Is Fyodor Dostoyevsky the greatest novelist who has ever lived?

>>24549781 (OP)
It's Frodo, and he was a hobbitist.

>>24549781 (OP)
Possibly. Some anon a few years ago convinced me it was Dickens, funnily enough. Cant say because I havent read any Dickens. Love Dosto, though.

>>24549795
How did he convince you it was Dickens, if you haven't read Dickens?

>>24549798
He explained the breadth and depth of his writing. How many of his novels are high quality. His ability to create characters. Things like that.

>>24549781 (OP)
I love Dosto but no

No, the Idiot was mid.

>>24549781 (OP)
It's either Melville or Joyce.

>>24549857
The Idiot was great. Myshkin is the Russian Christ.

>>24549870
Didn’t Melville only write one good book?

>>24549895
Pleb surface level take. There was nothing Christ like about him. Just an Idiot that chose to live by his ideals rather than by his humanity or practicality.

>>24549795
>Dickens
Yeah, I'd also say it's Dickens. He just wrote so many classic and iconic masterpieces, he cannot be touched. He's the "Shakespeare" of novels.

>>24549896
Pierre and Confidence-Man are fantastic. I'd rank Pierre above Portrait, in fact.

>>24549781 (OP)
Here's every Dostoevsky novel.
>Do I cum on this whore's tits... or do I not! Heh! Heh! Heh! Truly, I am a sick man, to even think of the fact of when I cum on the tits of a whore. Truly that is so. Yes, yes, it is. But to cum is to be divine. For didn't our Savior experience the fiery ecstasy when he was assumed into Heaven? And is that ecstasy, being that as it is, that good feeling, isn't that also itself cumming! Heh! To cum on a whore's tits would be most divine indeed if it were not for the fires of Hell. Oh were it not for Hell I would cum on a whore's tits! I am a disgusting vermin, like a rat, because fire is like flame. Yes, yes, it is, fire is like flame. And flame is hot. And so Hell is hot. But so is my cum when it goes out of my penis! Heh! Heh! To cum on a whore's tits... that is the same thing as going to Hell! And that is divine! Heh! I am such a delirious man... the heat from this summer's day makes me sweat like the day is made of fire... like Hell is made of fire. For even Christ's flesh burned when it was touched by the flame that is like hot fire, did it not? Yes, truly it did, yes. But did Christ cum on a whore's tits? To even think of saying a thing like that is horrible! To even think of saying a thing like that is blasphemous! But I am such a sick man... I am a disgusting creature... to cum! To cum like Hell! For that is a thing that happens to us sinners... Oh us wretched sinners! Oh us horrible, twisted people! Save us, save us Lord, save us from our fiery cum! And the whores! The whores will burn too! Heh! Heh! Heh!
Dostofags will tell you this is great literature.

>>24549781 (OP)
Nope. Nabby exposed his tricks. It's Dickens. Also above him is Tolstoy, Flaubert, and Proust to name a few.

>>24549901
Living by your ideals and suffering for them is Christ like

>>24549907
Meds

>>24549959
Christ didn't have "ideals." His body was the bread

Alright. i have read through this thread and there have been a few posts saying Dickens could be the greatest. I have only read Christmas Carol (which I really enjoyed) and 1/4 Great Expectation (I didnt like it). Any Dickens advice?

>>24550098
What he formulates in his mountain sermon is clearly an ideal. He himself embodied that idea.

>>24550105
beatitude isn't an ideal, you got filtered because you're a prottie who can't conceive of Christ as anything but a baizuo

Dostoevsky, on the other hand, got filtered because he's an orthocuck who can't conceive of Christ as anything but the platonic form of a cuck

