Notes from Underground - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Devils: The Possessed - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Perhaps the darkest and bleakest novel from a writer famour for his grim situations. Also known as The Possessed, the title reflects his view that Russia was in the grim of malicious forces - atheism and nihilism - carrying it towards the abyss. And, though he wrote in the 1870s, he was eventually proved to be correct. The characters are all drawn into this destructive force, or powerless against it. The 'hero' Stavrogin is the best example of this: part of the young nihilist society, he at first seems to have more hope than his companions. But as Dostoyevsky draws us in we learn of crimes to make Rashkolnikov's insignificant. Only one character starts to find an ...

Devils: The Possessed - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Perhaps the darkest and bleakest novel from a writer famour for his grim situations. Also known as The Possessed, the title reflects his view that Russia was in the grim of malicious forces - atheism and nihilism - carrying it towards the abyss. And, though he wrote in the 1870s, he was eventually proved to be correct. The characters are all drawn into this destructive force, or powerless against it. The 'hero' Stavrogin is the best example of this: part of the young nihilist society, he at first seems to have more hope than his companions. But as Dostoyevsky draws us in we learn of crimes to make Rashkolnikov's insignificant. Only one character starts to find an ...

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Crime and punishment is an excellent book. It is about a young student Raskelnikov who has to give up his studies because of insufficient money. He is a lonely dreamer and decides to assassinate an old usurer to save the soul of his sister bound to marry an awful man to help her family to get out of the misery. This woman who takes advantage on weaker people to satisfy her own lust of wealth disgusts him. Raskelnikov tries to get some courage by persuading himself that human atrocity is real and is in a concrete jungle. But most of the time he tries to kill the thought of remorse by reading and using some of Napoleon war actions. One of those that stay in his ...

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Crime and punishment is an excellent book. It is about a young student Raskelnikov who has to give up his studies because of insufficient money. He is a lonely dreamer and decides to assassinate an old usurer to save the soul of his sister bound to marry an awful man to help her family to get out of the misery. This woman who takes advantage on weaker people to satisfy her own lust of wealth disgusts him. Raskelnikov tries to get some courage by persuading himself that human atrocity is real and is in a concrete jungle. But most of the time he tries to kill the thought of remorse by reading and using some of Napoleon war actions. One of those that stay in his ...

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Dostoyevsky was born into Tsarist Russia in 1821. He spent much of his early life as an active socialist agitator, and was a member of the radical 'Petraveshky circle'. This led to his arrest, in 1848, and subsequent spell in the Omsk labour camp for four years. This was a formative period in his life because he changed his ideological perspective to become a strong supporter of the Russian Orthodox Church; traditionally a bastion of the Tsarist regime. Crime and Punishment, his most popular work, was written in 1866, and I thought it would be useful to point out the context in which it was written. Because at this time, Russian writers tended to focus on issues that were either for ...

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Dostoyevsky was born into Tsarist Russia in 1821. He spent much of his early life as an active socialist agitator, and was a member of the radical 'Petraveshky circle'. This led to his arrest, in 1848, and subsequent spell in the Omsk labour camp for four years. This was a formative period in his life because he changed his ideological perspective to become a strong supporter of the Russian Orthodox Church; traditionally a bastion of the Tsarist regime. Crime and Punishment, his most popular work, was written in 1866, and I thought it would be useful to point out the context in which it was written. Because at this time, Russian writers tended to focus on issues that were either for ...