DOCSLIB.ORG

Rhetoric and Performativity in Fyodor Dostoevsky's the Brothers Karamazov

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rhetoric and Performativity in Fyodor Dostoevsky's the Brothers Karamazov Bard College Bard Digital Commons Senior Projects Spring 2018 Bard Undergraduate Senior Projects Spring 2018 Word as Bond: Rhetoric and Performativity in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov Stephen Appel Bard College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2018 Part of the Comparative Literature Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Appel, Stephen, "Word as Bond: Rhetoric and Performativity in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov" (2018). Senior Projects Spring 2018. 145. https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2018/145 This Open Access work is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been provided to you by Bard College's Stevenson Library with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this work in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Word as Bond: Rhetoric and Performativity in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov Senior Project Submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College by Stephen Appel Annandale-on-Hudson, New York May 2018 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank Marina Kostalevsky for the invaluable support and guidance she has given to me throughout this whole thing. Her faith in me and her willingness to let me willfully dive off various philosophical cliffs here and there has meant the world to me. Secondly, I would like to thank my parents, Chuck and Erica Appel, for supporting me. My work here, and everywhere, testifies to the gift of life that you continue to pass on towards me. Thirdly, I would like to thank all friends, family members, lovers, and acquaintances that I have been blessed to meet over the years. And lastly, thank you to those individuals who have fed me time and time again at Kline. You know who you are! The breaking of all bread is sacred. Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………….…………………1 Chapter 1 “Performativity and Literature”………………………………………………………………………………………..16 Chapter 2 “Narrative Poetics and Rhetoric”…..……………………………………………………………………………………..48 Chapter 3 “Pro and Contra: Professions of Faith”…..……………………………………………………………………………………..90 Conclusion “A Final Word”…..……………………………………………………………………………………..28 Introduction Has there ever been a chapter of a novel that has been marveled over and scrutinized in isolation more than “The Grand Inquisitor”? Indeed, one may purchase printed copies of the chapter alone, perhaps having found oneself assigned to read it in some university seminar on Existentialism. But the words of “The Grand Inquisitor” do not mimic the dry monologue of an academic lecture. Rather, a scene of storytelling is reproduced within the novel. The Brothers Karamazov is framed as the written account of an anonymous, amateurish chronicler who attempts to assemble and present an account of a family drama from the anonymous and vague perspective of someone who lived in their town. Within this frame, the narrator’s own storytelling discourse is suspended in “The Grand Inquisitor,” giving way to the depiction of a conversation between the cryptic, atheist Ivan Karamazov and his earnest and deeply religious brother Alyosha. Ivan, aware of Alyosha’s urgent curiosity to know what Ivan believes in, ironically declares that “we green youths [...] need first of all to resolve the everlasting questions,” such as the cultural tensions between Russian Orthodox faith and the rationality of Western Enlightenment, or the tension between conservative traditionalism and liberal utopianism etc. (Dostoevsky, 233-234)1. Ivan, continuing with an ironical disdain, describes how the youth of Russia have become fascinated with the “fateful questions,” to the point of arguing about them with strangers in bars, only to never see each other again for “40 years” (Dostoevsky, 234). Ivan, who has already established his intent to leave for Moscow, thus comically underlines the absurdity of their desire to “resolve,” in the span of one conversation, the “fateful questions” that linger and return throughout the whole of The Brothers Karamazov. 1 Every Dostoevsky citation henceforth will be quoted from The Brothers Karamazov unless otherwise noted. Nonetheless, after Ivan proceeds to engage in a bizarre, conversational polemic against Christian theology, mentioning a lot about Euclidean geometry and suffering along the way. Ivan declares that while he accepts, as a logical proposition, the existence of both worlds and the truth of salvation, his own “Euclidean” mind, his own principled, proof-oriented brain, cannot approve of this logic, and thus finds itself to be morally offended by God’s design (Dostoevsky, 235). Ivan declares that, should there be Heavenly redemption for the cruel and senseless suffering perpetuated on Earth, he would reject salvation and “hasten to return [his] ticket,” insofar as this redemption would necessarily be predicated upon earthly suffering as the “manure of someone else’s future harmony” (Dostoevsky, 244-245). After Alyosha suggests that it is Christ’s own sacrifice, his own “innocent blood” upon which the “structure” of human salvation is built, Ivan reacts with joyful laughter and proceeds to recall Alyosha the famous prose poem “The Grand Inquisitor.” Although Ivan derides his legend as “an absurd thing,” a rather meaningless poem, he nonetheless tells it with fervor and passion and imbues the poem with subtle poetic allusions and figures (Dostoevsky, 