Dostoevsky Questions?

[Robert E Lee]

Hi. This is General Lee's brother. I have just recently begun reading The Demons (translated by Pevear and Volhonsky). Is there any theme I should look out for? Is this a good translation? Or is it watered down for contemporary readers (liberal intellectuals)?

Other questions regarding Dostoevsky:
Was he a religious "nut"?
Why did he become such a fanatical Tsarist?
Which of his works have you read and who was the translator(s)?

The only other Dosteovsky works I have read are The Idiot and Notes From the Underground.

Has anyone else read the Idiot? The only point I absorbed from this book was "decadent atheistic liberals view religious philanthropy as idiocy". The characters also get riled up for no particular reason and engage in lengthy monologues. Not very realistic. It seems as though Dostoevsky is a sort of puppet master entertaining himself by mocking western liberals.

[Zeno]

I think the translators you mentioned have done a very good job judgeing by there version of the Brothers Karamazov which I have read in other translations, and there notes from the underground is good too.

[nome1486]

I just finished The Brothers Karamazov (the first work I've ever read by Dostoevsky) by those same translators. All I know about Dostoevsky is what I've read in the introduction to that book and in his biography on this site, which says that he became a monarchist only after eight years of penal servitude in Siberia and forced service in the army for being a utopian socialist. In prison, he met a political exile who gave him a copy of the Gospels. The introduction to Brothers Karamazov includes a copy of a letter (p. xiii) he wrote to that man's wife, which describes how he was "a child of nonbelief and doubt up till now and even (I know it) until my coffin closes", but that he still had a "thirst for faith", and that these two ideas were in constant conflict within him. So he wasn't a religious fanatic; he struggled with both faith and doubt. However, this revelation which he had in prison was probably the reason he became a "fanatical Tsarist". As for the translators, no doubt they have done a very good job, based on the book jacket's praise of their "restoration of the essential nature of Dostoevsky's prose". Their notes also helped me understand a lot of the author's intentions and references. However, I noticed one sentence in the book which didn't make a lot of sense, and when I compared it to the translation on this site, I realized why. The translators of my book had used the word "perished" where this site's translation used "doom", which, in context, makes a lot more sense. This one little sentence was very important because it was foreshadowing what would happen, and it confused my whole understanding of the end of the book!

[DaScouser]

You should always consider yourself the prince, but never the idiot. The theory goes Dodo was a spy, although he may never have been wholly comfortable with it. Pschitzophrenic.

[sambones]

Crime and punishment is my favorite book of all time, Im rereading some ****ty translation by constance garnett. I've come across a few sentences that just don't quite work. C & P will teach you more and more the wickeder you get. If your a constapitaded criminal this book should wet your colon, and provide relief.

[stavrokin]

1, Dost spend all his life on thinking a question whether God was in existence.

2, Dost had never been a fanatical Tsarist.
Even before went into exile, he claimed, "he is not against the Russian government, but simply against the institution of serfdom"(Jennifer Jay)

3,I read almost all his works(Chinese Versions), but unfortunately I am not a English speaker, I find it's hard to converse with everyone here on the topic of Dostoevsky.

I found some English Version of Dost's works
One is Penguin's The Devils translated by David Magarshack
Two is Bantam's The Idiot translated by Constance Garnett


:-?