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The Brothers Karamazov: A Novel in Four Parts and an Epilogue Paperback – April 29, 2003
| Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Enhance your purchase
- Print length960 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin Classics
- Publication dateApril 29, 2003
- Dimensions7.76 x 5.08 x 1.84 inches
- ISBN-100140449248
- ISBN-13978-0140449242
- Lexile measure970L
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About the Author
David McDuff was educated at the University of Edinburgh and has translated a number of works for Penguin Classics, including Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov.
David McDuff was educated at the University of Edinburgh and has translated a number of works for Penguin Classics, including Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov.
Product details
- Publisher : Penguin Classics; Reissue edition (April 29, 2003)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 960 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0140449248
- ISBN-13 : 978-0140449242
- Lexile measure : 970L
- Item Weight : 1.59 pounds
- Dimensions : 7.76 x 5.08 x 1.84 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #8,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #257 in Classic Literature & Fiction
- #261 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
- #793 in Literary Fiction (Books)
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About the author

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (/ˌdɒstəˈjɛfski, ˌdʌs-/; Russian: Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский; IPA: [ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ dəstɐˈjɛfskʲɪj]; 11 November 1821 – 9 February 1881), sometimes transliterated Dostoevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher. Dostoyevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmosphere of 19th-century Russia. Many of his works are marked by a preoccupation with Christianity, explored through the prism of the individual confronted with life's hardships and beauty.
He began writing in his 20s, and his first novel, Poor Folk, was published in 1846 when he was 25. His major works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). His output consists of 11 novels, three novellas, 17 short novels and numerous other works. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychologists in world literature. His 1864 novella Notes from Underground is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature.
Born in Moscow in 1821, Dostoyevsky was introduced to literature at an early age through fairy tales and legends, and through books by Russian and foreign authors. His mother died in 1837, when he was 15, and around the same time he left school to enter the Nikolayev Military Engineering Institute. After graduating, he worked as an engineer and briefly enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, translating books to earn extra money. In the mid-1840s he wrote his first novel, Poor Folk, which gained him entry into St. Petersburg's literary circles.
In the following years, Dostoyevsky worked as a journalist, publishing and editing several magazines of his own and later A Writer's Diary, a collection of his writings. He began to travel around western Europe and developed a gambling addiction, which led to financial hardship. For a time, he had to beg for money, but he eventually became one of the most widely read and highly regarded Russian writers. His books have been translated into more than 170 languages. Dostoyevsky influenced a multitude of writers and philosophers, from Anton Chekhov and Ernest Hemingway to Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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It all takes place in a little village called 'Skotprigonyevsk.' Luckily for us, most of the time it's simply referred to as 'our little town.'
Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov is a lecherous, unpleasant old man who has three sons in their twenties from two different wives, both of whom he treated horribly. On the surface, each of the boys could be said to represent one of the three aspects of man. There's physical Dmitri, who can't master his earthly passions; intellectual Ivan, whose brain keeps torturing him; and spiritual Alexey, who feels called to enter a monastery as a novice, aged twenty. If you think this makes them sound like cardboard, one-sided characters, no way! They are all deep and complex enough to make us love them.
Oh, and there's also Smerdyakov, Fyodor's young servant. Although it's never been openly acknowledged, everyone is 99.9% certain that he is actually his illegitimate son, since Fyodor was rumoured to have raped 'Stinking Lizaveta' the mute village vagrant who gave birth in his garden. Although Smerdyakov knows better than to ever acknowledge his half brothers as such, there's a major chip on his shoulder as he hangs creepily in the background. Dmitri calls him, 'the epitome of all the cowards in the world on two legs, with no character to speak of.'
One night, old Fyodor gets what many believe was probably coming to him. Someone smashes the back of his skull and kills him, and it was most likely one of his sons, who have a swarm of motives between them.
