These Russians really know how to tackle the big issues in literature. I started with Solzenitsyn's Day in the Life, then did War and Peace, then Crime and Punishment, and most recently, The Brothers Karamazov, and I have to say that I am much the better for reading these books.

Phew, I thought War and Peace was good (and it was), but the Brothers Karamazov locks horns with the problems we face as human beings, wrestles them to the ground, exposes us for the weak, sinful things that we are, then gives us hope.

Principally (to me, anyhow), the novel was about the problem of overthrown authority. God and the church were starting to be questioned as the ultimate authority, and the air in Russia at the time was begining to move towards reform, begining to become modern. Its themes are just as relevant today as they were for Dostoyevsky's time, and there are several passages in "The Russian Monk" chapter that were profoundly prophetic of the problems of modern society- if you replace some words with modern equivelents you have a very good picture of the USA today. Isolation of the individual, invented needs, the problem of freedom- these are some of the things Dostoyevsky tries to tackle.

Several chapters are masterpieces enclosed within the work itself, 'Pro and Contra,' 'A Little Demon,' 'The Russian Monk' the chapter where Mrs Kholaklova (spelling) professes her lack of faith to the Elder Zosima, the chapter that focuses on the relationship between Snegiyrov and Illyushin, his son, showing how children lose their innocence and become indoctrinated into this harsh adult world- with bad consequences when violence is present. And of course, there is the 'Grand Inquisitor' chapter. Wow. WOW. Had to read that three times before I think I got everything in it, but I think if every human being on Earth read 'The Grand Inquisitor' 'The Russian Monk' and then 'The Speech at the Stone' we would all be very much the better for it. eh, just read the whole thing while you're at it.

Dostoyevsky's conclusion seems to be that faith will be the ultimate healing salve for all humanity- once everybody realizes the stupidity of everything other then selfless, active love, we shall all move forward and life shall be paradise. We've had 120 years or so more progress towards it since Dostoyevsky wrote it, but it looks like we're still not doing very well (thank you very much Ms Ayn Rand). Dostoyevsky provides enough sustenence for people with less ardent faith to continue on- one of the characters, Rakitin, says 'Man kind will find the strength to live for virtue wether or not he believes in the immortality of the soul.' The Devil, in the chapter where he has a conversational duel with Ivan, mocks this idea as 'most charming.'

Each of the primary characters- Alyosha, Ivan, Dmitry, and Fyodor Pavlovich, is a guide to a certain way of living. Alyosha the christ-man, Ivan the intellectual skeptic (Raskolnikov mk II), Dmitry the noble savage, and Fyodor Pavlovich as the great sinner. Each character has his own climax in the book, and everybody should be able to identify with at least one of the characters, or find that they may be 10% Dmitry, 50% Ivan, and 40% Alyosha.

This should be an exceptional book for any young person trying to figure out what the heck life is all about. There's some good stuff between those covers- Dostoyevsky has a very deep understanding of human nature.

So in closing, whatever your beliefs are, don't eat the pineapple compote, and don't take the earthly loaves.

THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV may indeed be the greatest novel yet written. The Russian master's tumultuous epic concerning ultimate questions of good and evil; faith and rationalism; love and passion, are profoundly dramatized in a murder mystery that astonishes and disturbs by its refusal to stereotype any of its characters or trivialize any of its themes. Hence the book...like a well-lived life...is a struggle that requires much of the reader. However, if the effort is made in good faith, one never forgets the experience of journey and the lessons taught. The Constance Garnett translation is to The Karamazov as the King James Version is to the Bible. At the center of the story is "The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor". Some readers may observe that its inclusion in the novel is a "mechanical" contrivance and a technical flaw that does not naturally flow into the narrative. This may be true; but Ivan Karamazov's "poem" (as Dostoyevsky's proud, intellectual nihilist proposes) is...in effect...a spiritual history of humanity and its battle for dignity under the weight of its own Sins. When the Inquisitor/anti- Christ figure of the tale asserts that man's greatest curse is his own freedom and that he will "worship" anyone who takes this burden from him (from Supreme Court Justices who declare abortion is not murder...to talk show hosts who celebrate divorce and homosexuality)most readers suddenly realize that they are not merely reading a book but...like The Brothers Karamazov themselves... are on trial for their beliefs. Or lack of them. It is a novel which rivals parts of The Bible itself in wisdom and startling insights. Yet Dostoyevsky was "only" a man and this book... perhaps the greatest novel ever written...is a wonderful testimony to great literature's affirmation of life and the "adventure" of living.

