Anyone have any opinions? Any insights? Anyone want to play along at home?
The new (to me) format at this forum has me so confused.
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Anyone have any opinions? Any insights? Anyone want to play along at home?
The new (to me) format at this forum has me so confused.
How wonderful that you intend to begin Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment; I have found this as one of the best novels I have ever read, without exaggeration, and it has continued to influence my own writing.
Though it does seem a relatively thick novel, I paged through it within days. I remember, during a few intense parts of the story, I began reading so fast that I had rendered myself into sweating.
I hope you enjoy the story, ihrocks, and tell us what you think of it. :)
Welcome back ihrocks :wave:
Greetings Sub!
So, do all Russian authors read like they've overdosed on Morrisey?
Funny thought, ihrocks. I would certainly consider Fyodor Dostoevsky an emotional writer, taking the strong perspective of each character very specifically, clearly, and analytical by recording every thought.
Other Russian writers, I have difficulty saying. Leo Tolstoy I find equally emotional, but mostly through specific situations, rather than actual details of a characters cognition; especially in Anna Karenina, he portrays this ideal.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who wrote far less than Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, also brings out the emotion in his fictional characters, but more . . . well, in a Charles Dickensian sense, like the incessant sufferings of man.
Other Russian writers, including Pushkin, unfortunately, I have yet to read.
I read Anna Karenina back when I was a wee young thing and it managed to put me off Russian writers for close on to 30 years. But chum-in-exile sloegin, highly recommended this one, and after reading his other recommendations "Pale Fire," "Locos," and "Madame Bovary," I decided to give this one a try. I have to admit, after the first chapter, I'm reading it with a certain cynicism, and that may be coloring my perceptions. I'm trying to keep an open mind, but in the strange twisted inner workings of my brain, I keep seeing the main character as Margaret Dumont, and thinking the Marx Brothers are going to pop into the story at any moment and burst his contemplative bubble.
Because I know everyone here is sitting on the edge of their seats to hear about the progress I'm making on this, I'm please to report I've finished Part One. including reading about the grisly murder (that isn't a spoiler is it?) -- just a week after watching something very similar in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill Vol. 1."
The author does a wonderful job of getting inside this character's head --the main one not the "Kill Bill" one (hahaha) -- now that he' really got something to think about.
I love this! Dostoevsky, I agree, does SO well of writing of every thought, especially those guilty and depressing ideas that taunt Raskalnikov (sp?). Though he did not write it in a first-person persona with the main character, he portrays the cognition, behavior, and in-depth personality in the most thorough way possible for a third-person persona. His detailed, but not verbose, description of every situation places the reader inside the scene, and the main character's mind; at one point of the novel, nearing the murder, I think I even remember sweating. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by ihrocks
Unfortunately, I have yet to see Kill Bill, which I regret, being a big fan of Quentin Tarantino (I love all of his other films).
=)
ya... this is a good book.... i recall while reading the murder(i tend to always place myself in the main character sposition) that i was sweating and nervous... and during the times when the main char. was making sure he didnt leave any evidence, I too was trying to think if I forgot anything(at the murder scene, lol)...
speaking of which, what became of the fake silver lighter? didnt hear from it again. try to leave that behind nowadays and forensics will be all over your back...
I read this when I was 13 it only took me 4-6 hours it was so absorbing. Cant remember any full passage s from it though which is kind of atrange for me wasnt the English version kind of complex? Still great ending (I think).
4-6 hours? DREAM