Happy or non-happy?

[bazarov]

Is there any Fyodor's book you consider to have a happy ending??? I personally see only Crime and Punishment as a novel with happy end!

[Idril]

Is there any Fyodor's book you consider to have a happy ending??? I personally see only Crime and Punishment as a novel with happy end!


It's nice to see you again, Bazarov. :wave:

I think out of all of his novels, Crime and Punishment probably does have the most upbeat ending but that's not really saying much. :lol: The ending to The Adolescent isn't too bad, I wouldn't really call it happy but it wasn't devastating either. Are you thinking of just his full-length novels are are you including his short stories as well?

[bazarov]

Thanks...
I see C&P as a novel with really happy end, no matter of final prisoning in Sibir. He found Sonya, himself, Dunya found Razumihin...It's really a lot happiness for a Russian novel, don't you think?:lol: The Insulted and Injured also have a happy end, but Poor Folk, Idiot, Brothers Karamazov, The Possessed, Notes from Underground, The gambler, Memoirs from the House of the Dead...they all have (maybe unhappy isn't the best word) non-happy end! Some short stories I've read also doesn't have a happy end: a kid got frozen on a Christmas morning, young girl died(actually she jumped from the window), etc. Why did he choose happy end for this one? Maybe he was thinking that lose of freedom isn't such a a happy end?

By the way, on this day, 9th february 1881, he died in Sankt Petersburg. R.I.P.

[Idril]

Thanks...
I see C&P as a novel with really happy end, no matter of final prisoning in Sibir. He found Sonya, himself, Dunya found Razumihin...It's really a lot happiness for a Russian novel, don't you think?:lol:

You're right, it is. ;) And it really does have a lot of light at the end of the tunnel. There is a real healing and regeneration in Raskilnikov that is unusual in Russian lit.


Why did he choose happy end for this one? Maybe he was thinking that lose of freedom isn't such a a happy end?

I don't know, maybe he was just in a really good mood at the time. :lol: Certainly loss of freedom is a sad thing but his emotional freedom balances out the physical imprisonment and I think Dostoevsky would see that. I don't know what was going on in Dostoevsky's life at the time, maybe it he felt a light at the end of his tunnel as well?

[bazarov]

His wife and brother died couple of years before, his gambling debts were really high so it's maybe a reflection of his decision to change his way of life, especially because he married again nearly after it. I think his problems ended then because he didn't write that much anymore, he wasn't pushed by any deadlines.

[kellyp89]

can you guys help me with the yellow motif found within crime and punishment?

[grace86]

I loved the ending of Crime and Punishment, he included a sense of catharsis in the end of the novel even though it was not a tragedy. Reading through that one just created a heavy feeling. I've not yet read Dostoevsky's others, but if they are anything like C&P withought the happy ending I feel I might not get through it as well as C&P.

[Idril]

His wife and brother died couple of years before, his gambling debts were really high so it's maybe a reflection of his decision to change his way of life, especially because he married again nearly after it. I think his problems ended then because he didn't write that much anymore, he wasn't pushed by any deadlines.

Well, I that makes sense then. I really should find a good biography for him. I don't usually read biographies but I did find reading Tolstoy's added a lot to my understanding of his work so I'm sure reading one about Dostoevsky would do the same. Can you recommend a good one?


I've not yet read Dostoevsky's others, but if they are anything like C&P withought the happy ending I feel I might not get through it as well as C&P.

C&P definitely has the most upbeat ending of all his novels, at least I think so. But then again, except for The Idiot, I found C&P to be the most oppressive of his novels. You just go so deeply into Raskilnikov's mind that as he becomes more paranoid and disturbed, you really feel it, you almost feel a physical sense of being closed in so when the cloud is lifted from him, you also feel a sense of relief. For me, again with the exception of The Idiot his other novels had more of a feel of emotional space if that makes any sense so that you were able to remove yourself a wee bit better from the devastation.

[Laindessiel]

Oh shoot. Is it a happy ending? I just 2/3 into it!!

[bazarov]

Sorry Idril, a fact from here, a fact from there...

[Boris239]

I think that "Brothers Karamazov" has,let's put it that way- not happy, but optimistic ending. Dostoevsky shows us the new generation- young boys who are the future of Russia. And they have a pretty good mentor in Alesha.

