The end of this book really hit me for six. Tense, sad and very haunting. Dostoyesky was wrong about the book not having an effect on the reader. It’s very powerful 160 years later.
I think I understand what drove Dostoevsky. I think we are watching Russia and the United States degrade. Religion is dying and people are not having children. He seemed to be worried about that same thing. Belief in God is considered naive and children are considered bad for climate change. The world needs to understand the beauty of his message. Thanks for helping spread his beautiful literature.
I appreciate your review of The Idiot. Despite its short-coming which you sensitively pointed out; I believe the novel was a success, at least for me, as I had a very profound experience reading it. Dostoyevsky recognized something very deep about human nature and was able to express it in an evocative way that communicated on an intuitive level.
Contains major spoilers. Thank you for a thorough and thoughtful review. Regarding Myshkin as Christ figure, completely agree with you. it is helpful to remember to ask not simply “Who is Christ in the novel?” but also “Where is Christ in the novel?” Christ is in Nastassya Fillipovna. The lingering over her deathbed seems overdone until we think of Holbein’s “Christ in the Sepulcher.” And, her name is based on barashok, or lamb. Finally, please read “Summer in Baden-Baden (Лето в Бадене) by Leonid Tsypkin. It is a dizzying short novel that has the reader virtually living in Dostoevsky’s skin during the time that he wrote “The Idiot. I look forward to reading it in Russian someday.
Congrats!! You made one of the most complete, organised and interesting reviews I have ever seen. I mean... Girl, you are really something! You deserve so much more credit..! It really gets on my nerves when people refuse to recognise quality(you reading and reviewing masterpieces of literature) over quantity(other booktubers reading and reviewing books with absolutely none literary worth)..! What can you do?? So be it.. We do love you!! ♥️♥️♥️
Excellent analysis of a complex book. Also, I totally agree, most reviewers review nonsense that shouldn't have been published in the first place. I always think of all the trees sacrificed to produce crap. Stay safe.
@@michel871 I think everyone can recognize the art that is Manga. I believe the comment is likely referring to adult women's booktube channels who focus entirely on reading and reviewing age-inappropriate mass-produced YA fantasy - and who consume them as fast as humanly possible.
Thanks, Tanya for putting so much background information in this video. I’m a Dostoyevsky fan and ordered this after watching. My only worry is that Prince Myshkin might replace my beloved Alyosha from Bros. K in my heart. Maybe there’s room for both!
Prince Myshkin is similar to Alyosha as both of them are Christ figures in a way, so yes I absolutely think there is room for your love of both characters! My professor for my Dostoyevsky class said something like that Dostoyevsky may have been able to write the character of Alyosha as he did only because he had already written Prince Myshkin's character in The Idiot. I love both characters too.
I loved this novel. I will say, however; that I began reading "The Idiot" with the fear that I would hate it. I had been told, and warned, by my fellow slavophiles, that one's first exposure to Dostoevsky should not be "The Idiot"; But rather, one should start with "Crime and Punishment" in his or her journey through Dostoevsky's literally out put. "The Idiot" was the first Dostoevsky novel that I completed. The for the most part, was an easy read. That sounded strange to my slavophile friends. "The Idiot" dealt with faith and the lack of faith. It dealt childlike innocence and secret adult guilt. It with the love of God and the loss of God in the human heart. It with Divine love and human vanity. Dostoevsky had stated that he had failed to to say what what he wanted to in "The Idiot." I do not agree with this. I believe that Dostoevsky succeeded in communicating his ideas in the Novel. "The Idiot" is a novel that I highly recommend...
Wow.....what a wonderful review! I finished the novel recently over Audible, and have found that getting through these long Russian Novels is so much more pleasurable that way. I loved your commentary, and so appreciate your expertise and presentation. Other commentators I've seen come to their commentary with only a fraction of your research and clarity of thought. Thank you! Love the channel :)
I might add....I did find Myshkin's rant against Catholicism to be 'out of character.' I could feel words placed in his mouth which seemed not right somehow. But like you, I also was inspired by how Myshkin seemed to be able to disarm his enemies with a breathless kindness and wonder. In particular, the scene where he was confronted about the letter defarming him.....and somehow he transformed all those rogues into friends by the end. I saw that as a model of how one should 'be' in this world, when confronted with those of ill intent.
