Why does /lit/ like him so much? I tried reading some of his books, but they are extremely long and written in a tedious manner. He says things in 10 words when he could have used 5.
We like reading, so 10 words is twice as good as 5.
>>7897815
I like reading too. Adding in the extra 5 words doesn't make it better if you're still saying the same thing.
>>7897824
Tell that to Gertrude Stein.
>>7897824
No you're not. Literature isn't about being economical
>>7897810
He was literally paid by the word because he published in installments in newspapers, like Dickens
because his narrators have an attitude of their own, of course
>>7897833
I thought that it was perhaps to do with the fact it was originally written in Russian.
>>7897824
Yeah that was a joke, but seriously I like the Christian themes, the way he depicts nihilism and atheism and the dostoevskian scandal scenes where all the secrets and lies explode at once.
>>7897810
Agreed. Pretty overrated. Don't know why /lit/ has such a hard on for him.
>>7897810
yes he isn't some precisionist prose masster he is read for other reasons my friend stick with it and you will find it worth your while in all seriousness you must stick with it.
If you can't understand why Dostoevsky is good then it's time to find another hobby. Reading just isn't for you.
>>7897810
"His books are extremely long"
Chances that you have low IQ = non-trivial.
He's no Gogol, that's for sure.
>>7897810
We read him for the characters and relationships not the prose
>>7897810
Dostoevsky is acknowledged to be one of the worst prose stylists of all time. Some translators try to paper over that fact, others don't.
>>7897896
nabokov pls leave
>>7897917
>>7897810
thinking +++ words dont make clearer
>Why don't I like something when I have such narrow taste!
Fucking all the time.
>>7897810
He is my favorite write of all time.
It is easy for someone ignorant to just try and tell you to have morals and be a good person; it always sounds like such bullshit. Dostoyevsky understood the other side of the argument and conflicting ideas fought in his books.
So many people just pick one side or the other, but Dostoyevsky struggled to pick a side. I feel like I've been in the same boat for a very long time and his works can help me think through it rather than just try to convince me of one side or the other.
At the very least I feel comforted to know I'm not alone.
>>7897910
What exactly is wrong with his prose?
>>7897962
You sound weak.
>>7897964
Have you read him in Russian? It's a fucking trainwreck.
Learn to read
>>7897990
Maybe he is. Why is that bad?
>>7897810
>Why does /lit/ like him so much?
He has one of the most authory sounding names in all literature. A serious name sells serious literature.
>>7897962
I kinda feel like this. Dumb humanists annoy the shit out of me, and the good ones are always struggling
>>7897810
>>7897861
Dostoevsky is a stylish entry point for the western adolescent who wants to investigate different cultures, but not wildly different cultures with no reference point. We all know about god, the devil, jesus, murder, and edgy 19th c. anarchist-types, so it's pretty easy to slide into and roll with it. Also Freud's appreciation of Dost lends historical legitimacy to the thing. I would still have to read another 2-3 novels to read the never-read "problems of Dostoevsky's poetics" on my shelf and follow everything that's going on, but I've been doing other things.
The one above post is interesting to me because I remember kinda liking Dostoevsky's (Garnett's) prose and figuring out the clauses "that is, so to say" :^), and just chalking it up to "welp it was the 19th century, that's just how people communicated". Sounds like there's a big pushback on that.
I love Dostoevsky for lots of reasons, and I'm sure a good number of people have them in common. He was incredible at seeing things from different perspectives and presenting fair arguments, and the very best example of this is The Grand Inquisitor parable. In my opinion, there has never been a more scathing argument against religion or a more beautiful defense of it, and it's all within those two dozen pages. Even as an atheist I can't help but be in love with some of the religious characters he creates and the message behind them, like an evident preference for Alyosha's active love over Ivan's passive, intellectual love.
He writes with a kind of idealism that bleeds through all of his works, even the less philosophical or philosophical works like many of his short stories, all with the unifying theme of love rather than anything else. He doesn't try to use any cheap tricks to sway you over to his side, either. He outright tells you that his faith is exactly that—faith. It's not meant to be understood in any intellectual capacity, it's meant to be leapt into and experienced. Nor does he try to weasel out of the potential negatives of faith, or, more exactly, the negatives of a Christ-like being in the world. There are far more reasons, like his ability to probe the darkest and brightest corners of the mind, creating a mirror through which we view ourselves, or the cast of rich secondary characters and a world, too.
>>7897810
He is the greatest author the human race has produced. If you dont enjoy him reading probably isnt for you.
No author has been better at capturing the human condition or expressing the truth of Jesus Christ
>>7898480
>He outright tells you that his faith is exactly that—faith. It's not meant to be understood in any intellectual capacity, it's meant to be leapt into and experienced.
Too bad he chose the wrong faith - and now he is eternally burning in a lake of fire.
>>7898495
>>7898495
God surely is forgiving enough to grant heaven to every good christian.
>>7898563
Nope, only Presbyterians.
HA HA, YOU LOSE!
>>7898578
>Being unforgiving while being fundamentally wrong
You are the worst kind of person. Also you don't seem to contest the notion that non-Presbyterians can be good Christians, maybe you are starting to follow the good path of the Roman Catholic?
>>7898637
>Also you don't seem to contest the notion that non-Presbyterians can be good Christians
Wow, nice catch. Pretty impressive for a /lit/tard.
I wanted to keep the post concise and punchy, so I pretended you said "self-described good christian".
Anyway, enjoy that lake of fire.
>>7897962
I don't think Dostoevsky struggled to pick a side. Yes, he presented the opposing arguments equally as well, but I think the overall message and themes of his works showed that he was firm in what he truly believed in.
>>7898726
But for the first half of his life, before Siberia, he believed in the other side. If at the time of writing he had firm convictions, he at least lived through the struggle and has been on both sides.
>>7897833
The Dickens thing is an urban legend. He just had a tedious style.