It's easy for everyone to pin the blame on Dmitri, whose name is shortened quite often to Mitya. An impulsive guy who'll wear his heart on his sleeve, he always speaks (or punches) before he thinks. He made no secret that he wanted to kill the old man, who has not only withheld Dmitri's inheritance from his mother, but is also trying to use it to seduce Grushenka, the girl Dmitri loves. But undercurrents are bubbling away elsewhere too, so is it really that clear cut?
The brilliant Ivan, the middle brother, is a scholar with a major existential crisis. He can't dismiss the idea that man invented God to suit himself, rather than vice versa. I came to really appreciate the raw and honest young atheist whose huge intellect and photographic memory become burdens rather than gifts. His flippant approach conceals his desperation, giving me the impression that he's so open with his youngest brother because he'd love to be convinced out of cynicism into faith. And Ivan's madly in love with Katerina, the fiance Dmitri dumped so he could pursue Grushenka. So their eldest brother is not Ivan's favourite person.
The youngest is also known as Alyosha, which seems to be a derivative of Alexey. He's the mortar that pulls the whole story together. He loves unconditionally, never finds fault, and often becomes our lens. I doubt I would have loved Dmitri and Ivan so much if I didn't see them through Alyosha's eyes. Perhaps most importantly, he makes me think of Jesus' commission for his friends to be his hands and feet. Ivan spends so much time griping about the lack of proof of God's existence, but I think his smartness just caused him to search in the wrong places. He need look no further than his kid brother to see concrete proof that the spirit of God exists, through the lives of his followers. Even the omniscient narrator refers to Alyosha at one point as, 'the young hero I love so much.'
So there's the scenario. Even though we get to love each of the brothers heaps, at the same time, we can't help wondering which of them may be tied up with the murder, and how. Or was it a combination crime? And the solution is all tied with blackmail, psychological twists that do your head in, and arguably justice. Before I get too carried away, I'll give some quotes from the story. Needless to say, a book this thick is full of them, but the following are a few of my favourites.
4937
Father Zossima, the old man who was Alexey's mentor and hero, has some good things to say for a start. He also predicts that his young follower will, 'bless life, and make others bless it.'
1) Men are made for happiness, and anyone who is completely happy has a right to say to himself, "I am doing the will of God."
2) Precious memories may remain even of a bad home, if only the heart knows how to find what is precious.
3) If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things.
4) Love the animals. God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled.
Ivan Karamozov's thoughts are possibly poles apart from Father Zossima's, but maybe equally worthy of thought.
1) I don't understand how anyone can love one's neighbour. For anyone to love a man, he must be hidden, for as soon as he shows his face, love is gone. One can love one's neighbour in the abstract, or even at a distance, but at close quarters, it's almost impossible. (Yeah, he's a cynical dude.)
2) People sometimes speak of bestial cruelty, but that's a great insult and injustice to beasts. A beast can never be so artistically cruel as a man.
(At one point, Ivan has a conversation with the devil, who's sitting on his couch during a time when he's sick. The doctors warned Ivan that he may be subject to hallucinations, but he wouldn't listen. It's a very interesting chapter, with some fascinating dialogue.)
Ivan (trying to disprove the hallucination): You're just an incarnation of myself, but only one side of my thoughts and feelings. Only the nastiest and stupidest of them.
Satan: If I'm like you in my way of thinking, it's all to my credit.
Satan: From the vehemence with which you deny my existence, I'm convinced that you believe in me.
Ivan: Not in the slightest. I haven't a hundredth part of a grain of faith in you.
Satan: But you have the thousandth of a grain. Homeopathic doses perhaps are strongest.
But one of the book's best quotes was by Dmitri. He's a guy who normally drops lines such as, 'On the way here it seemed alright, and now it's nothing but nonsense.' The narrator says that at one point, 'an absurd, chaotic confusion followed, but Mitya was in his natural element and the more foolish it became, the more his spirits rose.' So this heartfelt quote by him is a great place to wrap up this review.
Dmitri: It's God that's worrying me. What if he doesn't exist? Then man is the chief of all the earth, the universe. Magnificent. Only how is he going to be good without God? I always come back to that. For whom is man going to love then? To whom will he be thankful? To whom will he sing the hymn?
