Dostoevesky's Masterpiece?

[skaterskagg1]

What, in your opinion, what is Dostoevsky's masterpiece? Of all the people I asked, I was certain most would tell me they thought it was The Brothers Karamazov, but you'd be surprised how many said The Idiot or even Demons. So, what is your choice for Dostoevsky's greatest novel?

[AimusSage]

Das Idiot

[Mathor]

it is certainly The Brothers Karamazov.

[Gladys]

it is certainly The Brothers Karamazov.

Whether or no, The Idiot is exquisite.

http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/courses/previous/ru351/novels/idiot/holbein.GIF

[blazeofglory]

The brothers Karamazov

[Delarge]

I like them all (though I haven't read Demons), but I think The Brothers Karamazov is in it's own league.

[gruntingslime]

I really liked Demons, but I felt sometimes it moved too quickly and there were so many characters that we weren't able to get to know them well enough, which was possibly part of the style of that novel, but I think the one thing that really does the most damage about Demons today is that the politics have become so dated (I mean mostly direct references to Russian politicians among other things), but I did love that novel and it's among my favourites (by any author). I'll have to read them again, but I'd probably either pick The Idiot or Crime and Punishment. It almost fills me with sorrow to have to make these kinds of distinctions on Dostoevsky's novels though... Part of me wants to throw novels like The Double and Notes from the Underground up there too... While it might be possible to just pick one, it is almost a travesty to exclude any of them.

[Sebas. Melmoth]

Notes from Underground.

[Dostoevskian]

I think that The Brothers Karamazov is perhaps Dostoevsky's best work, but if I had to choose a favorite I'd almost definitely go with The Idiot. It's such a down-to-earth, colorful work, perhaps the most Russian novel that he wrote. Sometimes the black-and-white spectrum of TBK makes me feel a bit distant - and though I am in awe of it's religious significance sometimes it's just harder to relate to and grasp. Besides Dmitri, a lot of the characters are just too... ideological, and in some ways, lacking in depth. Alyosha is great, but he honestly looks like a phoney next to Myushkin.

I have heard arguments that The Idiot is flawed, but in my mind, it is a perfectly flawed novel.

[Gladys]

Alyosha is great, but he honestly looks like a phoney next to Myushkin.

The final predicament of the prince is more fascinating than Alyosha's. And what superb characterisations are Nastasya Filippovna, Aglaya and Roghozin!

[Intuition]

The Brothers Karamazov is perhaps his most influential work as well. It has been heralded by such notable geniuses such as Freud, Einstein, and even Benedict XVI.

The chapter The Grand Inquisitor has even been published separately, in its own stand-alone copy.

Most intellectuals will enjoy the sequences in which the characters enter deep into philosophical debate.

Most artists will enjoy some forms of Dostoevsky's structure and use of narrative ellipsis'-- most notably when Dmitri is about to assail his father, and the rest of the sequence is withheld from the reader, allowing the reader to approach the actions with subjectivity.