micronesia is an island in the south pacific....a place i am no where near! i actually live in canada i only asked because most of my family lives in greece too, all in the southern pelopennesse. (mostly in sparti) i would love to move there one day! get back to my roots, like ya said. its actually something im really going to try to do once i finish up at uni.
On the topic of films - my favorite of Dostoevsky's novels is 'The Brothers Karamazov' - there is a film (c.1960?) of it starring Yul Brynner, Lee J. Cobb and an early role for none other than William Shatner - Capt Kirk of startrek fame. The film is a bit dated but is ok, although it misses out huge sections of the book. Worth seeing if you were considering reading the book - it might even make you want to read it!
Sparti! You've made my day, Alexia! One of my favourite towns. I love the wide city roads. It's the only town in Greece where everyone is not on top of each other like lemmings. The first modern king of Greece, Othon, requested this efficient city planning back in the 19C so that the army can be mobilized in no time. The best olive oil also comes from that area and I suppose you know about the Byzantine mountain citadel of Mistras! Also, the giant statue of King Leonidas who led the 300 Spartans(the first Special Forces) adorns the city next to the football stadium. On the base of his statue is written: "Molon Lave". This was the answer he gave to the Persians when they were betrayed by Ephialtis(a name which in modern Greek means nightmare). Molon Lave in ancient Greek means: "Come and get us" Spartans don't know the meaning of surrender. You can't walk a mile in the Pelloponese without seeing a temple, or a castle, or a thousand year old monastery, or a cave full of stallactites. Only problem with Sparti, no sea, but try telling that to the morons that made the movie 'Troy' and had the Greek fleet leaving from the port of Sparta, which is only about a hundred miles from the coast. Oh, and the Greek Orthodox bishop standing inside Priam's palace on one of the shots was class, too. Especially since the battle of Troy was fought about a thousand years before Christ was born. Oops, sorry, back to Fyodor Dostoyevsky, very nice man...
i plan to one day pick up and read the copy of the idiot that i have here beside me. i look forward to it
I couldn't stand that book. The beginning is amazing... but then the story gets so dull, that it's bearly bearable.
How could you possibly stand all that borguise drama. People who have never wiorked in thier life and live in such constant boredom that htey have to make so much crap to make up for it. All the Datcha episode wore me out so much... I couldn't finish the book.
Lol! I wasn't attacking you... I was asking for your opinion... maybe you could enlighten me on the book.
i didnt mind the idiot, "bourgeois? drama"or not. It struck home to me how people can wreck their lives because they cant overcome social boundaries - the guy was a master of psychological insight, imo.
Ok. I know I’ll get shit for this but here goes… I think crime and punishment is a hard read because it is so incredibly boring. I got half way through and was hoping he would kill himself and save me the trouble of reading the rest of the book.
I also loved The Idiot. I kinda gotta sad crush on Prince Myshkin. Yeah I didn't have much in my life back then... Anyways I saw it as a critique on the social drama. All those people who really did have nothing better to do, and their bored selfishness led to the destruction of the one decent soul among them. It broke my heart.
I'd reccomend The Idiot, it was my favorite. I honestly didn't so much care for the story of Crime and Punishment, but it was entertaining nonetheless just for his writing. Those are the only two I've read, but both I could hardly put down.
The Idiot for sure. I think Crime & Punishment is an awesome read and personally I'd read that before The Idiot but thats me. The Russian classics are so worth exploring. Tolstoy, Illiach, Soljeni---yeah whatever but get into it'll make ya smile!
I'm slowly trying to ease my way into "Brothers Karamazov." So far I've only read "Notes From the Underground." In the future I'll also have to contend with Tolstoy. I know this is kind of ridiculous, but it's harder for me to read Dostoyevsky now that I know about him and his conservative, Greek Orthodox fanaticism. But more to the point, after reading Kafka, Brecht, Maupassant, Babel, and James Joyce, it's just hard to pick up the huge messiahnic Russian authors. By God did they take their craft seriously!
I've only read Notes form the Underground and thought it was ok. I seem to have more trouble reading Dostoevsky that Tolstoy, so I've been sticking with Tolstoy instead.
I’d also recommend one of his short stories, Bobok: http://arthursclassicnovels.com/arthurs/dostoevsky/bobok10.html He wasn’t always messianic
Notes From Underground - by far my most favourite book ever. This came to me in a very confusing part of my life and made so much sense (?!) I was smiling for days after! I totally understand the thing about some of the other Dosteovsky books being harder to read, but at least you tried. I tend to think that life is too short to waste reading a book you don't like when you could be reading one you love and gaining so much more from it!