>>24549781 (OP)
He's easily above all novelists to the point where he starts provoking all other philosophy. That's how real his artistic vision was; how stark, how fully 100% aware and conscious, while still embodying the play and belief in demons that inhabits the artists world. He didn't inspire anything silly after him, anything artful, clever, intellectual, the elitist humor of the writer, the satisfaction of the homegrown philosopher, the satisfied pot belly intellectual, like other writers did. Silliness, cleverness, self-satisfaction. They inspired that whole writers personality, the novelists that were the exact same as the ones in the Belinsky circle, the same fancies and delusions. And what do they inspire now? Exactly like Nabokov, the teacher's process philosophy. Exactly like Goethe, the silence and dissolution in Spinozism. And there could no one more ravenous today, no one who thinks with the mind of a doubter in greater severity. The least person willing to bear consciousness, snapping hastily like a sobered drunk. Dostoevsky readers come away with a more profound effect, much power, yellow eyes and an intense stare, absolute starkness, blind whiteness, the whole world starts blurring and dancing marvelously. The full burden of consciousness on his back and shoulders, constantly right on the verge of that zero sum moment and the Myshkin seizure at the full realization of life. So yes, I would put him as the greatest novelist. He's not even a novelist, but the petticoat prophet himself. He sang the most significant wail that's ever been sung, that great soul

>>24549781 (OP)
If you are alluding to Dostoevsky’s worst novels, then, indeed, I dislike intensely The Brothers Karamazov and the ghastly Crime and Punishment rigamarole. No, I do not object to soul-searching and self-revelation, but in those books the soul, and the sins, and the sentimentality, and the journalese, hardly warrant the tedious and muddled search. Dostoyevsky’s lack of taste, his monotonous dealings with persons suffering with pre-Freudian complexes, the way he has of wallowing in the tragic misadventures of human dignity – all this is difficult to admire. I do not like this trick his characters have of ”sinning their way to Jesus” or, as a Russian author, Ivan Bunin, put it more bluntly, ”spilling Jesus all over the place." Crime and Punishment’s plot did not seem as incredibly banal in 1866 when the book was written as it does now when noble prostitutes are apt to be received a little cynically by experienced readers. Dostoyevsky never really got over the influence which the European mystery novel and the sentimental novel made upon him. The sentimental influence implied that kind of conflict he liked—placing virtuous people in pathetic situations and then extracting from these situations the last ounce of pathos. Non-Russian readers do not realize two things: that not all Russians love Dostoevsky as much as Americans do, and that most of those Russians who do, venerate him as a mystic and not as an artist. He was a prophet, a claptrap journalist and a slapdash comedian. I admit that some of his scenes, some of his tremendous farcical rows are extraordinarily amusing. But his sensitive murderers and soulful prostitutes are not to be endured for one moment—by this reader anyway. Dostoyevsky seems to have been chosen by the destiny of Russian letters to become Russia’s greatest playwright, but he took the wrong turning and wrote novels.

That's a nice narrative pacing you got there... sure would be a shame if some member of the church gave a 40 page rant on some obscure religious tension relevant only in Russia 100+ years ago.

>>24549907
Sounds great, anon. Have you thought about being a novelist?

>>24549907
My sides
Have only read the Underground and Eternal Husband, seems accurate.

>>24551367
Stop spamming this

>>24549781 (OP)
Ever? Obviously no.

>stodgy Victorian prose
>tedious Christian moralising
>on the nose characterisation
No.

>>24551792
It challenges your own amorality and that’s a good thing.

>>24551795
You're not one of those tiresome people who thinks that there's no morality without god, are you

>>24551795
>but why Pyotr Believesnothingsky, why would you tell Natalia Virtuousgirlova that you would marry her? You have ruined her! Surely you don’t believe your personal lusts outweigh the needs of the Russian Orthodox Church?
Really made me see the light desu

>>24549896
One extremely influential one

>>24551533
It is, as in all Dostoyevsky's novels, a rush and tumble of words with endless repetitions, mutterings aside, a verbal overflow which shocks the reader after, say, Lermontov's transparent and beautifully poised prose. Dostoyevsky as we know is a great seeker after truth, a genius of spiritual morbidity, but as we also know he is not a great writer in the sense Tolstoy, Pushkin and Chekhov are. And, I repeat, not because the world he creates is unreal -all the worlds of writers are unreal - but because it is created too hastily without any sense of that harmony and economy which the most irrational masterpiece is bound to comply with (in order to be a masterpiece). Indeed, in a sense Dostoyevsky is much too rational in his crude methods, and though his facts are but spiritual facts and his characters mere ideas in the likeness of people, their interplay and development are actuated by the mechanical methods of the earthbound and conventional novels of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

>>24549907
top fuking kek

>>24549907
Fuck you.

