Brothers Karamazov, The - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

This is very good fiction book to read.

It will take you in another world is you started imagining with it.

Amazing efforts by writer.

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With Great Books, comment is an impertinence. But I like to hear of people’s encounters with them, and thought I’d attempt mine with the novel that has always been my number one.

For those new to him I’d like to say, Dostoyevsky isn’t difficult. I think there’s a rumour he is - as with other Greats who turn out to be more like ordinary novelists than we’d feared, except with the wisdom of the gods. The last hundred pages of Karamazov is a courtroom drama, and he has sensational plots, since he got them from the crime pages in the paper and/or from criminals he met while incarcerated. The books tend to hinge on a murder, and a murder is the central event of Karamazov. I think of him as like Shakespeare, with a popular plot for his vehicle. But then that’s just as true of Karamazov’s only rival for my top spot, Moby Dick.

I’ve just read Karamazov after a space of ten years. I lived with the novel in my youth, and from my perspective now, I can see that Dostoyevsky just about built my brain. It’s uncanny to read him again – weirdly familiar, and humbling, since I start to wonder whether I've ever had a thought of my own(I got that from him? – and that?). I know how struck I was, back then, but I couldn’t have foreseen the depth of the theft. He taught me my ethics. I obviously took him for my gospel. A person can do worse.

On gospels, this is the novel of his most squarely about religion. He never gave us monks as main characters before, or introduced us to the Devil. It’s the one I happened to start with, and why not? It was his last and to him, his ultimate. Crime and Punishment was his first big splash, but if you’re going to try one, he’d have thrust upon you Karamazov. Me, I was sent by Lawrence of Arabia, who had three ‘titanic works, distinguished by greatness of spirit’: Karamazov, Moby Dick, Thus Spake Zarathustra(he thought he’d written a fourth).

Questions of atheism and faith he wrestled with his whole life. If you’ve heard he settled on the faith side, and you haven’t, don’t be put off. Dostoyevsky(and this is so typical of him) has left us the most effective arguments on both sides. Karamazov’s famous chapter 'The Grand Inquisitor' has been an Atheist’s Creed ever since, and was cut and pasted into readers on existentialism. More damaging to faith, if you ask me, is what else brother Ivan says to brother Alyosha: the cruelty of the world has been such, that even if there were a God, and universal Heaven at the end, and even a justification from God that makes sense of the suffering, makes sense to every creature – even then, he’d politely tell God to shove it up his arse.

The cruelty of the world no doubt is the oldest sticking-factor; it’s the simplest of the arguments against God, but the one that counts to Dostoyevsky. Brother Alyosha sits at the feet of the monk Zosima and means to take the frock himself; Ivan gives him a list of cruel incidents he’s collected from the newspapers, and he hits low, he uses the ones about children. Cruelty was the argument that did in Darwin’s belief too.

Ivan’s anti-God tirade is without adequate answer(like Job’s). It isn’t answered, but it is offset. Offset by Alyosha’s Zosima, an ex-soldier monk, and nothing has convinced me like the story of his last day as a soldier – his conversion. It is Zosima’s shaft-of-light perception that his servant is as human as himself, and Ivan’s incorrigible love of the ‘sticky little leaves’ in spring, that are the experiences at the bottom of Dostoyevsky’s argument for faith. You don’t need a church for those.

Possibly I got my own dogged atheist conviction and simultaneous love of faith from Dostoyevsky. Possibly, hell.

Love can work miracles: Dostoyevsky has seen them and believes. His books are about them. When I was young I almost ignored the third brother, caught up in Ivan, the intellectual who goes intriguingly mad and philosophizes with the Devil, and in Alyosha, who tries to be holy and is as far I can see. Now, however, Mitya matters most to me, and I am far more alive to his love story with Grushenka.

It’s a Dostoyevsky love story. Grushenka is the town harlot and Mitya at first is merely driven crazy by her curves; she has a laugh driving people crazy, and by Christ she’s nasty when she’s in the mood. Yet they both have childlike hearts. That’s my crude summation. They find salvation in each other. Mitya was always a saint in the make, and given he’s the other rough wild soldier in the book, violent and debauched, no wonder he follows on from Zosima. My Honours essay was called ‘Saintliness and Perversity in The Brothers Karamazov’ – dear me, 20 years ago. Dostoyevsky’s saints were sinners in the past and his criminals make heroic strides to sainthood. This got into my head.

