Without a doubt... greatest novel ever written.

books:


	• The Brothers Karamazov (Barnes & Noble Classics) Fyodor Dostoevsky Barnes & Noble Classics, 2005 - 752 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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Good Read

This is a good book. Slow, but thought provoking. The footnotes and endnotes are big help and enrich the experience. Interesting info at the beginning and end of the book.

Unsatisfied on the Surface

While treating the whole gamut of our human existence in the first half of his novel, Dostoevsky seems to put that very existence--our human nature--on trial in the second half of his volume. The three legitimate brothers of Fyodor Dostoevsky--Dmitri, Ivan and Alyosha--and the illegitimate brother, Smerdyakov, together serve as a microcosm for our human existence. Their personalities, disorders, personal demons, frailties and kindnesses remind us of our own--and together they form the full spectrum of possibility for us.
Dmitri cries out, after having been arrested for parricide, cries out to Alyosha, "A New man has risen up in me...I exist!...And there is a whole life in that, in knowing that the sun is there," (540-541). Wow. This comment by a man who has been involved in bullying, lust, fear and jealousy is now able to realize the best part of himself. And this is perhaps one of Dostoevsky's many great accomplishments with the novel. That Dmitri cannot become just a villain, easy to hate and disgusting to all, reveals also who we are. In many ways, we conduct ourselves in frail fashion--committing acts in the immediate present for which we mourn in the not-too-distant future. And yet, how many of us get to this point--where we can authentically claim that we are new, and that we are satisfied to know that our life is real, that we can see and feel the sun?
On the other hand, we have Alyosha, whose battle lies mainly within. Unlike Dmitri and his father, Fyodor, Alyosha has not led a life of debauchery, sleeping with many women, drinking himself to the hilt. Instead, his has been one of action. Alyosha's great temptation is to learn to speak with his own voice, to rise to the moment that calls out to him. He is both uniquely spiritual and uniquely human. We might say of Alyosha that no other character in our literature (and here I mean all literature, not regionalized) has ever reached so close a rendering to Jesus as Alyosha. And Dostoevsky's driving force becomes clear with Alyosha's final speech to the young boys gather around him after Ilusha's tragic and fateful death. He says with power to his young students, "Some good, sacred memory preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education" (700). When we can recall ourselves at our best--enraptured by kindness, full to the brim with a gratitude evidenced by joy--we then lend ourselves power to act in the present. Everywhere in this novel we see depictions of men who struggle and fail, falling prey to their own secret or open desires towards the unhealthy and the cruel. However, redemption lies most powerfully in this final moment that Alyosha spends with the very boys who once tormented poor Ilusha. He says that he loves them, will always remember them, and he exhorts them to remember who they are--in their deepest cores, in their heart of hearts. The boys listen and weep with his spoken words, and the reader immediately senses that this is it: this is the moment of triumph when all that has passed comes to what it may yield in the future. Russia, it seems Dostoevsky is saying, will thrive and move and lives as long as each singular human can remember himself or herself at her best--a moment of kindness, a moment of unbridled love, connection, belief. Alyosha powerfully reveals this possibility in himself, and then passes it along to the young boys who have gathered around him physically and spiritually.
The fate of Ivan and Smeryakov is tragic. Both men succumb to the personal demons that haunt them--and both struggle intensely with the fate of their own brains. Ivan is a thinker, and his mind unravels itself with what is and is not possible. Dostoevsky seems to claim that life cannot be lived this way: there must come a point when we choose not to think but to act, and that act must be one of loving our neighbor. Ivan does perform this final act on behalf of his brother Dmitri, but it may be too late for himself, as his brain has already run the gamut of controlling and dominating his life. Smeryakov's fate is similar, though his own personal demons have pushed him to suicide. Neither character has been able to find a peacefulness, because both have attempted to come upon it violently, combating life with their intellect and finding it to be a riddle they cannot discover. Dostoevsky claims with The Brothers Karamazov that life can only be accessed authentically when we listen to our own souls, act accordingly, and love our neighbors. This is not religion, but rather the very definition of love, and the author's prescription for what might have, and still might, save Russia. And all of us, too.