>>24549907
This sounds like Fyodor Pavlovich if he wasn't too cheap to pay for brothels to the point where he'd rather fuck the village retard girl.

what translation of dostoevsky should i read. katz or p&v?

>>24553476
I've got Katz and it's good so far, heard p&v is very robotic. There was a thread the other day where an anon had p&v, and said it was boring.

>>24549907
Breddy gud give this mam an award

>>24549907
kek

>>24549795
He's great

>>24550114
100iq, the post

>>24551802
You sound like one of those tiresome people who don't understand what "god" is and/or don't understand what "morality" is

>>24556014
>no u
70iq, the post

>>24556014
Dosto was a certified lunatic

>>24556738
literally no one prior to 1600 would have disagreed with this

>>24549781 (OP)
top 10

>>24556769
You clearly haven't read very much if you honestly believe this. Start with Lucretius.

>>24549907
take your meds and go see the sun

>>24557282
>missing the point this hard

>>24557359
That Christianity is for schizos who are divorced from reality?

>>24557393
Well, Lucretius was neither an antique nor medieval (aka actual) Christian, and he lived before Christ.
I'm not a Christian, but if anyone thinks human reason takes precedence over faith in Christ, and also thinks he's a Christian, then I have bad news for him...
People who don't get this always seem to tout that quote as if it's something highly shocking when it just shows they're a philosophical simpleton. Its popularity only shows mainstream Christianity has been dead for centuries.

>>24550103
Read David Kinofield and be awakened

>>24549781 (OP)
He a legitimate contender with 5 “great novels/novellas” that also renowned

>>24549781 (OP)
No, he wasn’t even the best Russian novelist. Best novelist is Dickens or de Balzac

>>24557533
Yes, Christianity is responsible for the dark ages precisely because people were deluded into thinking their cult was more important than the truth. Thinkers both before and after who placed truth, even truth which went against their preconceived notions, as the highest virtue actually progressed human knowledge. Honestly, wouldn't you be ashamed at this level of gullibility when you publicly announce that even if you found out you were being conned, you'd stick with the lie, with the delusion? It's an insult to human dignity, it degrades the human spirit.

>>24557632
>dark ages
Literally no such thing.
>you'd stick with the lie, with the delusion
That isn’t what he was saying in the quote, which its commonly misconstrued as this romanticist notion. He was really saying if ‘someone proved to him.’ It’s a pretty classical statement on fallible human reason contra ultimate faith. I recommend you pick up some books on learning how to read, because it takes a lot more skill and experience than it seems on the face of it.

>>24557632
Human dignity only exists insofar as the faith and communion of the spiritually elite individual with his god, btw, not in the contemptuous ideas of common good, reason, and progress, that are a mere fart in the wind.

The quote is him saying he's a little bitch boy who'd stay with his fake god no matter what because it makes him feel good.

>>24557850
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU HAVE TO BETRAY CHRIST FOR THE TRUTH

>>24557850
The truth is overrated

>>24557850
You’re still in your infantile mode, anon. You haven’t hit your Freudian hard limit. I ask you, what can you say exists in the world of truth, if all you’ve ever known is lies? People lied about Christ’s resurrection, that means they’ll lie about anything. Who could count the number of lies that are happening daily, in a world where everyone is running away and hiding. Your whole life is consternation “I’m fighting for the truth!”. Maybe just one more day and the weight will be removed. You’ll be set free into the world of truth, what’s the first thing you gesture towards? You go to wake up and look around, everything’s different, everything that was placed there in false covenant, whether it be to a country, a woman, a mother, a god of pride, has been removed. You go to tell us about it, but all our lies have been unwound to the utmost degree, the deepest part of the shame that life hinges on has been shattered forever, we are gone. “I am the way and the truth and the life", who said that? The master of death
https://youtu.be/N_zGpcl2QaI?si=gfGvcsDdy5osYdTB&t=353

>>24557840
The cope is hilarious. If he meant it was impossible to "prove" it, he would have said so, but he allows that it is possible to prove it to him, and he would simply reject the truth in favor of the cult leader Jesus. You literally can't rescue that quote, it is delusional. Further, it is entirely Freudian in its composition. Such individuals have such a terror of the real world that they cling to their imaginary father figure as a cope. It's actually quite sad when you recognize the mechanism at play here.