Back to church. His is a very lenient church; he worships one or two old holy Russian figures who taught a universal love, a universal forgiveness, and who weren’t quite condoned by the capital-letter Church. Dostoyevsky’s saints upset people – religious people the most. Like Jesus, of course, they are an embarrassment.

People’s ugly obsessions with each other, how they can give their lives over to an infliction of anger on a person close to them… I daresay this vastly simplifies Katya, whom I never did understand and don’t now. But then she doesn’t understand herself, and that’s Dostoyevsky: you won’t always get to the bottom of people’s behaviour. It’s part of the fascination of his people, that their behaviour is crazy and you can only follow half of it. He’s an endless study. The fact I still can’t fathom Katya has cheered me up, because I used to worry. Don’t panic if you don’t understand. You shouldn’t understand everything in a novel. Not the first time – nor the seventh, in my case. But that’s different than being difficult.

People talk in his books, talk and talk and talk for twenty pages. With as much muddle as you hear in daily speech. You might reel – but it’s accurate, he wants to put people on the page as they are. You get a gamut of them with Dostoyevsky. The father Karamazov is repulsive, slobbers over girls a quarter his age and has his brand of blasphemous sexuality, like a spiritual sadism. The sex content in this novel - though not out there in the way a novel can be today – quite made me blink, not when I was young but this time. The father is genuinely evil. Nevertheless Alyosha loves him, and more strangely, he loves Alyosha. From the devils to the saints – and which is which? – that’s The Brothers Karamazov.

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The Karamazov Brothers - Read it with your mind, body, Soul and devil and it will purify all. Dostoevsky, the father of modern humanity accumulated all of his wisdom, vision and passion to dream of the Kingdom of God, the ultimate promise but many died in its wait. Karamasov Brothers is a work plan for a new man and new universe, where the Devil meets the God, the master is the servant of the servant and where a mother can forgive and hug the murderer of her only son and destruction is a possibility for new creation. The novel is a search, reflection and guide for the reasons of human suffering, need of purification and hope of a better tomorrow.

Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov had lived a unique life, 'who was always of a voluptuous temper, and ready to run after any petticoat on the slightest encouragement' and had 3 legitimate sons and one son from a street girl. The elder, Mithya (Representing Body) the jealous sensualist who hold most of the father's characters is always in fight with his father for the property share which he believes belongs to him. Ivan (Representing Mind) is the intellect. He got a philosophy that everything is justified in the world where existence of God is questioned. Alyosha (Representing Soul) the innocent and perfect character is following an elder, the saint like Father Zossima and many believe his will be the successor for Fr. Zossima. The illegitimate son, smerdyakov (represents devil) maintained a low profile till his time has come. Two women enter the scene. Grushenka (Sensual pleasures and bodily ambitions) and Katherina (Kathya - pride, beauty and revenge). The father is been killed, as everybody was expecting it and the accusation is on the elder son, Mithya. A psychological journey of human characters begin where all of morality, believes, science, athiesm, habits, duties, passion and hope are discussed in direct and indirect means.

With 400,000 words, It is a huge novel. There are a lot of writing styles and approaches tested in the book and no wonder it is a research book for creative writing. Many of the situations are repeated to show it is part of human nature. This also works as a clue for the reader to correctly assume the direction in which the story is heading. The novel is not a plant but a garden which have many plants of similar nature and of different.

The prophet and saint

Fyodor Dostoevsky was considered as a prophet by some. The Karamasov Brothers makes him near to the saint status where the philosophy if correctly understood can work miracles and more. The author died within months after publishing the book, probably the heavens thought that permitting the writer to write more will leaves no secrets in heaven. His predication of totalitarian state comes true in modern Russia. If we have to create a heaven in this earth it will include the rascals and saints. There is a saint in everybody like a devil. Every one is responsible for other person's action is the conscience call the author tries to create. The author is open in his criticism on church for that matter even about Bible, but he brought a fire it was to purify the soul or spirituality. The beauty of the writing is that even when there is criticism the intention is good which made the act noble. An athiest may find his bible in it and so a saint. When rightly understood we realises that the author was preparing the reader to sow the seeds of humanity. All the progress of science is not worth a grain of conscience and all the equations of the world cannot solve the mystery of soul. God exists, and if God doesn't exist, we have to create one as humanity needs it.