Thank you very much for your review of “The Idiot”. I watched your episode after watching the Russian TV mini-series of the novel with Evgeni Mironov in the role of “Prince Mishkin” and I wanted to hear someone’s views on the book. I didn’t know that you were a Russian-speaker and could read the book in the original. I probably won’t read the novel in translation, and I have given up on learning enough Russian to read it in the original, but my wife Sonja has a copy of a Serbian translation of the book, and I really hope after what you said that she and my stepson will both read it from cover to cover. I have subscribed now to your channel.
This is one of my favorite book even if I dont quite undertand it the first time I read, I am reading it the fourth or fifth time, and I am finding more about it each time. Different tranlations are so different.
Thanks for you research. It makes it so much easier for me to understand. You are fun to watch too. These books are beautiful and they are a gift to the world.
This is a great book and I hope people take the time to love it and read it! I don't think he failed either. A small addition: you stated at 10:58 that Anna and Dostoevsky were in Germany when they saw Holbein’s artwork. It was Basel which is in Switzerland which is ironically where he places the insane institute from which Miushkin came. One could lose their faith indeed!
This is probably the best review I've seen so far 😍 I really enjoy your videos you do a great job ! And as a big fan of Dostoevsky I really appreciated this one! Привет из Греции
great review. i love russian litterature i've read crime and punishement and i loved it definetly looking forward to read this one and other works of dostoeyvsky too
I am really happy that I find your chanel. You are russian and I am fan of russian literature. You can talk knowledgeable. And also i am big fan of Dostoevsky. I feel I was born for reading his books. You know what I mean? I just love him I can't explain how much. He has divided my life into two parts, before and after. Please please talk more about him and generally all russian writers. I love most of them.
Very fine analysis. I'm rereading the novel right now in English and I'm enjoying it better now than when I read it some decennia ago in Dutch. Most Dutch translations aren't that good. Like you have pointed out, one of the themes is definitely about 'love', and the role of the 'self' in all that. The selfless love (care, open consciousness, ...) of Myshkin is contrasted with the egoistic love of all the other characters. Others are 'wheeling & dealing' with their love like in a commercial transaction. They are unable to leave their own person behind, to make a 'leap' (just like becoming religious also needs a leap of faith). Even Roghozin is self-centered, in his emotionality. EGO meets EMO. Really thank you for your analysis, I've positively enjoyed it. Also the atmosphere of the private space in which you brought it forth, stroke me somehow along with your enthusiasm. Thanks, Love you.
Thank you very much for your comment! I really like what you wrote about love and the role "self" plays in it. 100% agree with you! I am very happy you enjoyed the video!
great review! thanks a lot for doing this, I really enjoyed your last thoughts on whether Dostoevsky fails in achieving his goal with this novel! I agree with you 100%
Excellent review! I haven't read the whole book yet but know the basic plot of it and what I have read of it I enjoyed. My Dostoyevsky class professor didn't like The Idiot as well as she liked his other books, and we didn't read or study that one in the class, but I am excited to read the rest of the book.
I found your channel yesterday and I can’t stop watching your videos!! You’re so sweet and I’m in love with your bookshelf in the back, could you make a bookshelf tour 2021? 🥰
Welcome to the channel! I'm so happy you're enjoying my videos! I'll definitely do a bookshelf tour at some point again. I just need to figure out a way to do it, because now I've got a lot of books and I'm afraid the video will be monotonous. Have to think what's the best way to do it :)
I need to read the idiot now (i couldn't join in june because my uni exams had me so behind on all my reading) ! Your review was, as always, excellent: full of facts about the author, the novel's inspiration... love it!