>>24557845
You have it exactly reversed. Someone is trying to make you sacrifice the only thing you are sure exists, your own life and experiences which is constituted by the material world and people around you. They would enslave you to their will and have you forfeit this life with the vague promise of some alternate dimension they made up where more important things exist. In essence, it is a death worshiping, life denying, slave mentality. Break free from these mind-forged manacles, you will find more truth, beauty, and goodness when you do.

>>24559032
(I apologize for any grammatical mistakes; English is not my first language.)
Considering that this proof could only be achieved through a logical line of thought, the cited dichotomy is implicit. I don't believe that Dosto is commenting on the hypothetical situation of a metaphysical proof of the inexistence of God; even if he is, the idea of compromising an undefined concept of truth and choosing to believe in "his preferred abstract concept" would still make sense considering the radically pessimistic and cynical views that he developed later in life.

>>24559444
He deliberately sets up the dichotomy in order to address it. He says EXPLICITLY, if he were shown that truth, as the concept we know it to be, were separate from Jesus, making Jesus categorically UNTRUE, he would stick with the delusion. That is verbatim what he is saying. That is the substance of what he is saying.

>>24549870
>Joyce
>What if being a jewish cuck is actually as heroic as being Odysseus?: The Novel
I do like Joyce though. He was phenomenal with language. And Ulysses is a brilliantly written book with some very funny and moving moments. But the ethos in it is just faggy and last-man apologia.

>>24559544
Well, in that case, the discussion would be about the value of truth-seeking when there is no objective truth (in the form of God). In his cosmovision, the "truth" is irrelevant, not because it is uncomfortable to live in a world without God (or that he couldn't live in a world without God), but because, when he discovers his absence, the way that he would choose to live his life is by still upholding the same values that he held before. He saw the effects of this kind of value in his life, and he believed these effects to be positive.

>>24559647
See how much you have to torture words to try and massage what he said? Truth is what comports to the objective reality outside your mind, or if your mind is all that exists, what comports to the true reality of that. No "God", and certainly not Jesus specifically, is required for objective truth to exist. Again, Dosto explicitly uses the dicotomy of Jesus on one side (false, not true) and Truth on the other (what actually exists, what the real nature of existence entails). He then firmly states he would stay with the false Jesus rather than true reality. It is actually honest of what theists believe and it is repugnant and ignoble, which is why you are working so hard to try and twist it into the opposite of what he is saying.

>>24559567
>What if being a jewish cuck is actually as heroic as being Odysseus?
Ulysses is a book about the fact that God is everywhere and in everything, not a book about muh identities and we-are-all-the-same-ism. It's a good filter for repulsive /pol/fags.

>>24549907
This single-handedly destroys everything Dostoevsky has ever written.
Dostoevsky = BTFO'd, and his insufferable fanboys shan't recover
Spectacularly based

>>24549907
too perfect, had to be AI generated

Nowadays I can only have the sense that debating who was the “greatest” novelist is like debating who was the greatest film director. It’s just navel gazing or pointless debate on the part of critics and fans. In truth, there is no “greatest”. There’s a whole ecosystem of highly notables and one or another appeals to various people for various reasons. The novel isn’t high art like a Rembrandt or a Rodin either. It’s not even high art like a Alighieri or a Goethe. It’s just sort of an entertainment product.

tolstoy is obviously better and there are obviously better writers than tolstoy

>>24559897
Nothing that you said contradicts what I said, bro. The book still portrays the daily voyage of a modern day jewish cuck as a heroic act analogous to the Odyssey. And I simply think that if you read this book and get the intended reaction of, "wow regular modern life still has all these sublime moments, and being some fat jewish cuck is really no less of a graceful existence than being a Greek hero if you're open and sensitive to all the beauty and meaningful little personal events in ordinary life" then you're a massive faggot. That's just how I see it, bro. And I don't even care much about the Oddyssey. This is not about gate keeping the heroism of the Greeks, which I don't find all that convincing anyway. Odysseus certainly was a cunning bastard. I just don't like the way the book idealizes a certain type of people, people who, in my opinion, are worth very little. It feeds the narcissism of the likes of Harold Bloom.

