Brothers Karamazov-Dostoevsky's Ultimate Message to the World

Some facts u could have missed, I read it in original and read some literature about Dostoevsky: • in Dostoevsky’s diaries when he made his first notes of the story and he hadn’t even given names to his characters, he called one character just “a murderer” later this character was given a name - Ivan; • the Brothers Karamazov may seem like a classical complete novel, but some philologists claim that the story might have been continued, there could be another novels connected by the main character Alyosha(in the prologue Dostoevsky makes it clear that the main character is Alyosha) and this epic novel(just as epic as War and Peace) could have had a name “The life of a great sinner” (Житие выликого грешника) - it is a very popular hypothesis. • Grusha( or Grushenka) is one of the most common female characters of Dostoevsky novels: infernal woman/femme fatale. It’s may be noticed that the author doesn’t like her, he even writes something like: “She is just a simple Russian woman, that blossoms at her 20s and when she turns 30 this charm disappears immediately. • The demon of Ivan Karamazov and actually their dialogue is one of the best moments of the story, STILL neither readers nor even philologists cannot surely tell if the demon is real or just imaginary. This is pretty curious. • I don’t know if this is relevant to foreign Dostoevsky fans but Russians distinguish five his novels and call it “Dostoevsky”s Pentateuch”, these novels are: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons/Possessed, the Adolescent and The Brothers Karamazov. These novels considered as something you should definitely read BTW thank you for your analysis 😌

I just finished reading this for the first time. My perspective is this. I am a former addict and punk rocker who hated religion. Then after a suicide attempt I “found Jesus” at the age of 30. This changed the course of my life and I became a zealot for the Gospel. I have now been working as a minister for 5 years but have become somewhat critical of the Church it’s reason and it’s members. I have also been struggling with might be called a “crisis of faith”. Many of the things I am struggling with are explored in depth in this masterpiece. I don’t know if anyone cares about my struggle and I don’t know why I mention it here but just know that this novel has not given me clarity but has given me the ability to bare my soul to myself, to God and those around me. I hope this novel touches your heart as it touched mine.

Alexei, Lyosha, Alyosha, and so on are forms of the SAME name in Russian. Dostoyevsky uses the standard grammatical morphology that the Russian language allows any speaker to play with words to enrich the emotional definition. Each of these name forms carries a various degree of intimacy. Using the full capacity of the language isn't a weakness of the novel. It's a pleasure to read the original text. It's a challenge to translate but it's not the writer's responsibility.

the most emotional part of the novel for me is the wholesome bond between Ilusha(a little boy whose father dmitri offended) and his family and classmates

The devil, Ivan's nightmare, amazing chapter. The way the visitor torments Ivan with his own polarising ideas ( the same ideas that fuel Ivan's belief that he predicated the chain of events that led to his father's murder ).

The Grand Inquisitor chapter in The Brother's Karamazov was sooo good!

Rubbish! Alyosha was not naive and stupid. Just read the ending with the children where Dostoevsky brings him into his own. Dostoevsky was criticising intellectualism and not intelligence.

The novel was the prototype for the modern soap opera, perhaps in the best way possible… a bunch of morally bankrupt and wounded characters in webworks of love triangles… one vaguely heroic protagonist who suffers trying to be the peacemaker… some interesting side characters… all set in imperial Russia

I am just reading this masterpiece. It's absolutely terrific, completely wrapped with suspenseful bend along with hugely enthralling and profoundly significant. Dostoevsky's sojourn into religion, psychology, philosophy, morality, relationship between human individuals is absolutely a breathtaking one. The book's abysmal depth will draw you deep down. It's an absolutely enthralling and fascinating voyage I am taking.

Thank you for this summary. As one who grew up in the teachings of the Anglican Christian religion and subsequently turned away, finding the secular and rational the most approachable explanation to our condition, it is refreshing and reassuring that I am not alone and that no other than Fyodor Dostoevsky shared these same doubts. Recent events in the world of finance and even cryptocurrency have shown me that the best and brightest are not above the basest of human desires and the cleverest are not necessarily the best. I think The Brothers Karamazov helps us understand that it is not enough to exceed, but we must exceed with intention and not at the expense of our humanity. Without our humanity, all is lost.

I cannot every see any novel surpassing this one for me. The feelings I had when reading Ivan's fever dream, and the chapters of the Trial, I was just blown away that that can be done with writing. In a class of his own, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Notes from the underground, all masterpieces (I am postponing reading Demons).

Wow, I had never read Brothers Karamavos, but thank you for telling the story, very interesting on how the story was put forth by you.

The best analysis about Brothers Karamazov that I ever heard. Excellent stuff.

Thank you for doing this exactly what I required in the undimmed eye of day to get to the nuts and bolts. Thank you for your perspective on this Magnum opus a great critique.

I'm happy and thankful I read this book. I see a part of myself in the three brothers. The ending, the funeral really affected me.

Dostoevsky is the only novelist who manages a degree of such sustained Holiness in his novels, that is completely unique and life changing for the reader

Thanks, very useful. I finished reading this a couple of weeks ago, and found it a little overwhelming tbh. Not as much as Thus Spake Zarathustra, though. I've never been a huge literature reader, but I'm trying to catch up a bit in my later years....

the thing about dostoyevsky is that his language in his novels and his way of storytelling is extremly fun to read...in russian...that may be lost in translation...the fun...and the funniness...there are monents that made me laugh hard ...but i dont know if its as funny in translation....the moments when grushenka, which is a,name fot tiny pair btw...the name is fun in itself...so the moment when she comes to visit...forgot her name the other woman in the book...and theyre all like lovedovy..with each other...and the other woman is like oh grushenka, youre an anfel ...why didnt i know you before...i could kiss your legs for eternity....now wont yoy kiss my leg henxe i've kissed yours...and grushenka goes ....you know what, im not gonna kiss your leg....and the other woan goes like...but why? i kissed yours!...and grushenka says, because i dont feel like it.....and then the other woman starts yelling at her...you beast! get out of my house!....that scene was hilarious!...dostoyevsky was so ahead of his time in writing what basically could be a netflix tv show

I appreciate this analysis. I read this book on my own and ran into some difficulties and the unfortunate idea that I will want to reread it at some point to fully appreciate the novel. Sad that it will be another 1000 page endeavor!

...never read the book (well, to this day) but always felt I should know at least more of what it is about... this is a very good, succinct description and analysis - from other comments I take that the way D writes can hook and spell-bound you (although there are lenghty parts and side-tracks, which can test your patience), so for checking that I will actually have to start reading... very fascinating to learn that this is Putin's favourite novel and your thoughts on that... I think that makes it such an essential read - to understand not only Putin, but in general the 'Russian soul' a bit better... thank you very much for this blog!