Thursday, December 30, 2021

Two Centuries of Dostevsky

Christopher Sandford at Modern Age.

"It’s not necessary to descend into the briar patch of psychiatry to conclude that Dostoevsky’s intimate familiarity with the cycle of man’s suffering and grace was to become a principal source of his novels. They may seem to us to be a touch on the somber side as a result. A budding artist exposed to the spectacle of emaciated bodies and degradation doesn’t have the same instincts as one weaned on the products of Walt Disney. But then again, Dostoevsky’s aren’t the sorts of books that find any particular virtue in sharing the boredom and melancholy of the author’s own life. He recognizes the central truth that art should lift us out of the dreariness of the day-to-day, not rub our faces in it."

See Dostoevsky, "White Nights" in Gateway to the Great Books (10 Vol., 1963) volume 3, and The Brothers Karamazov in Great Books of the Western World (first edition, 52 Vol., 1952) volume 52, (second edition, 60 Vol., 1990) volume 52.

[Re: Walt Disney, see John Winger, below. -ed.]

No comments:

Post a Comment