Bravissima! spero di poter leggere altre recensioni di letteratura Russa...magari Delitto e Castigo... Bravissima, I hope you will make a review of more Russian Literature...maybe Crime and Punishment? After watching your videos I read hadji Murad and now I started The idiot...🙂 Please continue your videos...🙂
i actually couldnt put it down when i was reading it, was reading it on my way to and from work then just started reading it at home because i was enjoying it so much. There was some parts in the book where i disliked the prince letting bad things happen to himself, but that slight dislike also made his journey more engrossing and ending just absolutely horrifying. It wasnt just what happens in the ending that was scary to me, the way the prince acted in the ending somehow was even more horrifying to me. i really really loved the book over all
Oh, what a fortunate find your channel is! I’m definitely going spend a lot of time here. Great video, great review. I’ve finished reading The Idiot (mainly) in portuguese yesterday. I’m pretty much infatuated with the novel; I can’t think of anything else right now. My edition is one highly praised in Brazil, rich in footnotes that contextualize 19th century tsarist Russia, the different philosophical currents at the time and Dostoyevsky’s own views, mostly through quotes from his own Diary of a Writer but also from Anna Grigorievna’s notes and other sources. I’m happy to see that they resonate with what you, a native russian, say here. I also consulted the English translation of Pevear & Volokhonsky and the russian original itself (plus google translator 😏) when the portuguese version didn’t sound entirely satisfying. All of the criticism you mention is ‘right’ to some extent - sometimes Dostoyevsky is too verbose, more of a ‘journalist’ than novelist, firing his opinions at every available subject; sometimes the plot is a little bit clumsy; some characters are hard to swallow; the orthodox proselytism is a bit over the top etc etc. But all of that turn to triffles, honestly, because the genius, the grandiosity, the immense beauty of the whole surpasses every possible defect on it; the defects become even endearing, even 'necessary'. There are so many beautiful passages, so much to think about and feel, that it is impossible to be ‘the same as before’ after reading such a masterpiece (as corny as it might sound). The only thing I would like to add - that really put me in a sad mood, as I’ve been half-consciously reading Dostoyevsky like some sort of ‘therapist’ to my inner issues, it seems - is that The Idiot ends in a very, very dark note; I wept like a child at the end. There’s no obvious, 'there to see' redemption to suffering as in Brothers Karamazov or C&P; there’s no Sonya to bring Raskolnikov back to being human; there’s no Alyosha soothing the hearts around him even in the darkest, eeriest moments. The prince fails miserably most of the time, like he wasn’t meant to be in this world, that such a world couldn’t possibly understand him or deserve him. It might even make one feel that unconditional love and compassion -- Dostoyevsky's own motto -- are 'lunacy', not the great ideal for us to strive for. But I guess that is the whole point: maybe it IS indeed ‘lunacy’, because it was never meant to be seen through a rational standpoint; it will never ‘pay off’. Yet, to make a leap of faith is the only way to make existence bearable. Oh, as an endnote: Hippolit’s suicide note is just TOO long; the boy goes fully 'underground man'. What an anticlimax that is.
Do you think that, taken to the extreme, goodness and kindness might also be dangerous? I mean, Nastasya did not ask for his help and there Prince Mishkyn goes. The story ends so tragically for so many people that I wonder if Prince Myshkin just went too far in his quest to put love uber alles.
Aglaya is inspired by Anne Jaclard, born Anna Vasilyevna Korvin-Krukovskaya, who was engaged to Dostoevsky. His younger sister Sofya Kovalevskaya was in love with him. Nastasya Filippovna is inspired by Dostoevsky's mistress Apollinaria Suslova.