The presence of:

Ivan in the novel directly arrives from the novel, Crime and Punishment with his 'higher man' thesis. Alyosha has arrived from the Idiot. Smerdykov and his mother Lizveta comes from Victor Hugho's The Hunchback of Notre Dome. Father Zossima directly arrives from Les Miserables. Grushenka is nobody else than Nastasya Philippanova of Idiot. Katherina, I believe arrives from Crime and Punishment, Douniya. But these are all bricks of the building not the building itself.

The novel had inspired, Kahlil Gibran to writer his famous book, 'The Prophet', read Fr. Zossima's retiring speach and then the Prophet. Rabindra Nath Tagore, in forming his philosophy - man in god and god in man. DH Lawrance's novels can see the growth of the child called Humanity and the call for a new sky and new earth. It also inspired Freud to form his theory, where the author asks, 'who doesn't ask the death of his father' and authors like Kafke too took their inspiration from it. Regionally, Padmarajan, one of the best of admirers of Dostoevksy made a movie called 'Njan Gandharvan', which have the author's thought from Ivan's meeting with the Devil. (Can it be a coincidence that the director too died while promoting the movie?) I can also see distance inspiration on Subramaniyapuram and Padamudra.

Bible: Influence of Bible is all evident in the noval as in the author's life. We can see images of Christ and Judas in most of the characters. The sacrifice of Christ in Mithya when he carries the cross in the end, in Ivan and Kathya when they give witness in court, Alyosha in most of the places, in Smerdykov when he do service to his brother even when he insults. One can find the devil too in all of them. In Mithya, when he humiliate the captain in street, in Ivan when he desert his father knowing that death if the result if he leaves, Alyosha, when Fr. Zossima dies and the results don't match to his expectation, Kathya, in the court when Ivan accepts a part by himself. Ritikin's accepting money to trap Alyosha gives direct hint of Judas. Smerdykov's suicide too clues to Judas. The scenes of lunch in Monastery looks like 'the last supper' and here Pavlovich become the Judas. The blow to Saol to convert as St. Paul too has influence on Mithya's mind.

Russia and Russians:

When we tries to connect the novel and its characters to the entire humanity, we cannot ignore the presence of Russia in it. The character of Karamazov often represents the character of a Russian. The author proudly announce, “They have their Hamlets, while we have only Karamazovs" and one may notice, the novel ends with 'Hurrah for Karamazov!'. I think this is more of a call to Russia to find its soul and rise again.

Conclusion: This is a wonderful book which has power to heal. This is one book I can recommend to anybody who looks for a serious reading for the suspense, story & philosophy. Dostoevsky belongs to the rare genre of a true Prophet, Saint and genius who visits the world once in hundreds of years if not in thousands, The Karamasov Brothers is the best of Dostoevsky.

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It took courage on my part to start reading the book. After all it contained over a thousand pages and carried the reputation of being one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. My earlier experience of reading such books (like Ulysses) were far from encouraging. But once I got rid of the initial inertia, it was pure breeze. In fact somewhere around the midway I started panicking that the journey is reaching its destination a bit too soon for my liking. And finally when it was complete, I turned over to read the introduction once more.

This is the power of this book. It stays with you long after you have finished reading it and while you are reading it, nothing else seems to matter. For it is just not a book, it is an exploration of meaning of life itself conducted by one of the most admired mind known to us.

Dostoevsky aimed at studying the mystery of man and devoted his entire life in solving it. This work occupies the summit of his Herculean endeavor – his crowning achievement. Though it cannot be claimed that he succeeded in deciphering the mystery, the effort leaves you spellbound. You keep on wondering while going through the complex exploration of human mind how one person can experience it all by himself. You also understand how much the sensitive heart of the author must have suffered to bring out the innermost joy, sorrow, contempt, confusion, anger, frustration and questions that we undergo while living.

