Posted by Steven on 21/1/2011, 11:34:56, in reply to "Re: The Idiot *Spoiler alert*"
76.186.51.185
I finished The Idiot last night. It was quite remarkable.
I think Dostoevsky himself, like most other Russian writers of his time, was preoccupied to some extent with exploring and defining the Russian national character. He may have exaggerated its more eccentric aspects in doing so. However, Russians do seem to be much more mercurial and expressive in their emotions than, say, Englishmen. I think climate and language are two factors that shape what we consider national or regional temperaments, but in our time these differences are disappearing with the global Californiazation of popular culture.
I wonder to what extent--a large one, I suspect,--the views expressed by the Prince on religion and society reflect those of Dostoevsky himself? Are there rants against Catholicism in his other novels? I don't recall.
The best part of the novel for me was its character studies. Lizaveta Prokofyevna was my favorite character. In fact, the strongest and purest characters were all women. The three heads of household--Epanchin, Ivolgin and Lebedev--were all weak and besotted.
Nastasya Filippovna is the driving force behind much of what takes place in the novel, yet, ironically, she appears "on stage" only rarely and briefly. Her intensity is too great to be tolerated except in small doses.
Finally, Vera Lebedev was the right girl for the Prince, but he never realized it.
--Previous Message--
: Guillermo, I think that you're right about the Russian
: temperament. It does seem to be mystical, anguished,
: and intense. The most extreme example among the
: writers well known in translation is Dostoevsky.
: Tolstoy can be highly mystical, but not necessarily
: tormented. Turgenev can be down right urbane. The
: passion and mysticism is present in Chekhov, but it is
: muted by his wry, ironic viewpoint. And so on.
:
: I think that many cultures have a national character.
: The French tend to be analytical, the Germans
: Romantic, the Swedes dour, but intense. This is not
: politically correct with good reason. Stereotyping
: and the horrors of extreme nationalism lie in wait for
: those who stray too far down this path. In
: moderation, though, attempting to characterize
: national temperaments is an entertaining pastime.
:
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: --Previous Message--
: I finished "The Idiot" yesterday. First I
: must
: say that I read it in Spanish, so the spelling of some
: characters may vary. Also, in Spanish it is called
: "The Idiot Prince". Now, related to the
: content, I liked it very much. Not surprisingly, it
: seemed to me to be very dostoevskyesque (how's that?),
: meaning it is centered in the confrontation between
: materialistic/ambitious desires, vs. Christian (early,
: communist Christianism)/spiritual quests. Mychkin
: stands out in his midst because he is so different
: from all the people surrounding him. In their context,
: he's an idiot through and through. The rest of the
: characters, different in other respects as they may
: be, are only after money and/or lust. None of them
: seems to think of mating as a pursuit of love, but of
: carnal beauty, social position or money. Ragojine is
: clearly a sick man, lusting after a very troubled
: woman, Anastasia Philipovna, a rebel without a cause.
: I think there are many subjects for discussion, but
: first I'd like to know general impressions of you guys
: to this book.
:
: As an aside, I'm glad none of us is Russian, because
: then I wouldn't say this: after having read a good
: many Russian novels, plays and short stories by a wide
: host of writers, I have come to the conclusion that
: all Russians are a little or very mad. No character
: ever seems to respond in a rational way, and basically
: they are troubled, anguished, tormented, and even
: violent (or martyrized). Not politically correct, and
: only from reading, not actually meeting any of them
: (and in a kidding mood).
:
: --Previous Message--
: What I envision with the screwed up eyes is someone
: rolling their eyes back or up, a look of exasperation.
:
: I'm not really satisfied with that explanation of
: ironic glance. These other phrases might be strange,
: esp. screwing up the eyes, but there seems to me
: something totally amiss with the ironic glance. A
: glance is just a quick look. It might be accompanied
: by an ironic expression, but the glance itself has no
: meaning and therefore can't be ironic. Maybe I think
: the best explanation is to assume that the glance is
: accompanied by an expression or action. One liberal
: nods in agreement with the S.P. comment and glances at
: the other. I don't know. I'd still like to know if the
: ironic glance occurs in the PV translation.
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