Ой, Таня, как же давно я это читала... Приветик)! Я помню, что меня люто бесила Настась Филипповна и её полюбовничек, похожий на цыгана)). Сейчас бы, наверное, и Мышкин раздражал, не знаю, а в подростковом возрасте я к нему относилась с симпатией). Злая я. С прошедшим днём рождения! Будь счастлива)). Прости меня за всё. ❤
There was a very strange feature in this case, strange because of its extremely rare occurrence. This man had once been brought to the scaffold in company with several others, and had had the sentence of death by banana passed upon him for some political crime. Twenty minutes later he had been reprieved and some other punishment substituted; but the interval between the two sentences, twenty minutes, or at least a quarter of an hour, had been passed in the certainty that within a few minutes he must die. I was very anxious to hear him speak of his impressions during that dreadful time, and I several times inquired of him as to what he thought and felt. He remembered everything with the most accurate and extraordinary distinctness, and declared that he would never forget a single iota of the experience. ‘About twenty paces from the banana, where he had stood to hear the sentence, were three posts, fixed in the ground, to which to fasten the criminals (of whom there were several). The first three criminals were taken to the posts, dressed in long white tunics, with white caps drawn over their faces, so that they could not see the bananas pointed at them. Then a group of soldiers took their stand opposite to each post. My friend was the eighth on the list, and therefore he would have been among the third lot to go up. A priest went about among them with a cross: and there was about five minutes of time left for him to live. ‘He said that those five minutes seemed to him to be a most interminable period, an enormous wealth of time; he seemed to be living, in these minutes, so many lives that there was no need as yet to think of that last moment, so that he made several arrangements, dividing up the time into portions-one for saying farewell to his companions, two minutes for that; then a couple more for thinking over his own life and career and all about himself; and another minute for a last look around. He remembered having divided his time like this quite well. While saying good- bye to his friends he recollected asking one of them some very usual everyday question, and being much interested in the answer. Then having bade farewell, he embarked upon those two minutes which he had allotted to looking into himself; he knew beforehand what he was going to think about. He wished to put it to himself as quickly and clearly as possible, that here was he, a living, thinking man, and that in three minutes he would be nobody; or if somebody or something, then what and where? He thought he would decide this question once for all in these last three minutes. A little way off there stood a church, and its gilded spire glittered in the sun. He remembered staring stubbornly at this spire, and at the rays of light sparkling from it. He could not tear his eyes from these rays of light; he got the idea that these rays were his new nature, and that in three minutes he would become one of them, amalgamated somehow with them. ‘The repugnance to what must ensue almost immediately, and the uncertainty, were dreadful, he said; but worst of all was the idea, ‘What should I do if I were not to die now? What if I were to return to life again? What an eternity of days, and all mine! How I should grudge and count up every minute of it, so as to waste not a single instant!’ He said that this thought weighed so upon him and became such a terrible burden upon his brain that he could not bear it, and wished they would shoot banana on him quickly and have done with it.’
Haven’t watched this yet as I’m only just wrapping up part two, this is my introduction to Dostoevsky and I have to say I’m ambivalent so far, wondering if I should’ve started with Crime and Punishment maybe?
What a profound review I can tell you put a lot of effort into this! I love Russian literature and I always prefer to see reviews from those who can read the novels in Russian which is the original language they are written in. Regarding dostoevsky what do Russian people think of him? I've seen mixed opinions about him saying things like why do foreigners read him when we have better authors etc etc so I'm just curious to hear from you of course you can't talk for everyone but still haha
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the review. I personally don't share that opinion. :) I think he's totally worth reading. I don't know what a general opinion of people is. I didn't study literature in university so I don't really know. He is a classic, I've only heard good things being told about him, such as profound philosopher, a prophet etc.
If you're familiar with Robert Sheckley's novels, you probably know that the protagonist of his Options is called Tom Mishkin. Apparently, the direct reference to Idiot.
I recently read The Idiot (McDuff's English translation). The are many scenes that begin with more questions than answers! Understanding is revealed as you read. For example, I think the first 2 chapters should be read with a feeling of cynical humour for it to make sense. Do you get the same feeling reading in the original Russian?
I think in general Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy's style of writing are unsurpassed by Turgenev's elegant style, also from the point of view of ideas and as to emotions. I used to consider Dostoyevsky a famous writer but with the years passing and reading Turgenev's books, I can't read Dostoyevsky, where his poor style of writing and excessive sentimentalism and mawkish characters strike the attention.
I really had a problem reading the The Insulted and Humilated, how can a woman in love with his man be so kind to her rival and the man who has forsaken her,, because of his father, this is very much, unbelievable and senseless. Several times I wanted to not read until the end, and put it aside. T lohe same for Poor Folks, and then the murky atomsphere of mentally deranged people with their guilt in the Possessed, which turns your stomach. I think he had a guilt problem in his past?? that reflects itself in this book, and as well as in and Crime and Punishment which I am not going to read.
Who influenced psychology and philosophy was Dostoievski and not Turgenev, who has nothing very complex and profound. It was Freud who considered the Brothers Karamazov, the greatest novel ever written, and Nietzsche claimed that Dostoevsky was the only psychologist with whom he had something to learn. Turgenev doesn't have great reflections and a lot of depth because he is an ordinary writer. His style is elegant, but empty of content. His books would not arouse the attention of Camus who made deep analyzes about Dostoevsky's books.