246). The tale begins with Jesus Christ returning to Earth in Seville, Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. Immediately, the old, powerful “Grand Inquisitor” orders him to be arrested and takes Jesus to a dark prison for interrogation. While Jesus silently and earnestly looks upon the wrathful figure, The Grand Inquisitor begins to address the silent Jesus with a charged monologue that operates on the one hand as a condemnation of Jesus, and on the other as a confession to him. The Grand Inquisitor, as a stand-in figure for the worldly authority of the Catholic Church, tells Jesus that the Church has corrected Jesus’ idealistic and ineffective teachings of free love and devotion towards God. The Church, according to the Inquisitor, has understood that the only way to control the malcontented, rebellious nature of humanity is to supply them with food and comfort; only then will the masses accept the spiritual authority of their rulers. The Grand Inquisitor asserts that most men are not strong enough to maintain their faith in God, that men need to be comforted and fed their beliefs so that they won’t have to accept the grim, painful truth of their spiritual freedom in a world filled with senseless suffering. Although the Grand Inquisitor no longer believes in salvation, he preaches it solely out of the altruistic belief that people need to be provided with meaning and purpose in order to cope with their own suffering. At the end of the tale, Jesus approaches the Grand Inquisitor and kisses him on the mouth. The Grand Inquisitor, undoubtedly moved, decides to let Christ go on the condition that he leave and not disrupt the efforts of the Church to establish earthly order. Alyosha, confused and upset by the tale, asks what happens to the Inquisitor, to which Ivan responds: “The kiss burns in his heart, but the old man holds to his former idea.” “And you with him!” Alyosha exclaimed ruefully. Ivan laughed. “But it’s nonsense, Alyosha, it’s just the muddled poem of a muddled student who never wrote two lines of verse. Why are you taking it so seriously? You don’t think I’ll go straight to the Jesuits now, to join the host of those who are correcting his deed! Good lord, what do I care?” (263) This moment, brimming with ironies that fly off in all sorts of directions, gets to the heart of a particular concern in The Brothers Karamazov and ultimately the concern of this very project; what do we make of the disparity between Alyosha’s astonished reaction towards the poem as a reader and Ivan’s cynical, dismissive laughter towards the poem as an author? What causes Alyosha to identify Ivan with the protagonist of his poem? What is Dostoevsky, a renowned writer of great piety and faith, doing in inserting a polemical prose poem that condemns Christ within his own text? Who is the author here and what in the world are they trying to achieve? Is Dostoevsky laughing at us by reproducing the very problematics of interpretation and literary criticism within his very own novel? The Brothers Karamazov has for a long time been praised and canonized as a literary project of an ambition that mirrors the works of Dante, John Milton, Shakespeare, Goethe, and other writers whose works similarly dealt with the “everlasting questions” of salvation and theodicy. On the one hand, The Brothers Karamazov is a novel of a seemingly infinite thematic scope, a kind of “symbolic amplification” that allows his characters to allegorically embody cultural values and beliefs (Frank, 569). On the other hand, the novel appears decentered and without direction, filled with depictions of rambling narrators, awkwardly self-conscious characters, drunken rants, philosophical argumentation, poetic allusions, an inserted saint’s life biography written by Alyosha,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Problems of Mimetic Characterization in Dostoevsky and Tolstoy
    Illusion and Instrument: Problems of Mimetic Characterization in Dostoevsky and Tolstoy By Chloe Susan Liebmann Kitzinger A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Slavic Languages and Literatures in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Irina Paperno, Chair Professor Eric Naiman Professor Dorothy J. Hale Spring 2016 Illusion and Instrument: Problems of Mimetic Characterization in Dostoevsky and Tolstoy © 2016 By Chloe Susan Liebmann Kitzinger Abstract Illusion and Instrument: Problems of Mimetic Characterization in Dostoevsky and Tolstoy by Chloe Susan Liebmann Kitzinger Doctor of Philosophy in Slavic Languages and Literatures University of California, Berkeley Professor Irina Paperno, Chair This dissertation focuses new critical attention on a problem central to the history and theory of the novel, but so far remarkably underexplored: the mimetic illusion that realist characters exist independently from the author’s control, and even from the constraints of form itself. How is this illusion of “life” produced? What conditions maintain it, and at what points does it start to falter? My study investigates the character-systems of three Russian realist novels with widely differing narrative structures — Tolstoy’s War and Peace (1865–1869), and Dostoevsky’s The Adolescent (1875) and The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880) — that offer rich ground for exploring the sources and limits of mimetic illusion. I suggest, moreover, that Tolstoy and Dostoevsky themselves were preoccupied with this question. Their novels take shape around ambitious projects of characterization that carry them toward the edges of the realist tradition, where the novel begins to give way to other forms of art and thought.
