Fyodor Dostoevsky - Idiot

Yes, what makes Brothers K so powerful is that it seems like Dostoievisky looks back to his best works and manages to make a work where he brings all the best elements in those previous stories to a single, more polished Diamond.

Just a few thoughts concerning this book:

I have skimmed the thread as to avoid spoilers. I am not quite half way through and I feel like the pace is awfully slow. I am also still working on this theme of the Prince Myshkin being an idiot, even though he is very intelligent. I have just read the part in which Myshkin and Rogozhin exchange crosses. I suppose the prince is a fool for believing in this murderer and considering him like a brother. I guess that the prince symbolizes a certain level of innocence and faith in all of humanity that we can redeem ourselves, even if we are evil.

You're on the right track and, be assured, the pace does begin to quicken about now. :smile5:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Theunderground

I hear you both. But i think even spiritual happiness/success is individual not universal. Surely true love can only apply to individuals and not humanity carte blanche. My biggest argument against loving all mankind is that it degrades true individual love.

---

Hi Theunderground how does love for mankind degrade true individual love?
In fact what is true love?
Love and true love is there a difference?
To love everyone it is a ridiculous concept.
To love oneself is more important and I think that is where the failure is not on society but on the individual who does not know how to love themselves.

Quote:

---

Luke 18:8___And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?

I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth??

---

Galdys reading through this the word 'avenge' caught my eye.
It left me with this thought:
Avenge usually means ransom anger and the need to take revenge because one does not know nor understand how to settle differences or even forget or forgive.
Is god this avengful character? full of remorse to the point of unforgiveness? I am not sure.

Thanks. I'll post again after I have read a bit more.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cacian

Avenge usually means ransom anger and the need to take revenge because one does not know nor understand how to settle differences or even forget or forgive. Is god this avengful character? full of remorse to the point of unforgiveness?

---

I see it this way. To avenge is to punish a wrongdoing with the intent of seeing justice done. Revenge is more personal, less concerned with justice and more about retaliation by inflicting harm. To avenge inflicts punishment as an act of retributive justice or as a vindication of propriety: to avenge a murder by bringing the criminal to trial.

In the ending of The Idiot, it seems to me that Prince Myshkin is rehabilitated or, better still, vindicated. Though this world scarcely notices, the Truth prevails, albeit in the most subtle of ways.

Quote:

---

Matthew 20:16___So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

---

As for God: God is love.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gladys

'The Idiot' is one of those wonderful books that impels you to ponder, days and weeks after finishing. I found 'The Idiot' complex but spectacularly unified in that, on long reflection, almost everything makes exquisite sense. And 'exquisite' is no exaggeration because Dostoevsky tells the story with so light a touch that the reader is enchanted by every page.

Years ago I adored 'Brothers Karamazov' and this book is as good or better. So much of the poignantly human is packed into a smaller book.

I’m a third way through ‘Crime and Punishment’ and feel as though I have been tortured. Unlike the breezy Myshkin, Raskalnikov is a lead weight around my neck.

---

I have found that Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" is eminently re-readable. Regarding pace it is unequal and at times the narrative gets bogged down.Still certain aspects of the theme draw us to it .Also the depth in characterization is fascinating and it grows on us with every fresh reading. I think this is the hallmark of a great work. "The brothers Karamazov " has it in abundance. I read these two books a number of times. However I could not bring myself to read "Crime and Punishment" a second time.