Originally Posted by
Sapphire
The ending was quite odd though - it just stopped ... I think I might not have the complete story.
Perhaps the final page shows that the entire situation - the German's exhibit, Russia, economics and life in general - is less than satisfactory. Dostoevsky is always the master of understated endings, as in 'The Idiot' and 'The Gambler' for instance. How's this for understatement?
"I somehow felt rather shy — so unaccustomed are we to publicity."
The 'News-sheet' newspaper provides one ending:
A certain well-known bon-vivant of the highest society, probably weary of the cuisine at Borel’s and at the X. Club, went into the Arcade, into the place where an immense crocodile recently brought to the metropolis is being exhibited, and insisted on its being prepared for his dinner.
Originally Posted by
Sapphire
I don't really see a difference between the language of the following chapters ...
Semyon Semyonitch becomes more reflective?