I simply loved this book. I don't read a lot, actually I only read this because I have to for the summer but I'm glad I did. Only one other book made me feel this way and it was Moby Dick. I read the David McDuff translation and he wrote\translated it so well (IMHO) that it felt like it wasn't a translation at all. Fyodor Dostoyevsky did a great job writing this book.
"O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small."
Yes. C&P is a masterpiece... it really hooked me the first time I read it... (the second time was actually less exciting)...even if the end spoils it a bit...
dead on the inside, i've got nothing to prove
keep me alive and give me something to lose
C&P is freakin awesome!I hated the epilogue, too, though. (Have I said that before?
) Actually hated Moby Dick, though, too so..hm. Must have enjoyed it for a different reason. I don't know whose translation I read...I would imagine that would make a difference. For some reason I've never thought about that. I'll have to find out and then read someone else's, to compare. Anyway, I haven't talked about this book in a million years, so I want to ramble now.
My English teacher described Svidrigailov as "the best/worst villain in literature." But what I loved so much was that Dostoevsky really turned the idea of a "villain" on its head; is the villain the guy who does something immoral? Is it the guy who you are rooting against? Is it the enemy of the "hero"? (Can a murderer be the "hero"?) And so on... In the end, no one was really a "villain" and no one was a "hero;" Rodya was a remorseless murderer, and a narcissist, but I rooted for him because Fyodor managed to make him a sympathetic character. Likewise, Svidrigailov was a nasty perverted piece of filth guy; a pedaphile and all-around sleaze bag. But his conscience hounded him in his dreams, and he fought against his ... perversion/drives/disease/whatever ... to the very end. And won, if you want to look at it that way. Not to mention, "I am going to America" -- simultaneously one of most darkly humorous, and poignantly sympathetic, lines in literature. Also Rodya's girlfriend, L... L-something ...the devoutly religious hooker. And then there's Porfiry, who's the "good guy," does everything right, not to mention the inspiration for "Columbo" ... and I hated his guts! Dounia and Dmitri Prokovitch were like the only technically good people who I also liked (how could anyone not like Dmitri, though?)
I just loved the psychology of it all. The idea of subconscious moral influence overriding conscious philosophical conviction, and making one physically ill, even in the absence of any conscious regret (a.k.a. the body-mind connection). Porfiry's BRILLIANT Socratic dialogues... I don't know, it was just really cool.
Last edited by emily655321; 07-23-2004 at 02:49 PM.
If you had to live with this you'd rather lie than fall.
You think I can't fly? Well, you just watch me!
~The Dresden Dolls
Ummmm......ditto to what Em said!
Actually, the only thing approaching regret about the book is that I once gave a copy of it as a gift to a girl I was seriously interested in. MIS-TAKE. I think she saw similarities between me and Rodya, drew her own conclusions, and that was the end of that! Silly me! I thought dark, depressing, Russian novels were the ultimate romantic gifts! I guess not.
"Friends stab you in the front" --Oscar Wilde
You are like Rodya??? My telephone number is....
I love complicated, dark guys like that (and I imagine him as some sort of Johnny Depp)
dead on the inside, i've got nothing to prove
keep me alive and give me something to lose
Ah! Would that she would have thought so!
"Friends stab you in the front" --Oscar Wilde
Well, you've found where they hide, Black Flag.
Come on, I couldn't have said everything?? No, I didn't. Think harder!Oh, I don't know. I've been doing nothing but making packing/shopping lists lately for school, so my brain's fried. I've got nothin'.
If you had to live with this you'd rather lie than fall.
You think I can't fly? Well, you just watch me!
~The Dresden Dolls
I agree, i thought it was a fantastic study of isolation. Every time somebody tries to help Raskolnikov, his mother / sister etc... he pushes them away.
Fantastic read, very intense
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