Dostoevsky
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You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature
You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature
Is he overrated?
I personally don't think so, but I seem to come across this opinion a fair bit here on /lit/...
/lit/ just spouts nabokov meme reviews
overrated according to who?
If it means you aren't going to read any other Russian authors then sure
Not really. One of the facts I dislike, though, is that some of his are made into his christian perspective, like "christianism saves you from nihilism" and that shit.
Relevant, maybe?
"Surveying the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Western philosophical debates on evil, Forti concludes that it is time to leave behind what she calls "the Dostoevsky paradigm": the dualistic vision of an omnipotent monster pitted against absolute, helpless victims. No longer capable of grasping the normalization of evil in today's world—whose structures of power have been transformed—this paradigm has exhausted its explanatory force."
http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=23150
>>7848773
An important thing to remember is that a great book is still just a book, If you expect his work to change your life and give you bursts of euphoria and wisdom you will be severely disappointed
>>7849036
I haven't read that book but it seems to me from the quote she misunderstands Dostoevsky, in that we all as human beings are, or at least hold, the evil.
This is of course my opinion too, I'm no Dostoevsky scholar.
>>7848773
I don't say this about many authors, but, almost nobody understands dostoyevsky.
It's not that he's too complicated, it's just that most people (and yes, most intellectuals as well) don't understand the fundamental precepts of Christianity and what it meant for dostoyevesky.
>>7849337
explain them please anon
>>7848773
>people attempt to rate an author when they have only read his work in translation
>>7849345
the worst is when people say an author's prose is shit when they've only read a translation.
I like him a lot more than Tolstoy.
>>7849368
Why is that?
>>7849338
I could, but it would take every last fiber of my being, and I don't have the courage for that, not the way I am now.
>>7849386
>ywn know the secrets of dosto
>>7848773
No. I think he's good. I feel he says a lot for exceptence of Christianity and people misread him through a fedora lense.
He's really deep and has deep messages and shit. Unlike other Russians like Tolstoy who just write about rich people and shit.
>Is he overrated?
no
I am a fan of most Russian fiction, but he's been the best among them. The only problem I have with his works is that each of them takes a long time to finish, because his major novels are lengthy. Then again he barely wastes words, and dealt with universal themes that even his 'worst' novel, Devils, is still one of the best works of literature of all time.
I'd say Tolstoy is even more blatantly religious than Dostoevsky is, although I've only read his short novels and short stories.
He's definitely not overrated. I can't think of any Russian writer with an oeuvre as good as his. Most great Russian writers even have barely half an oeuvre as good.
Pushkin, Gogol, Goncharov, Shchedrin, or Leskov don't have as many well-written works. In the 20th century, probably only Nabokov could rival his ability. He's definitely not overrated.
>>7849345
There will never be a one to one experience of the mind of an author from reading, or in fact anything close to it. The translation is it's own art object. Borges commented that translation did little to Dostvesky because of his very plain prose and also noted that some of his own works he preferred in English. The anti-translation attitude is just a /lit/ meme.
A giant. His work transcends literature.
