At the start of Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom (to be written about later in this same space) the children listen to Benjamin Britten's "A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" and the voiceover narrator describes the different instruments as they enter the piece.  At the end of the movie, the same voiceover describes all the … Continue reading The Brothers Karamazov – Book XII (“A Judicial Error”) and Epilogue →

I'm still without my computer so I'll keep it brief again.  If this novel were a Shakespeare play (and George Steiner's Tolstoy or Dostoevsky argues that Shakespearean drama is a good analogue to most of D's works) , Book 10 starts after where the intermission would have fallen: it's Act 4.  Fyodor has been murdered, Dmitri … Continue reading Books 10-11 – Boys and Brother Ivan Karamazov →

I won't say too much because I'm currently computer-less and iPad typing is frustrating. This part of the book was great in terms of plot action... Dmitri goes on a manic and dreamlike search for 3000 rubles, comes quite close to, but does *not* murder his father (honestly, I missed that detail the first time … Continue reading The Brothers Karamazov – Books 8-9 -Mitya and The Preliminary Investigation →

Something that’s amazed me about this book so far is its ability to maintain a really unique form of emotional intensity, even though (a) it’s hundreds of pages long, (b) it’s translated from 19th century Russian, and (c) its characters themselves are often discussing very abstract philosophical-religious issues.  I mean when I read a George … Continue reading The Brothers Karamazov – Book VII – Alyosha →

Seen from a certain angle, book VI and (its testament to faith) is the ideological counterweight to Book V’s atheism.  There is a problem here though, which is two-fold.  First, the views expressed in Book VI are very closely connected with Dostoevsky’s own views; second, to be blunt, Book VI is a little bit boring.  … Continue reading The Brothers Karamazov – Book VI – The Russian Monk →

This is really long.  I thought  a lot about it.  I hope you will read 🙂 Book V is the ideological heart of TBK.  In a series of chapters set at a local inn, Ivan and Alexei discourse about belief in God and moral responsibility.  The centerpiece of this is the “Grand Inquisitor” chapter, a … Continue reading The Brothers Karamazov – Book V – Pro and Contra →

Book 4 contains one of the sequences that really stood out in my memory of the first time I read this book: Alyosha’s strange confrontation with the schoolchildren.  More shades of Wes Anderson – these super-serious little children speaking in dreadful terms about honor, revenge, etc.  I guess I’m thinking of that scene in Rushmore … Continue reading The Brothers Karamazov – Book IV – Strains →

The Brothers Karamazov – Book 3  - “Sensualists” The next two books are still, by and large, introductory.  The cast of characters is broadened, mostly by our following Alyosha around as he’s sent to manage everybody’s affairs.  It reminds me a little bit of a computer roleplaying game, where the main character brings items from … Continue reading The Brothers Karamazov – Book III – The Sensualists →

First a summary then some observations - the events of Book 2 (“An Inappropriate Gathering") are probably easier to relate, but they mostly take place against a backdrop of almost a dozen characters, many of whom are briefly, it at all, introduced by the narrator. // Begin Summary On the appointed day for the Karamazov’s … Continue reading The Brothers Karamazov – Book II →