    [Show full text]
  • Dostoevsky's Ideal
    Student Publications Student Scholarship Fall 2015 Dostoevsky’s Ideal Man Paul A. Eppler Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship Part of the Philosophy Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Eppler, Paul A., "Dostoevsky’s Ideal Man" (2015). Student Publications. 395. https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/395 This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/ 395 This open access student research paper is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Dostoevsky’s Ideal Man Abstract This paper aimed to provide a comprehensive examination of the "ideal" Dostoevsky human being. Through comparison of various characters and concepts found in his texts, a kenotic individual, one who is undifferentiated in their love for all of God's creation, was found to be the ultimate to which Dostoevsky believed man could ascend. Keywords Dostoevsky, Christianity, Kenoticism Disciplines Philosophy Comments This paper was written for Professor Vernon Cisney's course, PHIL 368: Reading- Dostoevsky, Fall 2015. This student research paper is available at The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/ student_scholarship/395 Dostoevsky’s Ideal Man Paul Eppler Professor Vernon Cisney Reading Dostoevsky I affirm that I have upheld the highest principles of honesty and integrity in my academic work and have not witnessed a violation of the Honor Code.
    [Show full text]
  • Nietzschean Types in the Brothers Karamazov ​ 139817 –Dr
    Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author. Patrick Durkin Nietzschean Types in The Brothers Karamazov ​ 139817 –Dr. William Angus th 11 ​ February 2019 ​ For the Masters of Arts, English Durkin 1 Abstract Nietzsche and Dostoevsky were contemporaries, and Nietzsche especially was known to admire Dostoevsky’s work. Both authors were interested in the study of the basis for human morality, and the search for a redirection of human morality; one in which the problems they saw with the current understanding of acceptable behaviour according to laws, religion and might is right, could be melded in with their own beliefs and struggles with their own mortality and morality. Although Nietzsche’s collection of essays The Genealogy of Morals, (1887) was ​ ​ written 7 years after Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov (1880), it is interesting to ​ ​ note that the main character types that Nietzsche believed created hierarchies that developed and sustained the morality of his time, appear in the form of the main characters in The Brothers Karamazov. ​ ​ This thesis will be looking at the The Brothers Karamazov through the different ​ ​ character ‘types’ and the resulting psychomachia of the three legitimate brothers, the older brothers Dmitri and Ivan, and especially that of Alyosha, the youngest brother. The thesis will focus on both elder brothers’ evolution of thought and action through the progress of the novel, and, importantly, on each brothers’ interactions with Alyosha and the turbulent state of mind they regularly leave their younger sibling in.
    [Show full text]
  • Samuel Beckett and Fyodor Dostoevsky
    Metaphysical Comedy: Samuel Beckett and Fyodor Dostoevsky PhD English Literature Ekaterina Gosteva May 2019 I confirm that this is my own work and the use of all material from other sources has been properly and fully acknowledged. ABSTRACT This thesis investigates the connection between Beckett’s comedy and Dostoevsky’s novels in the light of René Girard’s theory of metaphysical desire. While focusing on Beckett’s prose of the 1930s, this study begins with the typology of laughter in Watt. ​ ​ With the help of this passage (employed as a critical tool), the subject of Beckett’s comedy is preliminarily defined as ‘The Unhappy Consciousness’. In Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, this term is stated with regards to the functions of laughter ​ as a negative response to a threat from a hostile phenomenal world. ‘The risus purus’, which Beckett celebrates as ‘the laugh of laughs’, reveals itself as a satirical attack at Kant’s rational cosmology and Hegel’s phenomenology. A further investigation into this structure provides a link between the genre of comedy in general, Beckett’s comic form and Girard’s theory of mimetic desire, based on the works of Cervantes, Flaubert, Stendhal, Proust and Dostoevsky. The works of these novelists allowed René Girard to articulate a concrete theorization of desire, which binds together literary and anthropological questions. Beckett’s engagement with Dostoevsky remains a blind spot in Beckett studies. Although as early as Proust, Beckett attempted to link Proust and Dostoevsky as the ​ ​ writers whose technique he defined as ‘negative and comic’, the scarcity of his critical comments on Dostoevsky has been an obstacle for scholars trying to identify and analyse their relationship.
