Apparently in an attempt to salvage his now-ruined reputation, and also to maintain his spendthrift lifestyle, Dostoevsky wrote several shorter stories in this time period. I have nothing too exciting to say about them. They are at times funny, at times moralizing – mostly not boring. They feel much more like set-pieces designed to elicit … Continue reading Petersburg “Grotesques”
Tag: literature
The Double
"With insomnia, nothing is real. Everything is far away. Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy" (Fight Club, script here). Frank reports that Dostoevsky’s second novel, The Double, was more or less universally panned. I find this strange, considering it’s clearly a work of much more sophistication and certainly much more experimental … Continue reading The Double
The Petersburg Feuilletons
All over, people changing their votes, along with their overcoats, If Adolph Hitler were here today, they'd send a limousine anyway. -The Clash, "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" What, you may ask, is a “feuilleton”? Apparently it comes from French, but, what was surprising to me was it also passed muster with Word’s Spell Checker, which means … Continue reading The Petersburg Feuilletons
Dostoevsky’s Early Years and Poor Folk – or – “The Dickensian Aspect”
The rule I’ve set for myself is to read up until the point where Frank treats of a particular text at length, then to stop, read that text, then read what Frank has to say about it, and then respond, both to Frank, but also, more importantly, to Dostoevsky’s work itself. The first 136 pages … Continue reading Dostoevsky’s Early Years and Poor Folk – or – “The Dickensian Aspect”
Speaking of Gambling and Prostitution…
I've begun my Joseph Frank/Fyodor Dostoevsky summer reading project - this is the first installment.
Original Positions 