Customer Reviews

The Faculty of Useless Knowledge

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An unbelievable work that makes up in prose what it lacks in originality. While the plot line is clearly delineated from the beginning, Dombrovsky's poetic writing and clever juxtaposition make this one of my top novels of all time. It's got the same futility of Kafka written in the style of The Brothers Karamazov. If you haven't read any historical literature, or do not know much about the Great Terror, this is the novel to read.

No, the beautiful marriage of the philosophical with the literary characterized by the Russian novel in such giants as Dostoevsky and Gogol didn't disappear in the twentieth century, it was only repressed. This important book stands to finally take its place alongside other contemporary Soviet writers in a deep, thought provoking proof that art really does conquer all. Lovers of profound literature need not fear since, as Bulgakov pointed out, Manuscripts Never Burn. But passion and the human spirit always will in the face of all tyranny, and nothing illustrates this more fully and with such beautiful defiance as The Faculty Of Useless Knowledge.

Do not be put off by the length-530 pages; it is as exciting from the first chapter to the last- a book that is hard to put down.... This book contains actual events from the author's life and many of the people are real. Yet it is more; the battle between soviet expediency and humanistic values, the nature of justice, a romantic tale (Dombrovsky marries the real Klara), a re-telling of Christ's passion, a description of the terror and a ripping good detective thriller.

The narrative tends to shift unexpectedly to flashbacks, but it is a deep look into an era of repression and destruction of integrity. Quintessential reading for all of us.