    [Show full text]
  • By Fyodor Dostoevsky
    “The Problem of Evil ” by Fyodor Dostoevsky Dostoevsky, (detail) portrait by Vasily Perov, The State Tretyakov Gallery About the author.. The novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) spent four years in a Siberian prison and four more years in the army as punish- ment for his role in a clandestine Utopian-socialist discussion group. He became scornful of the rise of humanistic science in the West and chron- icled its threat to human freedom. Dostoevsky’s writings challenged the notion of the essential rationality of human beings and anticipated many ideas in existential psychoanalysis. For Dostoevsky, the essence of being human is freedom. About the work. In the The Brothers Karamazov,1 Dostoevsky reveals deep psychological insight into the nature of human morality. In this, his greatest work, he expresses the destructive aspects of human freedom which can only be bound by God. In Chapter 4 of that work, the death of an innocent child is seen to be an inescapable objection to God’s good- ness. In this chapter Alyosha is the religious foil to Ivan, his intellectual older brother. 1. Fyodor Dostoevsky. “Rebellion” in the The Brothers Karamazov (1879). Trans. by Constance Garnett. 1 “The Problem of Evil ” by Fyodor Dostoevsky From the reading. “But then there is the children, and what am I to do about them? That’s a question I can’t answer.” Ideas of Interest from The Brothers Karamazov 1. Why does Ivan think that children are innocent and adults are not? Why does he think we can love children when they are close, but we can only love our neighbor abstractly? 2.
    [Show full text]
  • The Struggle for Spiritual Supremacy: Dostoevsky's Philosophy Or History and Eschatology
    Western Washington University Western CEDAR WWU Honors Program Senior Projects WWU Graduate and Undergraduate Scholarship Spring 1994 The Struggle for Spiritual Supremacy: Dostoevsky's Philosophy or History and Eschatology Andrew Wender Western Washington University Follow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/wwu_honors Part of the History Commons, and the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Wender, Andrew, "The Struggle for Spiritual Supremacy: Dostoevsky's Philosophy or History and Eschatology" (1994). WWU Honors Program Senior Projects. 339. https://cedar.wwu.edu/wwu_honors/339 This Project is brought to you for free and open access by the WWU Graduate and Undergraduate Scholarship at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion in WWU Honors Program Senior Projects by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Struggle for Spiritual Supremacy: Dostoevsky's Philosophy or History and Eschatology Andrew Wender Presented to Prof. George Mariz and Prof. Susan Costanzo Project Advisers Honors 490 - Senior Project June 6, 1994 • ............._ Honors Program HONORS fflESIS In presenting this Honors Paper in partial requirements for a bachelor's degree at Western Washington University, I agree that the Library shall make its copies freely available for inspection. I further agree that extensive copying of this thesis is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood that any publication of this thesis for commercial pur:uoses or for financial eain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Bellingham, Washington 98225-9089 □ f2061 676-3034 An Equal Oppartunit_v University Table of Contents Page I. Introduction . 2 II. Historical Context And Intellectual Development or Dostoevsky's Philosophy or History ..............................
