View Poll Results: Humiliated and Insulted

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Thread: Humiliated and Insulted by Fyodor Dostoevsky

  1. #1
    Registered User keilj's Avatar
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    Humiliated and Insulted by Fyodor Dostoevsky

    An amazing book. I put this in my top 3 favorites by Dostoevsky - along with The Possessed and The Idiot.

    Let me start by saying that I had seen reviews stating that this is 2nd rate Dostoevsky. I could not disagree more - every page has taut, colorful language. And all of Dostoevsky's themes are here: suffering, poverty, family, physical illness, love, emotionalism. Of all of Dostoevsky's works, this one seems the most like a traditional novel - it is shorter than most of his others, and it wraps up with a succinct and memorable final line of dialog.

    But I think what makes this novel one of my favorites by him, perhaps my favorite, is its tighter focus - almost simplicity - compared with the broader themes and topics of most of his denser works. And, as usual, the characters are memorable becasue of what they had to endure.

    Again, a big point that I would like to get across about this book is that it is not a second rate Dostoevsky work - it is top tier, even for him. Every page bursts with vibrant narration and dialog - and the humiliated and insulted protagonists will stay with you for a long time. A beautiful book

  2. #2
    Skol'er of Thinkery The Comedian's Avatar
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    keilj -- thanks for that review; to be honest, I don't think I've even heard of this Dostoevsky novel; of course, I'm not the most schooled in him as others here. (I think I've only read Crime & Punishment & The Brothers Karamazov).

    Anyway, I enjoyed your review.
    “Oh crap”
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  3. #3
    Registered User keilj's Avatar
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    Yeah, I recently got a couple of his lesser-known books, this one, and one called The Village of Stepanchikovo. I think The Village of Stepanchikovo was his first novel - and it was OK. But Humiliated and Insulted was just really good, definitely one of my favorites by him.

    The Eternal Husband is another great - but shorter - book by him

  4. #4
    Pewter Pots! eyemaker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Comedian View Post
    keilj -- thanks for that review; to be honest, I don't think I've even heard of this Dostoevsky novel; of course, I'm not the most schooled in him as others here. (I think I've only read Crime & Punishment & The Brothers Karamazov).

    Anyway, I enjoyed your review.

    Other book would translate the title as "The Insulted and Injured:. Readers sometimes got themselves confused with the titles. Anyway, Keij nice to see another Dostoevsky fan appraising his books. I like this book too, one of his beautifully crafted tragic novel. Still, Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, and the Idiot remains to be my favorite.

    "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise."

    -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

  5. #5
    Pewter Pots! eyemaker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by keilj View Post
    Yeah, I recently got a couple of his lesser-known books, this one, and one called The Village of Stepanchikovo. I think The Village of Stepanchikovo was his first novel - and it was OK. But Humiliated and Insulted was just really good, definitely one of my favorites by him.

    The Eternal Husband is another great - but shorter - book by him
    Keij, The Village of Stepanchikovo is NOT Dostoevsky's first work. Poor Folk is his first novel where he was considered a "the new Gogol".

    "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise."

    -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

  6. #6
    Jethro BienvenuJDC's Avatar
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    Who was humiliated and insulted by Fyodor Dostoevsky? I would report it to the moderators...
    Les Miserables,
    Volume 1, Fifth Book, Chapter 3
    Remember this, my friends: there are no such things as bad plants or bad men. There are only bad cultivators.

  7. #7
    Pewter Pots! eyemaker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BienvenuJDC View Post
    Who was humiliated and insulted by Fyodor Dostoevsky? I would report it to the moderators...
    ????
    lol

    "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise."

    -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

  8. #8
    Registered User keilj's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by eyemaker View Post
    Keij, The Village of Stepanchikovo is NOT Dostoevsky's first work. Poor Folk is his first novel where he was considered a "the new Gogol".
    thanks - I stand corrected.

    Yes, I know many consider Brothers K to be his best work. For some reason Possessed (also known as Demons) really struck me as great. I also am very fond of Eternal Husband.

    I suppose, because of other reviews, that I was expecting Humiliated and Insulted to be second-tier - man was I pleasantly surprised and amazed at how good it was

  9. #9
    Haribol Acharya blazeofglory's Avatar
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    Dostoevsky is my all time favorite writer and I have not read this book fully and I may read it in future. He is an insuperable writer.

    “Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””

    “If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

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