodor Pavlovovich is comic gold in description. In dialogue, he becomes more irritating and less funny. The chapter about Ivan Fyodorovich's conversation with the devil was simply brilliant. The devil's rhetoric is masterfully crafted, and I couldn't get enough. And finally, I was thoroughly moved by the ending. True, the depressing circumstances were less than satisfactory, but if we must have the Russian ending, that was the most powerful way to do it.
All in all, a dynamite grasp of character, though perhaps too mathematical at times (eg, Ivan = sinful, conscience-free father + holy fool mother = tortured intellectual who wants to be progressive and reject God, but can't).
* * *
"'Yes, yes, two heads are better than one,' impatiently supplied the public procurator, who was long familiar with the old fellow's habit of talking slowly and at inordinate length, unembarrassed by the impression he made or by compelling everyone to wait for him but, on the contrary, greatly savouring his own slow, potato-like and always joyfully self-satisfied German wit."
Potato-like! I wonder if that's a common Russian idiom. If it isn't, this was a moment of inspired insight.
posted by Rex at 1:45 PM
2 Comments:
Anna Karenina is better!
You may be right. I'm sitting on the fence on this one. Neither blew me away.
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