Brothers Karamazov

• Utgivningsdatum: 2005-08-26
• Mått: 135 x 210 x 45 mm
• Vikt: 520 g
• Format: Häftad
• Språk: Engelska
• Antal sidor: 736
• Förlag: Dover Publications Inc.
• Serie: Dover Thrift Editions
• ISBN: 9780486437910

• Klassiska romaner

1 recensioner, genomsnitt 5/5

1. 5/5 Barry 2020-07-31

   As a late teenager I read all the novels and short stories by Dostoyevskij, some of them I've re-read several times, especially "Crime and Punishment" and "Notes from the Underground", but now 40 years later I re-read The Brothers Karamazov once again. It seems that I've forgotten the novel was overfilled with incredibly talkative characters. Some are buffoons, as the father, others are hysterical, bi-polar and hyperactive as Dmitri, still others, if not all..., are half-psychopaths or fulltime psychopaths keeping themselves out of sight and concealed behind the scenes in one way or another. Even the goodhearted personages, as the elder monk Zosima and the youngest brother Alosha, are illustrated with their human shortcomings. Some of the characters are overmuch demanding and ruthlessly calculating their own becoming benefits, others are portrayed as simpleminded, stupid, or naïve. The gallery of characters is fascinating, extremely amusing, and really hilarious.
   
   The narrative has no short oneliners whatsoever, instead, the never-ending pretentious and mansplaining monologues (hidden as dialogues as narratives within a narrative) could eventually be summarized as boring - as they all talk a whole lot of shit - but in some peculiar way Dostoyevskij is making art, psychology and philosophy out of all this existential personal nonsense, vendettas, and their often perverted and distorted motifs. Perhaps the way of talking is cultural and mirrors the 19th century of Russia, but if one occasionally has to meet one or two of these talkative crazy characters in real life, it would be hard to take it, and hard to really listen to all bullshit.
   
   But on the contrary, the Dostoyevskian talkative tirades are a philosophical master piece of art, as a noticeably short example, is when the wise elder monk, Zosima told Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, the brother's father, (who is really mad and dangerous):
   
   "The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love, and in order to occupy and distract himself without love he gives way to passions and course pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all from continual lying to other men and to himself. The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than anyone. You know it is sometimes very pleasant to take offense, isn't it? A man may know that nobody has insulted him, but that he has invented the insult for himself, has lied and exaggerated to make it picturesque, has caught at a word and made a mountain out of a molehill - he knows that himself, yet he will be the first to take offense, and will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it, an so pass to genuine vindictiveness." (p.36 in the Dover edition)."