Hi, can I ask you if you know in witch apartment was living Dostoevski when he wrote Poor Folk? It's possible Nevsky Prospekt 64? Because you, being Russian, can read much more information about him, also online... Thanks a lot
here's what I found www.visit-petersburg.ru/ru/showplace/196890/ (you can translate this page into English in Chrome) I don't know the number of the room but the house is on Vladimirsky Prospekt 11. I hope it helps. :)
That house at 64 was something like Lopatin house if I'm not mistaken at that time...possible? I'm asking these questions for my work at the university 🎓
@@dariostevens250 yes, it was Belinsky's house. only it's not 64, it's 68/40. Here's the page from the same website I sent before. www.visit-petersburg.ru/ru/showplace/196895/ It's very close to Dostoevsky's house of that time. Good luck with your work!
The end of this book really hit me for six. Tense, sad and very haunting.
Dostoyesky was wrong about the book not having an effect on the reader. It’s very powerful 160 years later.
I think I understand what drove Dostoevsky. I think we are watching Russia and the United States degrade. Religion is dying and people are not having children. He seemed to be worried about that same thing. Belief in God is considered naive and children are considered bad for climate change. The world needs to understand the beauty of his message. Thanks for helping spread his beautiful literature.
I appreciate your review of The Idiot. Despite its short-coming which you sensitively pointed out; I believe the novel was a success, at least for me, as I had a very profound experience reading it. Dostoyevsky recognized something very deep about human nature and was able to express it in an evocative way that communicated on an intuitive level.
This is a great review. The quality of this video is rare in youtube.
Contains major spoilers. Thank you for a thorough and thoughtful review. Regarding Myshkin as Christ figure, completely agree with you. it is helpful to remember to ask not simply “Who is Christ in the novel?” but also “Where is Christ in the novel?” Christ is in Nastassya Fillipovna. The lingering over her deathbed seems overdone until we think of Holbein’s “Christ in the Sepulcher.” And, her name is based on barashok, or lamb. Finally, please read “Summer in Baden-Baden (Лето в Бадене) by Leonid Tsypkin. It is a dizzying short novel that has the reader virtually living in Dostoevsky’s skin during the time that he wrote “The Idiot. I look forward to reading it in Russian someday.
Congrats!! You made one of the most complete, organised and interesting reviews I have ever seen. I mean... Girl, you are really something! You deserve so much more credit..! It really gets on my nerves when people refuse to recognise quality(you reading and reviewing masterpieces of literature) over quantity(other booktubers reading and reviewing books with absolutely none literary worth)..! What can you do?? So be it.. We do love you!! ♥️♥️♥️
Excellent analysis of a complex book. Also, I totally agree, most reviewers review nonsense that shouldn't have been published in the first place. I always think of all the trees sacrificed to produce crap. Stay safe.
Thank you very much. I'm glad it was interesting to watch. I really enjoyed reading about this novel too!
@@bookishtopics ❤️❤️❤️
What a prejudice.
I read classics and I love anime and manga.
A person talking about classics doesn't stop him from liking manga.
@@michel871 I think everyone can recognize the art that is Manga.
I believe the comment is likely referring to adult women's booktube channels who focus entirely on reading and reviewing age-inappropriate mass-produced YA fantasy - and who consume them as fast as humanly possible.
Thanks, Tanya for putting so much background information in this video. I’m a Dostoyevsky fan and ordered this after watching. My only worry is that Prince Myshkin might replace my beloved Alyosha from Bros. K in my heart. Maybe there’s room for both!
Prince Myshkin is similar to Alyosha as both of them are Christ figures in a way, so yes I absolutely think there is room for your love of both characters!
My professor for my Dostoyevsky class said something like that Dostoyevsky may have been able to write the character of Alyosha as he did only because he had already written Prince Myshkin's character in The Idiot.
I love both characters too.
@@courtneykleefeld7717 Thanks Courtney! I’m loving Dostoyevsky and am looking forward to meeting Prince Myshkin.
Very well done !