The Brothers Karamazov becomes more ironic and comedic with multiple readings and age, i.e. mine. It is also, for me, the novel of the Russian soul/landscape, the ungovernable, mystic and irrational. Traces of Rasputin can be gleaned in Fyodor Karamazov, the patriarch whose decadent life and death is the magnetic core of this masterpiece. Dostoevsky, in his last novel spares few but least of all the lesser landowners, moneylenders and petitbourgoise whose treachery and self-absorption is the essence of the drunken Karamazov. From 3 women, come the brothers and the bastard and it is within their various souls, the archetypal Russian nature and its conflict, comes the plot. In all, the span of the story is but 4 days.

Karamazov is the comedy as well as the nature of the murderous avenging of devils that lightens and lifts, to the degree that is possible in this notoriously dense read. In one scene glaring with "a broad, drunken half-witted leer." he manages to speak some of the author's tormented inner debates about religion, God and the progressive, radical elements that would choose violent change and destruction. Despite his tyranny to servants, children and women, Karamazov is a yellow bellied coward. Confronted by Dmitri, his son, Fyodor squeals and runs around the table, "He's going to hurt me, stop him stop him" grabbing desperately to another son's coattails.

Dostoyevsky's final work of the obsessions that consumed him as well as his age is no where more labrynthine than in his depiction of the Russian church. He indicts the overly powerful clergy of the Holy Mother Church of the Tsar- while remaining fanatically Christian. He has contempt for the court system and the repressive penal codes, but a greater contempt for the radicals and assassins who assert that blood is the path to reform and the end of crime. Here, he enlarged on the theme of Crime and Punishment where destabilization and rampant appetites and excess were condemned. Karamazov is less a sermon or a catharsis for its delightful comedy, the burlesque of dreamers, rebels, the pious and the rogues who are part of the great folly, the foolishness and perhaps unredeemable condition of mankind. Dostoevsky was a Christian who could only love a suffering Christ- Ivan, his son intellectualizes religion yet it does nothing but infect his mind and bring nightmares, one of which is the famous chapter of "The Grand Inquisitor." There is an attack upon the deification of the uneducated Russian countrymen when after a verdict came through someone yelled, "Hooray, Trust our Russian peasants, Trust the peasants." Yet they had just convicted an innocent man.

Dostoeyvski speaks in the preface as author and creator, in particular in regard to his hero, tells us in the preface that the Aleksi, (Aloysha). The Christlike youngest brother is superior in thought alone, but in his action, he fails to inspire.

In no area is Dostoeyevski's own uncertainty more brilliantly depicted than in the question of the nature of the holy man on earth- the monks, the starets and the saintly. Fyodor insults the monks where Aloysha has gone to prepare for the priesthood. He shouts in a mad frenzy to the monks, "why shouldn't I act the fool? ....every single one of you is worse than me. That's why I'm a buffoon- a buffon of shame..Master (falling to knees) what must I do to earn eternal life?" Was he in jest?
It has been said that all the characters are insane, and then rebuffed with, we are just seeing them, in so much vivid light, but they are, like ourselves, just ordinary. This is an event, a necessary ingredient to any reading life.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Constance Garnett ruins Chekhov for me.

Her work is reprinted for financial reasons, not artistic ones. Want to read "good" Chekhov? Read Robert Payne or Ann Dunnigan's translations. Yarmolinsky is good too.