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Without a doubt... greatest novel ever written.

Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote in a letter to his brother, "Man is a mystery. It needs to be unraveled, and if you spend your whole life unraveling it, don't say that you've wasted time. I am studying that mystery because I want to be a human being." In Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov¸ he unravels the very nature man: his passion, his intellect, and his soul. In his novel, Dostoevsky explores man's most primitive questions: Does God exist? What is hell? Why do we suffer? No other novel is as deeply intertwined with human existence as The Brothers Karamazov. Modern civilization has been crafted by philosophy, psychology, literature, and religion. The Brothers Karamazov can be considered a masterpiece in each.

With characters ranging from sensual Dmitri, idealistic Alyosha, and intellectual Ivan, Dostoevsky reveals to the reader the very essence of man. In each brother, a dimensional extremity of man is illustrated. As the novel unravels, the reader becomes engulfed in the psychological struggle between the extremities. Will Ivan's love of life help deviate him from his dependence on his Euclidean mind? Does Dmitri's desire for his father's murder signal guilt, or is it outweighed by his moral innocence?

Grand themes are presented throughout the novel ranging from religious hypocrisy to servanthood. Ivan Karamazov's character is fully illustrated in "The Grand Inquisitor," the renowned chapter of the novel, often circulated as an independent essay. Because Ivan can't accept the existence of God if suffering exists in the world, the Grand Inquisitor is born. On the other extreme, Alyosha, and his mentor Father Zossima, seem to represent rival philosophies. Unlike Ivan and his Grand Inquisitor, Father Zossima and Alyosha believe that the world is essentially good. They believe that suffering is only the result of man's failure to love. "What is hell?" Father Zossima asks, "I maintain that it is the ability of being unable to love."

With the murder of their father, each brother is confronted by his own internal struggle. Alyosha's ideals force him to accept part of the blame for his father's death. Ivan's struggles with existence drive him to insanity, and Dmitri's guilty verdict reaffirms his faith. Ivan had once said, "Even if parallel lines do meet and I see it myself, I shall see it and say that they've met, but still I won't accept it." Now Dmitri exclaims, "I see the sun, and if I don't see the sun, I know it's there. And there's a whole life in that, in knowing that the sun is there."

In sum, to call Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov anything but a work of genius would be an injustice. The Brothers Karamazov seems to explore every corner of human existence. However, Dostoevsky's quest for truth does not end with this novel, but begins. The book, which was originally meant to be the first of a trilogy, seems to call the reader to response. Dostoevsky's quest for truth becomes our own. Dostoevsky now calls us to unravel the mystery of man for ourselves.

An additional note--the Barnes & Noble edition offers very insightful information as well as great footnotes and references. Constance Garnett is my preferred translator for Dostoevsky.

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The Brother Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences?biographical, historical, and literary?to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

The last and greatest of Dostoevsky?s novels, The Brothers Karamazov is a towering masterpiece of literature, philosophy, psychology, and religion. It tells the story of intellectual Ivan, sensual Dmitri, and idealistic Alyosha Karamazov, who collide in the wake of their despicable father?s brutal murder.

Into the framework of the story Dostoevsky poured all of his deepest concerns?the origin of evil, the nature of freedom, the craving for meaning and, most importantly, whether God exists. The novel is famous for three chapters that may be ranked among the greatest pages of Western literature. ?Rebellion? and ?The Grand Inquisitor? present what many have considered the strongest arguments ever formulated against the existence of God, while ?The Devil? brilliantly portrays the banality of evil. Ultimately, Dostoevsky believes that Christ-like love prevails. But does he prove it?

A rich, moving exploration of the critical questions of human existence, The Brothers Karamazov powerfully challenges all readers to reevaluate the world and their place in it.

Maire Jaanus is Professor of English and department Chair at Barnard College, Columbia University. She is the author of Georg Trakl, Literature and Negation, and a novel, She, and co-editor of Reading Seminars I and II, Reading Seminar XI, and the forthcoming Lacan in the German-Speaking World.

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