    [Show full text]
  • The Grand Inquisitor,” Is Told by Ivan Karamazov to His Younger Brother Alyosha
    Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), author of such works as Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Possessed, is considered by many to be one of the world’s greatest writers, and the novel The Brothers Karamazov is universally recognized to be one of genuine masterpieces of world literature. Within this novel the story, “The Grand Inquisitor,” is told by Ivan Karamazov to his younger brother Alyosha. The two brothers had just been discussing the problem of evil—the classic problem of Christian theology: if God is really all powerful, all knowing, and truly loving, then why does evil exist? If God could not have prevented evil, then he is not all powerful. If evil somehow escapes his awareness, then he is not all knowing. If he knew, and could do something about it, but chose not to, then how can he be considered a loving God? One solution to this problem is to claim that evil does not really exist, that if we were to see the world Portrait of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1872 from God’s perspective, from the perspective of eternity, then everything comes out well in the end. Another response is to claim that it really isn’t God’s fault at all, it is ours. God gave us free-will and evil is the result of our misuse of that gift. Ivan will have none of these arguments. He brings up the particularly troubling case of the suffering of innocent children—how can they be blamed and punished if they are innocent? Ivan cannot accept that the suffering of an innocent child will be justified in the end.
    [Show full text]
  • Legend of the Grand Inquisitor’ Reconsidered Literary Irony and Theological Seriousness in Its Representation of Christ
    Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 59(1-2), 103-121. doi: 10.2143/JECS.59.1.2023429 T©HE 2007 ‘LEGEND by Journal OF THE of EasternGRAND Christian INQUISITOR Studies.’ RECONSIDERED All rights reserved. 103 THE ‘LEGEND OF THE GRAND INQUISITOR’ RECONSIDERED LITERARY IRONY AND THEOLOGICAL SERIOUSNESS IN ITS REPRESENTATION OF CHRIST WIL VAN DEN BERCKEN* The chapter ‘The Grand Inquisitor’ in Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov is one of the most intriguing religious-philosophical pieces in lit- erature. It is an original interpretation of the figure of Christ and of the na- ture of Christian belief. The story has been commented on by many inter- preters but was more often used as an argument for or against a certain ec- clesiastical theological standpoint, rather than appreciated as an autono- mous piece of literature. In order to make a sound theological evaluation, however, one must first approach the story within its own literary frame- work. What literary means does Dostoevsky use to convey his view of Christ and Christianity? Before analysing the theological content of the story, I would like to treat three aspects of literary style in ‘The Grand Inquisi- tor’1: irony in the presentation of the story, the anti-iconographical picture of Christ and the indirect method of presenting his message. IRONY First a word on the general structure of the story of ‘The Grand Inquisitor’ itself. It is a story within the larger story of the novel and is not part of the plot. As regards content, it is linked to the discussion between the brothers, Ivan and Aleksei, on the suffering in the world, described in the previous chapter.
    [Show full text]
  • ABSTRACT Dostoevsky's View of the Russian Soul and Its Impact on the Russian Question in the Brothers Karamazov Paul C. Schlau
    ABSTRACT Dostoevsky’s View of the Russian Soul and its Impact on the Russian Question in The Brothers Karamazov Paul C. Schlaudraff Director: Adrienne M. Harris, Ph.D Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of Russia’s most renowned novelists, profoundly affected the way that Russia would think of itself in the years following his death. One of the most important issues for Dostoevsky and other authors at the time was the reconciliation of the peasant and noble classes in the aftermath of the serf emancipation in Russia. Dostoevsky believed that the solution to this issue would come from the Russian peasantry. My research investigates Dostoevsky’s view of the “Russian soul”, which is the particular set of innate characteristics which distinguishes Russians from other nationalities. Furthermore, it examines how Dostoevsky’s view of the Russian soul affected his answer to the question of Russia’s ultimate destiny. During the 19th century, socialism was an especially popular answer to that question. Dostoevsky, however, presented an entirely different solution. Through a thorough examination of Dostoevsky’s final novel, The Brothers Karamazov, my thesis demonstrates this alternative solution and its significance in light of competing Russian theory during the 19th century. APPROVED BY DIRECTOR OF HONORS THESIS ______________________________________________________ Dr. Adrienne M. Harris, Department of Modern Languages APPROVED BY THE HONORS PROGRAM: ______________________________________________ Dr. Andrew Wisely, Director DATE: ________________________ DOSTOEVSKY’S VIEW OF THE RUSSIAN SOUL AND ITS IMPACT ON THE RUSSIAN QUESTION IN THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Baylor University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Honors Program By Paul C.
