Where should I start with Dostoyevsky?

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Originally Posted by DanielBenoit

I love The Idiot ... it's not one of his most Dostoyevskian (the focus of the main character usually being an existential anti-hero, here the focus is an ideal Christ-like figure).

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Whether or not we consider the Christ-like heroic, there can be no doubt that the label existential is thoroughly appropriate. The Christ-like Prince Myshkin is an existential hero, and an existential Jesus Christ was the primary inspiration for Soren Kierkegaard, the father of existential philosophy.

Rather than Christ-like, I would prefer to call Prince Myshkin a true Christian, in the same vein as the awesome, existential giant Brand from Henrik Ibsen's play of the same name, written three years earlier. The Norwegian Ibsen and Dostoevsky were, of course, heavily influenced by the Danish genius, who died a decade earlier aged 42. Incidentally, Jesus, Myshkin and Brand all come to a tragic, yet inspirational, end.

^ yes exactly, I meant existential, it's just that Myshkin is ideal while the Underground Man or Raskilnikov isn't.

I am half way through the book "The Idiot". I have not tried long novels originally written in Russian. The English translation I have is published by Oxford World Classics. It is written in an accessible language and style. However, I am still not quite sure what the book is about. The book seems to protray many characters which are different from the Prince, and at the same time, there seems to me some negative sentiments about the society and community of that time which the author was trying to express, but being very unfamiliar with Russian history, I am unable to grasp. The dialogue is such that the story might even be a comedy, but I suspect it is probably a satire. I think I should read commentaries of 19th century Russian literature before my next book.
To continue reading Part III ...

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Originally Posted by Amethyst2010

The book seems to portray many characters which are different from the Prince, and at the same time, there seems to me some negative sentiments about the society and community of that time which the author was trying to express ... The dialogue is such that the story might even be a comedy, but I suspect it is probably a satire.

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Don't despair because you seem to be squarely on the right track so far. It's said to be a difficult book.

There isn't really a poor choice when it comes to deciding which Dostoevsky work that you would like to read first. That being said, I find that I generally tend to appreciate any author's work more if I start reading his earlier work first, and progress to his later work. Dostoevsky's mastery seemed to me to be much more self evident that way. I read "House of the Dead" first, because I was looking for a thorough Siberian prison memoir and it met my criteria. Intrigued, I moved on to "The Idiot," which seemed to corroborate everything that I held near and dear about life. The first time that I read a Dostoevsky novel, I felt as though my own life, the sum of my own experiences, was merely the tip of the iceberg, and that his work was my moral symmetry. It gave me a true precedent of being.
From "The Idiot," I moved on to read several collections of his short stories. In all honesty, I would recommend that you go through one of those first. Magarshack's translations tend to be the best, though Constance Garnett is very good as well. You couldn't go wrong with either "The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky," or the "White Nights" collection. From there, try starting with "Poor Folk," and work your way through.

I've only read The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov, and of the two I'd say go with Karamazov. It's easier to understand. With The Idiot there were quite a few things that I think went over my head. But they're both great reads, so I'd say whichever one you'd like. You might also want to start with reading the short stories of his on here, instead of going for a whole novel.

Crime and Punishment is one of the best works of literature ever produced, is the authors best work, and possibly the best book ever written, period(subjectivity acknowledged.)
Everything he (Dostoevsky) had ever wanted to convey, is all in this book. It spoke for himself, his nation, and the times for which he lived. He died penniless and threadbare, yet 40,000 of his countrymen followed behind his coffin at the burial.

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Originally Posted by sillyman

I've never read anything by him and I want to broaden my reading since I read mostly British/American novels with the occasion foreign novel every now and then. The only works I'm familiar with are Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment. Should I read those or does he have shorter books that are a better introduction?

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Even though Crime and Punishment is the only work of his I've read, I loved it, and I was very young, in my teens years. I remember it being very interesting, a bit depressing but very good.

Notes from the Underground is a short work and includes the idea of a prostitute as a Christ figure, a characteristic motive that crops up significantly in Crime and Punishment. It does not however have the wide human canvas of the other novels.