>>24560012
Yes, yes, but consider this: Joyce had a fart fetish, and would get dangerously horny at his degenerate wife sharting out of her stinky, hairy asshole.

Checkmate.

>>24549781 (OP)
He was a Christcuck pacifist, so while his writing was great, it will never be the "Greatest".

>>24560012
There are no heroes or idealisations in the book, midwit. It doesn't even contrast modernity with the Odyssey to say anything about them. Joyce explicitly said he regretted the Homeric allusions because it animated retards like you to come up with these superficial analyses.

>>24549907
Way too sloppy and repetitive to be Dostoyevsky.

>>24560037
You're right, that's more Tolstoy

>>24560035
You can't refute this >>24560031

>>24560056
refute it? it's the best part

>>24559788
>and it is repugnant and ignoble
religious values, checkmate gaytheist

>>24549907
>And flame is hot. And so Hell is hot. But so is my cum when it goes out of my penis! Heh! Heh!

why is /lit/ the most unfunny board?

>>24560035
>Joyce explicitly said he regretted the Homeric allusions
Interesting. This reminds me to C. S. Lewis regretting having made Aslan a lion, because it mislead people into thinking he was meant to represent Jesus.

>>24560012
how subversive to put this sort of message into the most beautifully written book in history. the irish really are celtic jews but even more cunning, scary to think about...

>>24549781 (OP)
What do you guys think of this take by Nabokov: “He seems to have been chosen by the destiny of Russian letters to become Russia’s greatest playwright, but he took the wrong turning and wrote novels.”

>>24560012
>It feeds the narcissism of the likes of Harold Bloom
This. It's a beautifully written book, but regardless if Joyce intended or not to draw parallels between the mythical heroism of Odysseus and the day to day wisdom of Leopold Bloom, the book has one major issue that must be tackled. This book moved Harold Bloom to tears because it made him feel that despite being a fat creepy wordcel he was still virtuous for appreciating good literature and identifying with his namesake. He felt the book properly articulated the beauty of being Leopold/Harold Bloom. And have you seen Harold Bloom? There was no beauty in that man. That alone should make you feel some revulsion at what Joyce accomplished with this book and make you question if literature existing at all is worth it.

>>24560337
He’s saying that he’s a great writer of dialogue but spends way too much time describing scenes and their absolute minutia no matter how barely relevant which is a fair assessment.

>>24560337
How do you fit all that character lore and monologuing in a play though
It would work as a VN

>>24560086
Religion doesn't have a monopoly on values.

>>24560627
values are inherently religious

>>24560348
>There was no beauty in that man
intelligence is a kind of beauty

>>24561229
No they are not. In fact, religion distorts and misappropriates values.

>>24560337
Dostoevsky would have been a terrible playwright. Drama is all about condensing the action, economy, pace and movement. Consider how Shakespeare edits and chops and moves Plutarch around to make it flow on stage.
It’s the last thing Dostoevsky was capable of

>>24561582
Infantile, like the other guy said.

>>24561618
How's your foreskin? Did you escape "religious values", or do you have a band of scar tissue on your most sensitive organ?

>>24560351
>spends way too much time describing scenes and their absolute minutia
This does not describe Dostoy at all

>>24549903
Is it better to write one great masterpiece ( melville, joyce, milton, cervantes) or a lot of great novels (dickens, dostoeskij, dumas, jean austen)?

>>24549907
Is there a single dostoevsky novel that focuses on sexuality like this?

This doesnt seem accurate at all

It's funny how almost every discussion about Dosto on this board ends up in an "atheists x theists" moment with usually the most basic level/stupid takes from both sides.