Sometimes I wondered just what the women in Fyodor Dostoevsky's life must have been like, because I doubt there's one female character who didn't have a hysterical fit at some point in the story. They grew on me though, just like the guys. I really liked Grushenka by the end, and Katerina made me grin when she called Alyosha a 'religious little idiot' just because he hit a bit too close to home at one time. Feisty ladies indeed.
Altogether, this has to be one of the books of the year for me. And since there's probably no way I'd ever have read it if I hadn't been doing this reading challenge, you can consider this blog post a great shout out for reading challenges too.
the screen. As some other reviewers have noted, it is one of the most difficult things you
will ever read but also one of the most beautiful and inspiring. In 1998 in my first semester
of college, I was taking Russian Government and Politics. I had heard of Crime and Punishment,
but the prof said the greatest one by Dostoyevsky is The Brothers Karamazov. Then toward
the end of my seminary career in Problem of Evil we studied The Grand Inquisitor poem
or chapter which was one of the highlights of the course along with Job. Over the years
in my nonfiction reading Ivan and Alyosha have been constant conversation partners on
a number of themes. But as I said, I had never read the whole book. I don't know much
about the different translations that reviewers have mentioned. I did find it helpful to
get a list of the characters. In Russian they often address the person by the first and
middle name, and the brothers have the same middle name so it looks like it's their
last name. But I echo the advice of others to just plow through it. Some find the
digressions long, and of course it is long but it towers as one of the most powerful
novels in the history of the world, so just trust that it's worth it to keep going. But
that doesn't mean to rush, because there are moments where it's worthwhile to
pause and meditate on what is being said and done in the story.
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This book came about due to things that Dostoevsky had started to write but had never finished, and thus he incorporated some of those elements into this, and whilst writing this his son tragically died and thus the character, indeed the hero of the book, Alyosha is named after him. The narrator of this tale who is never named also arguably becomes a character as we hear his thoughts and evaluations on certain matters throughout.
With philosophical and religious thoughts and ideas overshadowing this tale this does become quite deep and thought provoking. In the way this is set out we sort of have two interrelated tales, with one half being an introduction to the characters, and the second half being a tale of murder and theft. It is this structure that does put some people off from completing this, but it does work, and very well. By the second part we have become very familiar with the characters, and how they behave and their individual foibles.
With a father having three sons, one by one marriage, the other two by a second marriage, we also are led to believe that he possibly has another, illegitimate son who he doesn’t recognise as such but employs in his home. As the father is murdered and money disappears, so one son becomes the prime suspect, but is he the murderer? We follow onto the trial here before this novel reaches its conclusion.
With numerous literary references and in a couple of cases stories within the main tale this is something that does become quite complex. There is also not really that much description here, this mainly becomes a character driven tale with their actions and voices at the forefront. As an allegory as such of society moving towards a more modern material one this works well, and we can also perceive Dostoevsky’s dreams of a more just and thoughtful society where hopefully things will be better. What does come over really well here are the events leading to murder, and we are made to think of other people’s actions that made it possible for the actual murder to take place. As such this is always well worth reading, and is very rewarding.
It is too long and I didn’t find the characters sympathetic or easy to relate to. I felt that Dmitri deserved to be convicted even though he hadn’t killed his father as he seemed a very violent man who could throw a pestle at the kind old servant Grigory who had brought him up. The women are mostly mad or hysterical. I felt much more could have been written about Smerdyakov’s character and his motivation for the murder.
But it is a book ahead of it’s time the origin of Crime fiction with its courtroom dramas and denouements (Smerdyakov’s detailed confession). There is also humour at times - Dmitri’s visit to the drunken Lyagavy and Trifon Borissovitch pulling up floor boards in his Inn to look for the missing money. Descriptions of madness were very real especially of Captain Snegiryov at the funeral.