    [Show full text]
  • The Grand Inquisitor
    The Grand Inquisitor a graphic novel based on the Adapted by Natalia Osipova story from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Illustrated by Elena Avinova The Brothers Karamazov Introduction by Gary Saul Morson A graphic novel based on the story from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov Natalia Osipova - adapted script Elena Avinova - storyboard and graphics Translated by Constance Garnett (New York: Macmillan, 1922) Thanks Marina Rubinova and Carol Apollonio for adapted translation PLOUGH PUBLISHING HOUSE Published by Plough Publishing House Walden, New York Robertsbridge, England Elsmore, Australia www.plough.com Plough produces books, a quarterly magazine, and Plough.com to encourage people and help them put their faith into action. We believe Jesus can transform the world and that his teachings and example apply to all aspects of life. At the same time, we seek common ground with all people regardless of their creed. Plough is the publishing house of the Bruderhof, an international Christian community. The Bruderhof is a fellowship of families and singles practicing radical discipleship in the spirit of the first church in Jerusalem (Acts 2 and 4). Members devote their entire lives to serving God, one another, and their neighbors, renouncing private property and sharing everything. To learn more about the Bruderhof ’s faith, history, and daily life, see Bruderhof.com. (Views expressed by Plough authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Bruderhof.) Copyright © 2020 by Plough Publishing House All rights reserved. ISBN 978-0-87486-353-6 Translated by Constance Garnett (New York: Macmillan, 1922) Translation adapted by Marina Rubinova and Carol Apollonio introduction The Eternal Questions, Illustrated Gary Saul Morson WHEN EARTHQUAKES , FAMINES , AND PANDEMICS STRIKE , people often ask: Why does this happen? If they are religious, they pose the traditional ques- tion of theodicy (justification of God): Why does God allow the innocent to suffer? If their perspective is secular, they doubt the goodness of the universe.
    [Show full text]
  • THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Fyodor Dostoevsky
    THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Fyodor Dostoevsky THE AUTHOR Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was born into a lower middle class family in Moscow, the son of a former army surgeon, and experienced a strict religious upbringing. His education was poor, and at age seventeen he entered a military engineering school that he found insufferably boring. He read voraciously in his spare time, and resigned from the military shortly after graduation to pursue a career as a writer. His first literary effort, Poor Folk, was published in 1845 to widespread critical acclaim. His succeeding efforts received little public attention, though through them he continued to polish his craft. In 1847, he joined one of the many secret societies that abounded in Russia during the repressive reign of Nicholas I. He found it exciting and thought its activities somewhat innocuous, but the czar did not agree. In 1849, Dostoevsky was arrested and, with several others of his circle, sentenced to be shot for sedition. The czar allowed preparations for the execution to continue to the very last moment before commuting the sentence. Dostoevsky was then exiled to Siberia for four years of hard labor, followed by six years as a common soldier in the army. In Siberia, the intense suffering he experienced made a deep impression that was later reflected in his most famous works; in addition, the relationships he developed with his fellow prisoners, most of whom were poor and uneducated, gave him a lifelong appreciation for the downtrodden of society. It was also during his years in Siberia that he was converted to the Christian faith.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Goethe's Faust in Dostoevsky's Opus
    Dostoevsky Studies, New Series, Vol. XIV (2010), pp. 153-163 PREDRAG CICOVACKI College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts The Role of Goethe’s Faust in Dostoevsky’s Opus Dostoevsky never failed to appreciate Goethe’s greatness as man and artist. He included the German poet in the short list of authors he considered to be required reading, usually placing him alongside Shakespeare. Of all of Goethe’s works, Faust made the most profound impression on Dostoevsky. He read it in German for the first time when he was seventeen. While most of his Russian contemporaries had a negative view of Faust II, Dostoevsky knew and appreciated both parts of this work. He made explicit and implicit references to Goethe’s Faust in several of his novels, most notably in Crime and Punishment, Devils, The Adolescent, and The Brothers Karamazov. The most frequently made connection between Goethe and Dosto- evsky concerns Faust and Ivan Karamazov. Ivan is called “a Russian Faust,” but also “a Russian anti-Faust.”1 One phrase points to the similarities between the two characters, the other touches on their differences. Although of crucial significance, this connection has been insufficiently understood. For this reason, my central preoccupation in this essay will be with the nature of striving which motivates Faust – more generally, Faust’s striving as a symbol of Western civilization – and Dostoevsky’s reaction to it. After some preliminary consideration in Section I, I will concentrate on what I call “the curse of Faust” – the tension between our endless striving toward the highest ideals and values, and our continually frustrated efforts to realize them.
    [Show full text]