>>24562115
this is what he would have wanted. every discussion a lobotomized microcosm of brothers karamazov

>>24562128
Nah, Brothers Karamazov is much more multifaceted than just this dichotomy. Most of my favorite passages in the book focus on the egoistic actions of many characters (the Ivan/Smerdyakov dynamic, Katerina's fit of rage at the tribunal, and all of the "mortifications" book) and how that relates to the idea of "mutual responsibility" from Alyosha.
I'll agree that the focus in TBK is the rationality/faith dichotomy, but it is a 1,000-page book, you know? There is so much more value to be derived from his works if you just make the effort. And even if you HATE TBK for these passages, there are PLENTY of Dostoevsky's works that don't focus on this theme, yet people on this board only seem to read TBK, C&P, and mention the Nabokov text as if it were the Bible. It's frustrating, repetitive, and childish.

>>24562835
There is a phrase from a Brazilian writer named Nelson Rodrigues that said "pode-se viver para um único livro de Dostoiévski", it roughly translates to "you can live your entire life for an only Dostoevsky book", I echo this sentiment, I believe that he was one of the most rich and plural authors of the entire XIX century.

>>24562835
Dosto is essentially sadomasochistic, he loves dwelling on characters who revel in how depraved they are, but who also prostrate themselves in the just punishment or humiliation of their depravity. Again, sensitive murderers and soulful prostitutes imply the exact situation he adored, all the violence and sexual intrigue he desired so much, but with the approval of his super ego since they ritualistically degrade themselves in a kind of spiritual fetishistic pleasure in confessing, being punished, and then being "redeemed". It's lurid and partakes of a sick kind of gratification in self flagellation.

No Thomas Mann is the greatest novelist of all time

>>24558688
>It's all a lie, so just be a Christian bro! xD

>>24563481
Correct. Joseph>Mountain>Buddenbrooks>Faustus

>>24549907
You’re correct and everyone angry about it is sucking down your shit and have been made into your bitches. They’re fucking losers.

>>24549907
reminder that you're reading mostly translations

>>24563436
This is the 53rd time you've posted this over the last 2 years. Not even making this up, I checked the archive. Meds. Now.

>>24563436
This is the 64th time you've posted this over the last 2 years. Not even making this up, I checked the archive. Meds. Now.

>>24563539
I genuinely think people who like Dosto are drawn to the sordid, the salacious, the sick and twisted thrills, but because they know this temptation should be denied, they have to soothe their super ego by some pretext, which is where the Christian overtones come in. It combines to make an abomination of religious sadomasochism, shame, lust, murder, sex, debauchery, and, of course, the finale of spiritual fetishism: prostrating before the lord in the final thrill of humiliation and judgement so that the reader can insert themselves and say "YES! YES I AM A BAD BOY LORD, PUNISH ME AND I SHALL REPENT". It's actually extremely disgusting. Dosto enjoyers should seek help.

>>24563507
Wrong. The Holy Sinner mogs all of those.

>>24563800

>>24549907
not even this deliberate attempt at unhinged rambling is close enough to what the characters say, that's why doystovsky is goat, he can't be imitated

>>24563539
>>24563918
Didn't he say he's doing it on purpose to fight Dosto being "overhyped" in a thread another day

>>24561834
He said he’s only read like two Dostoevsky novels

>>24561834
He's not lewd at all, but of course a Nabokov fan would make it about sex

>>24561786
>Hence Polybius is refuted by the fact that had there been no religion in the world there would have been no philosophers in it. Thus true, then, is his claim that had there been philosophers in the world, there would never have been need of any religion! Thus also is Bayle, with his belief that nations can reign without religions, refuted by fact. For, without a provident God, there would have been no states in the world other than those of wandering, bestiality, ugliness, violence, ferocity, depravity and blood, and probably, or even certainly, throughout the great forest of the earth, hideous and mute, mankind would not now exist

>>24563972
Dosto threads get spammed to a ridiculous extent. There are routinely 3 - 5 Dosto threads at any given time and it's always the same shallow praise by pseuds.

