I should find an english professor to talk to... but oh well for now.
Read the brothers karamazov, what should I read next? OR should I just stop reading for a while and start masturbating instead?
Isn't TBK supposed to be basically the best novel?
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I should find an english professor to talk to... but oh well for now.
Read the brothers karamazov, what should I read next? OR should I just stop reading for a while and start masturbating instead?
Isn't TBK supposed to be basically the best novel?
Among Russian novels, my experience tells me that Anna Karenina is the best, not TBK. In world literature, my favorites include Ulysses, The Tale of Genji, Pride and Prejudice, The Dream of the Red Chamber, Middlemarch, Brideshead Revisited, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Snow Country, and The Great Gatsby. Many of those I prefer to TBK.
Also, Don Quixote (which I have not read yet) is often considered to be one of, or the, greatest novel. If you're lucky, stlukesguild and mortalterror will be along shortly to smother you with lists :D
EDIT: oh, and yes, talk to a literature prof.
DOUBLE-EDIT: and if you're even luckier, JBI will also drop by to chastise you for emphasizing the novel over poetry.
I started reading through Anna Karenina but I'm not sure that it compares with The Brothers Karamazov. I'm under the impression that the only really redeemable section of the book is the first part. . . I plan to give it another try though.
I'll have to look up some of those books.
I also thought The Idiot outstanding.Quote:
Originally Posted by stevenson
Have you considered Henry James? I loved The Golden Bowl, for its interpersonal portrayal.
I'll have to check out The Idiot. .. I had it at one point but then I put it on a desk in the hall and put a sign over it that said free books and someone took it.
I have The Bostonians here and also Portrait of a Lady. . .so far I have more interest in POAL.
Just curious how do you sum up your experience of reading this novel?Quote:
Originally Posted by stevenson
at which point did you decide you would carry on reading it?
about chapter five or book five: Pro and contra
did you find there is a kind religious malaise about it?
the poem prose for example:
''Why hast Thou come now to hinder us? For Thou hast come to hinder us, and Thou knowest that... We are working not with Thee but with him [Satan]... We took from him what Thou didst reject with scorn, that last gift he offered Thee, showing Thee all the kingdoms of the earth. We took from him Rome and the sword of Caesar, and proclaimed ourselves sole rulers of the earth... We shall triumph and shall be Caesars, and then we shall plan the universal happiness of man''
it is a rather biblicaly heavy a bitter taste between god and the man. I wonder why?
the kissing on the lips is also significant. it reminds of the knight Templars that is one of their rituals. Jesus kissing Ivan on the lips then Alyosha kissing him too. the two brothers Kissing. incest? maybe.
I will try and summarize my experience, but maybe I should read it again.
I think I felt almost right away that I would continue with this book til the end...the contrasting characters--a drunken father, an ascetic elder, a son who is in the middle of it--and the contrasting elements of the monastic life and the indulgent life was highly interesting. And the whole description of the geography of everything was enticing--a monastery up the road, the whores who were in the neighborhood and stirring up things between Mitya and Karamazov, Dimitry and Alyosha ducking in the shrubberies. The relation of the locations was first rate and I trusted that Dostoevsky was going to deliver. Especially by the folksy way he would begin describing things, I could sense right away that Dostoevsky was not going for anything except pure expression...and that's what the book said on the back... something like... ''If I could just finish this book, then I will have expressed myself fully and can die happily. . . "
I certainly cannot offer a precise analysis... the stuff about God was a little offsetting, but I think it was necessary during that time because so much of people's lives and ancestry were invested in Religion whereas today it'd be obsolete material. The extremes that everyone was living under...intellectuals, monastics, indulgent drunks, dirt poor people... the scene where the guy crumpled up the money was great stuff. That and the scene where the dog is returned is probably the most memorable. The build up from Dosteovsky... at the end of the day it's the artistry of the writer that delivers the book and that's what makes it great, the story telling.
I could probably benefit from a rereading of TBK as I was very young when I read it, but I have too many other books that must be read for the first time first!
I vaguely recall complex characters, religious references, an intriguing ending and a general darkness about the book.
I think I need to put down Russian literature for awhile or Russian masterpieces at least and find something light and airy...probably some British literature would do the trick, something in my own native tongue. I have A Room with a View, The Way of all Flesh, some Henry James which is not British. Any other suggestions? I think that's it.. one needs contrast. You can't just focus on another Russian masterpiece after reading one. . .I'm switching to British. I tried Anna Karenina...but it's like...Tolstoy is trying to do a masterpiece and some of it is contrived. And yes Dostoevsky was contrived at some parts, but you put up with it because you trust the artistry. . . I don't have that faith in Tolstoy if it's not a short story.
I also tried Dead Souls...but am not feeling it. I'm going to try ARWAV, I think it's working for me. I think British literature is my joint at the end of the day, I just have to realize it once and for all. I already read The Way of All Flesh and at the time considered it hands down to be my favorite work. I think I would enjoy Trollope, but have not given it a shot yet. ..maybe Dickens too, who I've not read.
Have you given Kafka a shot?
Stick with Russian lit-Ivan Turgenev will give you some positive news and then when you get to Chekhov, you'll be reaching for the vodka and a revolver.
you're right, maybe I should stick with Russian for a while. . . British literature is boring.
I've read Lermontov, but no I haven't checked out Turgenev or Chekhov. .. kafka yes I've read through the short stories, but could not get on with Amerika or whichever it's called. Kafka is boring too. Maybe I'm still not aligned with the art of reading literature. . . I'm watching House right now instead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevenson
I give up trying to help you.
what happened is that I lost the art of reading, which I assume happens often in modern times. To read Karamazov was a major upheaval, effort filled, which I don't think good reading should be. Good reading should not come of effort, I don't think.
But I'm eating a lot of vegetables now and I have a road bike, and I'm gonna renounce my mom's cooking, so I can regain the art by living a balanced life.
In my current mind which is still unbalanced I say Brit Literature is rubbish, but soon maybe I will say British Lit is NOT rubbish.
I've read both. The former I read months ago and enjoyed every moment: an exquisite ending.Quote:
Originally Posted by stevenson