[grace86]

Originally posted by Idril
I found C&P to be the most oppressive of his novels. You just go so deeply into Raskilnikov's mind that as he becomes more paranoid and disturbed, you really feel it, you almost feel a physical sense of being closed in so when the cloud is lifted from him, you also feel a sense of relief.

Amen!!! I know exactly what you are talking about. I found myself so unhappy reading some portions of the book. I think I just about got into a depression on my flight back from Chicago during the summer as I read it. The passenger next to me told me that C&P truely stands alone and it is not one easy to forget.

[Laindessiel]

You just go so deeply into Raskilnikov's mind that as he becomes more paranoid and disturbed, you really feel it, you almost feel a physical sense of being closed in so when the cloud is lifted from him, you also feel a sense of relief. .

Yes, yes. I agree. His shifting of heavy thoughts every now and then, his deranged (or not. I can't conclude yet) philosophies makes for HOW he is. I really hope that the ending will satisfy him. Poor Rodion.

[aeroport]

Well, I should probably reread the Epilogue to get a better sense of this, but I do not remember feeling particularly uplifted by it. This is probably just because for so much of the novel, omitting a few fundamental concerns, I found myself agreeing with a lot of what Raskolnikov was thinking. I had just finished reading Atlas Shrugged when I took up C&P, and, strangely enough, I think reading Raskolnikov's thoughts in light of Ayn Rand's philosophy actually had something of a clarifying effect on some passages. I mean, the guy's not really all that crazy, so far as I can tell. He just kind of thinks too much, and considering the world, especially the environment Raskolnikov lives in, I suppose that would be enough to make anyone seem a little bitter and angry. When I finished the Epilogue, I think I first reacted the same way a lot of people seem to have. ("WTF?!" about captures it, I think...) But after thinking about it for a while, I started to wonder if there wasn't a touch of sarcasm in it, as if Dostoevsky had just thrown in a bit of dark humor to drive home his point. I will probably read it again this summer to see if this can be further substantiated, and I'll shut up until I have some textual support, but suffice it to say I did not really consider it a happy ending.

[bazarov]

I think that "Brothers Karamazov" has,let's put it that way- not happy, but optimistic ending. Dostoevsky shows us the new generation- young boys who are the future of Russia. And they have a pretty good mentor in Alesha.

The boy with stones, yes, Lenin was his name:lol:

[Redzeppelin]

C&P actually has a rather troubling ending. Many critics take issue with the Epilogue chapters - they feel that they are a sort of compromise that 19th century authors were prone to amending to their books; critics generally think that ending the novel with Raskolnikov's confession is very powerful (which I agree with - after that moment in front of Porfiry in the police station, the rest seems anticlimactic).

Here's the troubling part: although Dostoyevsky hints that Raskolnikov will eventually become a "new man" (a hint of his being "born again"), it is clear that, within the confines of the book, that Raskolnikov did not repudiate his crime theory. Students are generally shocked to realized that he had no remorse for the killing of the pawnbroker. I do agree that it is generally the most uplifting of Dostoyevsky's endings - Brothers ends uplifting as well, but not so directly in nature at C&P.

[Phoenix Wright]

delete

[wat??]

The Brothers Karamazov has sort of a hopeful ending...but that is really not the same thing.

[wat??]

C&P actually has a rather troubling ending. Many critics take issue with the Epilogue chapters - they feel that they are a sort of compromise that 19th century authors were prone to amending to their books; critics generally think that ending the novel with Raskolnikov's confession is very powerful (which I agree with - after that moment in front of Porfiry in the police station, the rest seems anticlimactic).

Here's the troubling part: although Dostoyevsky hints that Raskolnikov will eventually become a "new man" (a hint of his being "born again"), it is clear that, within the confines of the book, that Raskolnikov did not repudiate his crime theory. Students are generally shocked to realized that he had no remorse for the killing of the pawnbroker. I do agree that it is generally the most uplifting of Dostoyevsky's endings - Brothers ends uplifting as well, but not so directly in nature at C&P.

I absolutely loved the quote at the end with Sonya and Raskolnikov sitting together and feeling hopeful for the future.

[Gladys]

I absolutely loved the quote at the end with Sonya and Raskolnikov sitting together and feeling hopeful for the future. For me the ever so understated ending of 'The Idiot' shines.