>>24564016
>had there been no religion in the world there would have been no philosophers
Simply not true

>>24564836
Because he's the greatest of them all, so it's natural people talk about him on a literature forum

>>24563976
There are several anons who post the classic pasta

>>24563918
Those four years of penal servitude Dostoyevsky spent in Siberia he spent in the company of murderers and thieves, no segregation having been yet introduced between ordinary and political criminals. He described them in his ''Memoirs from the House of Death'' (1862). They do not make a pleasant reading. All the humiliations and hardships he endured are described in detail, as also the criminals among whom he lived. Not to go completely mad in those surroundings, Dostoyevsky had to find some sort of escape. This he found in a neurotic Christianism which he developed during these years. His emotional life up to that time had been unhappy. In Siberia he had married, but this first marriage proved unsatisfactory. In 1862-63 he had an affair with a woman writer and in her company visited England, France and Germany. This woman, whom he later characterized as ''infernal,'' seems to have been an evil character. Later she married Rozanov, an extraordinary writer combining moments of exceptional genius with manifestations of astounding naivete. (I knew Rozanov, but he had married another woman by that time.) This woman seems to have had a rather unfortunate influence on Dostoyevsky, further upsetting his unstable spirit. It was during this first trip abroad to Germany that the first manifestation of his passion for gambling appeared which during the rest of his life was the plague of his family and an insurmountable obstacle to any kind of material ease or peace to himself. Just as I have no ear for music, I have to my regret no ear for Dostoyevsky the Prophet. The very best thing he ever wrote seems to me to be ''The Double.'' It is the story - told very elaborately, in great, almost Joycean detail (as the critic Mirsky notes), and in a style intensely saturated with phonetic and rhythmical expressiveness - of a government clerk who goes mad, obsessed by the idea that a fellow clerk has usurped his identity. It is a perfect work of art, that story, but it hardly exists for the followers of Dostoyevsky the Prophet, because it was written in the 1840's, long before his so-called great novels; and moreover its imitation of Gogol is so striking as to seem at times almost a parody. Dostoyevsky characterizes his people through situation, through ethical matters, their psychological reactions, their inside ripples. After describing the looks of a character, he uses the old-fashioned device of not referring to his specific physical appearance anymore in the scenes with him. This is not the way of an artist - say Tolstoy - who sees his character in his mind all the time and knows exactly the specific gesture he will employ at this or that moment.

>>24564841
He is absolutely not the greatest. He's a terrible author with hamfisted ideological propaganda shoved into the narratives of his books, couple this with the contrived and ridiculous melodrama and he is on the same level with a harlequin romance writer. Dosto enjoyers are on par with soccer moms grabbing a trashy book in the checkout line at the grocery store because it has a shirtless muscle bound dude on the cover.

>>24564873
You got absolutely filtered lmao

>>24564884
>Zero substance in the reply
Typical

>>24549781 (OP)
The Idiot didn't need to be like 600 pages.

>>24549907
The flip flopping of self disgust and self introspection on why he's disgusting is pretty accurate

No

For me it's Tolkien.

>>24556014
Seething

>>24549781 (OP)
Yes, by far.

>>24549781 (OP)
Proust is better

>>24568527
atheist

>>24549781 (OP)
No, they are: Homer, Virgil and Dante Alighieri.

And you can add Marcel Proust.

>>24570144
Neither of those are novelists

>>24570149
This is true because they were pushers.

>>24549781 (OP)
Of course, he's Jordan Peterson's favorite

>>24549907
This is old copy pasta btw. It’s pretty good. ‘Missing a few dear prince! Oh noble prince, of course!’

>>24549907
My sides

>>24549783
Even his Gardener did better.

It's objectively scott
Dostoyevsky would agree

>>24549808
>Anon told me things and I just believed him
Way to oust yourself as a retard

>>24557840
>they weren't so dark technology just got put on the backburner until the renaissance and everywhere that wasn't christian was doing fine
it's a self defeating point
>It’s a pretty classical statement on fallible human reason contra ultimate faith
the escape into abstraction doesn't make the statement any less moronic, all it preserves is ego which is the only thing you stand to lose by being wrong

>>24562835
>there are PLENTY of Dostoevsky's works that don't focus on this theme
All of the main novels follow this theme. Underground is just what happens when the theme isn't allow to play out. Undead is the only popular one that doesn't revolve around this because it's autobiographical

>>24549907
Fucking cackling

>>24571007
>I don't believe anything here but I spend all my time here anyway
Way to oust yourself as a worthless retard