This is a story of four brothers each representing a particular side of human emotion though it is the passionate Dmitry who occupies the centre stage. His love for a woman took him through perilous journey of great suffering. Ultimately he was to pay the price for his passion but not before we are made to witness the virtues of a tormented heart. Ivan, one of his brothers had a logical mind which led him to question religion and ultimately God – atleast a virtuous God. But then he also had his heart and this battle between his tender heart and logical mind ensured that he too will receive his share of punishment. Then there was Alyosha, the mystic who desperately tried to find his God and turned an atheist when He did not reveal himself. Well, almost because he ultimately discovered God’s greatest gift to mankind – Love and with that the realization that a single act of love may make our life bearable. The fourth brother is the illegitimate Smerdyakov whose shadow loomed large on the life of other three brothers and his role become crucial in the ultimate outcome of engrossing courtroom drama.

If you are an atheist and it is difficult to not being one in this age of rational thinking, you will find all your questions finding voice through Ivan when he tormented his mystic brother by asking him to explain the useless suffering in this world. And then he went on to explain the role of organized religion in our lives with the assurance of a master on the subject. How you wanted a reply from Alyosha to these questions but you only find tears of despair. But then ultimately it was Alyosha who provided us with a ray of light (or was it a straw to the drowning man?) to lift us from eternal gloom.

All human beings are leading a life of great suffering, the author had concluded, and that is reason enough for us to love one another. There is plenty of goodness even in the most evil man and we must search for that. There is no other way, no other meaning in life. And you will found yourself agreeing; almost!

Read the book for it will surely enrich you. I have read quite a few influential and thought provoking books and can safely assure you that this belongs to a class of its own, incomparable in its scope and depth. Don’t let its size or reputation intimidate you, for this is meant for people like you and me. I must stop now because my stock of superlatives seems to have exhausted.

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"Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end; but that it was essential and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature.. And to found that edifice on its unavenged tears; would you consent to be the architect on those conditions? Tell me, and tell me the truth" ~ From Brothers Karamazov

It took me several years to finish the last novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I started reading it before ten years and finally completed the last few chapters recently. Every time, when I went back to the previous chapters to refresh my memory, I was surprised with a new dimension of the story. Estranged relation between father and wards did disturb at one point of time. The misery of the illegitimate ward lingered for a long time. I was taken aback with the religious connotation in the novel that was expressed through Father Zosimafor long. It took several years to read the novel with patience. It was a delightful revisit of my favorite author’s final imprint!

The structure of the novel is almost linear with each character representing different facets of human behavior. The brothers, Ivan(The genius / intellectual), Dimitri (guided by gut and is sensual) and Aloysha(spiritual) and their interaction unraveling the human behavior attracted the interest of Sigmund Freudalso. Dimitrihas been tried for patricide.

Father Karamasovrepresents the satanic image in mythology who was the biological father who forgot to raise his off springs. It could be read as the mirror image of those who are not fit but adore a position and doomed to the fangs of destiny. He has been portrayed as the one who indulged in all sins – womanizer, penny pincher, having illegitimate ward ---- but how he treated his off springs turned out to be fatal.

But when he is no more, the circumstances that lead to this void are being manifested through the responses of the brothers. Everyone got their solid opinion and priorities. The 800 plus pages full of dramatic sequences, love triangle, murder mystery, philosophical introspection, clash of ideologies is definitely going to engage the readers. Proper care should be taken not to focus on any particular character and getting carried away with his views [this is where I failed as a reader years before. I have almost considered this to be an evangelical limerick]

Crime and Punishment is also dealing with a similar subject but it was focusing on the mental state of a single human being. Here, the multitude of characters having equal prominence is being depicted in a wider canvass. It is required to portray clashes between morality, ethics, religious norms etc.

Also, the personal experiences of Dostoevsky as a prisoner, premature death of his son etc. influenced the key twists in the novel. Extreme situations in life made him to find solace in absolute. But by mental makeup, he was the one who lead the life like an existentialist. Many of his works were offshoots of existential crises [even if, the same terminology was not used by him or his contemporaries]. But Dostoevsky was never the prisoner of any "isms" and was an ardent follower of free will towards the end of his life. Might be, this is the reason why in this novel he had liberally allowed the intellectual atheist, spiritual master and the impulsive idiot to act according to their will.

Reading Dostoevskydemands lots of time and patience from your side primarily because of the size of the books he authored. Also, the complexity of the theme is often presented as a crime thriller that might misguide those who are conditioned by western thrillers. In short, Dostoevsky need to be explored like trekking snow capped mountains full of booby traps. The moment you reach zenith again you feel like being in nadir and your exploration will continue!

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