Rosa La Luna

This collection will expose you to not only some of the best short stories by Anton Chekhov, but some of the best stories ever written in any language. Chekhov's sense of mood and characters overrides his need to provide a predictable plot. He is the forerunner for America's beloved Hemingway, Raymond Carver, and may others in between. People may criticize some of Chekhov's Romantic devices and tendencies, but no one can deny the exactitude of his writing. His work is simple and does not rely heavily on existential characters and events, creating a timeless air.

For writers (and interested readers), there is an appendage of letters that Chekhov wrote to friends about writing. His advice is so right and simple that you'll wonder why your favorite author, or even you, didn't think of them first. Chekhov turns out to be a rather arrogant guy, claiming he never spent more than a day on a story and that his only job was "to be talented," but that is part of his charm. He is the link to modern fiction that is often forgotten. Buy or check out this book. It is a must.

In over 35 years of reading adult literature, these are my all-time favorite works. Chekhov has an uncanny and incomparable ability: virtually nothing happens in many of his stories, yet as you close the book you are aware that something deep and wonderful about human character has been revealed. Chekhov has often been described as being unsurpassed in describing the RUSSIAN character, but I find his descriptions of people, their insecurities and their relationships, to be universal.

If you read books for the action, the color, or the conflict, you will find little of it here. All you will find is quiet and penetrating insight into what it means to be a human being living with other human beings.

Dostoyevsky has written a macabre short novel. Throughout the book there permeates a dark sense of menace - the nameless characters mental unrest is captured with great prose style. The characters mental indecision is also expressed clearly, with rather confused and verbal lines.

There are two chapters in this novel. The first deals with the philosophical aspects of Dostoyevsky's own opinions, summed up generally as: A rather idiosyncratic kind of existentialism, and ultimate angst at a society laced with custom and stifled social stratification. While the second section deals with events in the characters life which have led to this philsophical stance. We are exposed to the pernicious, and obbsessive behaviour of the character, as he is driven into fits of rage and anxiety of the tritest of events.

Dostoyevsky has written a compelling book: sinister, unstable and in-depth. Each page casts a shadow. Each line is filled with sharp nihilism. Read this book with a light on!

Quick read? I finished Crime and Punishment and thought I'd zip through Notes like a snack before going on to the Brothers Karamozov, afterall, it's barely over 100 pages. Quick read? Think again.

Imagine being locked in a very small room with a verbose, insane, brilliant, jaded, before-his-times, clerk-come-philosopher....with a wicked sense of humor, and a toothache that's lasted a month. Pleasant company....are you searching for the door yet?

For the first hour, he's going to rant about his philosophy of revenge, the pointlessness of his life, his superiority, his failure, oh yeah, and his tooth. FOr the second half of the book, he's going to tell you a tale, with the title "Apropos of the Wet Snow". Because of course, there's wet snow outside on the ground.

I will leave you with this encouragement. If you can get through this book, you will appreciate Doestoevsky more, understand Crime and Punishment better, and probably enjoy a good laugh more than once.

Notes from the Underground is not light reading, but it is well worth the effort. And the translation by Pevear, including the translators notes at the back, is excellent.

"Notes" is a true classic, with Dostoevsky at his most psychologically insightful. In this book you will find the roots of many of the ideas that Freud would later make common knowledge, particularly that of the contradictory impulses and emotions which unconsciously fight to drive the actions of each individual. To Dostoevsky, a human being can never be governed by reason alone despite popular views of his day. Upon reading this book, you will fall victim to some of these contradictory emotions yourself, as you are torn between loving and hating Dostoevsky's antihero. This nameless narrator is a man who believes to be the victim of excessive consciousness, but in reality, although no doubt a possessor of extreme intelligence, is consumed by desires beyond his control. At times this narrator serves as a mouthpiece for some of Dostoevsky's own philosophical views, at times he is an object of satire, but no matter what his purpose, he always holds our attenti! on and never fails to interest. The ending of the novel is particularly shattering.