Dostoyevsky is brilliant, but can be hard going and requires dedicated reading. I would like to suggest you start by reading 'The Gambler'. It's a smaller book, compared to some of his door-stoppers and has a lot of himself in it. He was a manic gambler and epileptic and spent a fortune in casinos. His characters are extraordinary and diverse. I guarantee that you will recognize many people from everyday life in most of them. 'The Idiot' and as mentioned by OSF, 'Crime and Punishment' are his greatest works. Try getting a copy of 'The Gambler' in the library first, or borrowing from a friend, to see if he's your cup of tea.
A great writer - one of the greatest modern novelists in fact. My fave. is 'The Brothers Karamazov' - either that or 'Crime & Punishment' are probably the best things he wrote.
Crime and Punishment is such an amazing book.... Dostoyevsky yas can be a hard read... but if you get into it it shouldn't be to hard... Or get some cliff notes to keep handy to help you along with the reading... But he is definatly a must read!
I adore Dostojevski, he's probably my all time favourite author. Crime and Punishment is brilliant and, while it may be a bit difficult to get into it first, it's definitely worth reading coz in the end... well it just blows your mind.
i agree with all the above statements and now i'm remembering another russian author i read my senior year of hs... oh god i can't remember his name.. he wrote Metamorphosis, and The Penile Colony. his stuff is creepy but good. (anybody know who i'm talking about? i gotta get a hold of his stuff too... mmmm.... booooooksss..... hehe i need to read)
ooh! okay thank you! hehe i guess it was an eastern europe section rather than a russian one we went through. hehe... been a while! anyways thanks
No problemo, Tigerlily. I had to write an analytic essay about the Trial in high school and back then I just couldn't get into it at all. No need to mention that the essay sucked. I read it again a couple of years later and then really enjoyed it a lot. Kafka's style of writing is really fascinating. Thanks for the film suggestion, I'll definitely check it out!
This may be diverting from the original intent of the thread, but if you ever get the opportunity to see a Stephen Berkoff production in the theatre then do it. You won't regret it (unless you don't like contemporary theatre). Both his interpretations of Metamorphosis and The Trial belong on a higher plane of existence. The man is a genius, but he's getting on a bit so if he's giving a performance in the UK, or the USA, don't hesitate, get a ticket. Anyway, Dostoyevsky...
thanks for the sugestions everyone! my birthdays coming up, so i will treat myself to a book of his. crime and punishment seems like the popular choice, i havent heard of 'the gambler' but ill check it out. hey white scorpion, where are ya in greece??
I've gone back to my roots. I left the UK, because most of my family live here and even though there are better and worse things over here, at the end the pros weigh out the cons. Wonderful country, lots of places to explore. Most people just know the islands, sunny beaches, nightclubs, having a good time, but there's soooo much more. Having said that the whole world is a beautiful place and there's so many things too see and little time to do it. BTW Where exactly is Micronesia, Alex? Sounds tropical!
Crime and Punishment is one of my favourite books of all time, I've read it 3 times (once in Russian, and twice in English)....amazing book in every aspect.
BraveSirRubin I envy you! Big time! To be able to appreciate a Master in his own language is like drinking nectar from its source. Translations, no matter how good they are, always lose a little something to anyone that hasn't experienced the language and culture of the writer's origin.
I agree, it is always better to read the original. But hell, you live in Greece, you must be able to read so many great works in their original language as well (that is if you know ancient greek, ofcourse)
Well spotted, Sir. Although I can read modern Greek, it is a very complicated language and I'm not fully proficient at it, otherwise I would love to write Greek. We also have another language known as 'Katharevousa', which is rarely used any more and is a bridgeway between the beautiful ancient language and the one we use today, which stems from the Pelloponese dialect, since it was the first region to be liberated from the Turks in 1821(after c.400 years slavery). Sadly, most of us have grown lazy over the years and seduced by the easy life, so the ancient language remains a mystery to me that totally surprises me whenever someone explains something that relates to it. Still, I can read Kazantzakis(The Last Temptation of Christ) in Greek, so that's some compensation.
