tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743216407449778066.post1975569926110310881..comments2024-01-05T11:16:11.081+00:00Comments on Russian Dinosaur: Dostoevsky: a ridiculous thingRussian Dinosaurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708798725927250672noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743216407449778066.post-31396347270831727522019-03-20T15:40:26.928+00:002019-03-20T15:40:26.928+00:00It occurs to me that you may have addressed some o...It occurs to me that you may have addressed some of those issues in your TLS review, but since I'm not currently a subscriber I can't see more than a couple of sentences. (Maybe you could send me a copy?)Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743216407449778066.post-73163193574851801642019-03-20T13:00:05.000+00:002019-03-20T13:00:05.000+00:00I was, of course extremely hard on the poor Adoles...I was, of course extremely hard on the poor Adolescent, but it must be borne in mind that blogs allow much more latitude for one-sided and unfair views (if I'd been writing a review for an official publication, I would have felt obliged to be more judicious); furthermore, I simply have no patience for the turmoil and travails of adolescence. I've been there and done that, I've read Salinger & Co., I find nothing but irritation in prolonged effusions about how mean people are and how nobody understands me and my plans to be the greatest person ever. Give me adults dealing with adult problems; I have nothing against YA lit, but it's not for me. And aside from that, there's the inherent problem in having all the characters and events seen through the eyes of the feckless and self-absorbed Arkady; how are we supposed to break out of his solipsistic viewpoint? And why does everyone treat him with so much affection and respect (I mean apart from the ones who are just buttering him up to use him in their nefarious plans)? He's just an annoying twerp with idiotic ideas and an inflated opinion of himself. I'm also annoyed by his repeated insistence that he's all grown up and wiser now; I can't help but think of Housman's "And I am two-and-twenty,. And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true." I mean, maybe it's intended as humor, but in that case where does the humor end? Are we supposed to take any of this ridiculous farrago of a plot seriously? I'd be curious to know your take on these matters, since you're an admirer of the book.<br /><br /><i>Imagine if Dostoevsky really had stopped with Poor Folk and The Double, stifled by Siberia, suicide, or both. Would we remember him today as a footnote to Gogol, a minor literary figure (like Ivan Panaev himself), a “ridiculous thing”?</i><br /><br />Undoubtedly, if we remembered him at all (he might have sunk into the same oblivion as Yakov Butkov).Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.com