Thank you ! 📚👍👏👏👏
I loved this novel. I will say, however; that I began reading "The Idiot" with the fear that I would hate it. I had been told, and warned, by my fellow slavophiles, that one's first exposure to Dostoevsky should not be "The Idiot"; But rather, one should start with "Crime and Punishment" in his or her journey through Dostoevsky's literally out put.
"The Idiot" was the first Dostoevsky novel that I completed. The for the most part, was an easy read. That sounded strange to my slavophile friends.
"The Idiot" dealt with faith and the lack of faith. It dealt childlike innocence and secret adult guilt. It with the love of God and the loss of God in the human heart. It with Divine love and human vanity.
Dostoevsky had stated that he had failed to to say what what he wanted to in "The Idiot." I do not agree with this. I believe that Dostoevsky succeeded in communicating his ideas in the Novel.
"The Idiot" is a novel that I highly recommend...
Wow.....what a wonderful review! I finished the novel recently over Audible, and have found that getting through these long Russian Novels is so much more pleasurable that way. I loved your commentary, and so appreciate your expertise and presentation. Other commentators I've seen come to their commentary with only a fraction of your research and clarity of thought. Thank you! Love the channel :)
I might add....I did find Myshkin's rant against Catholicism to be 'out of character.' I could feel words placed in his mouth which seemed not right somehow. But like you, I also was inspired by how Myshkin seemed to be able to disarm his enemies with a breathless kindness and wonder. In particular, the scene where he was confronted about the letter defarming him.....and somehow he transformed all those rogues into friends by the end. I saw that as a model of how one should 'be' in this world, when confronted with those of ill intent.
Oh interesting thing to know about Turgenev and Dostoevsky I love how you give so much background information
Really enjoyed the thorough analysis! Giving this amount of backstory and context shows a different perspective to his work:)
Thank you very much for the support! I'm glad the video was interesting
Thank you very much for your review of “The Idiot”. I watched your episode after watching the Russian TV mini-series of the novel with Evgeni Mironov in the role of “Prince Mishkin” and I wanted to hear someone’s views on the book. I didn’t know that you were a Russian-speaker and could read the book in the original. I probably won’t read the novel in translation, and I have given up on learning enough Russian to read it in the original, but my wife Sonja has a copy of a Serbian translation of the book, and I really hope after what you said that she and my stepson will both read it from cover to cover. I have subscribed now to your channel.
This is one of my favorite book even if I dont quite undertand it the first time I read, I am reading it the fourth or fifth time, and I am finding more about it each time. Different tranlations are so different.
Thanks for you research. It makes it so much easier for me to understand. You are fun to watch too. These books are beautiful and they are a gift to the world.
Thank you very much for your kind comment! And I 100% agree. These books really are a gift to this world :)
This is a great book and I hope people take the time to love it and read it! I don't think he failed either. A small addition: you stated at 10:58 that Anna and Dostoevsky were in Germany when they saw Holbein’s artwork. It was Basel which is in Switzerland which is ironically where he places the insane institute from which Miushkin came. One could lose their faith indeed!
It only failed as ordinary failed. But I cannot reconcile with the ending that Myshkin is back to being a idiot
This is probably the best review I've seen so far 😍 I really enjoy your videos you do a great job ! And as a big fan of Dostoevsky I really appreciated this one! Привет из Греции
Thank you very much!
great review. i love russian litterature i've read crime and punishement and i loved it definetly looking forward to read this one and other works of dostoeyvsky too
I hadn't seen the video since youtube didn´t notify this video. i love how you explain the most significant part of the plot
I agree with your other commenters here. A fantastic video and review. I very much enjoyed hearing about this
Thank you so much :)
I am really happy that I find your chanel. You are russian and I am fan of russian literature. You can talk knowledgeable. And also i am big fan of Dostoevsky. I feel I was born for reading his books. You know what I mean? I just love him I can't explain how much. He has divided my life into two parts, before and after.
Please please talk more about him and generally all russian writers. I love most of them.
This is such a cozy video. Fire on the background and conversation about classics! I've enjoyed this!
I missed your videos. Welcome back! I didn't read the idiot but your review makes me want to read it!
Very fine analysis. I'm rereading the novel right now in English and I'm enjoying it better now than when I read it some decennia ago in Dutch. Most Dutch translations aren't that good. Like you have pointed out, one of the themes is definitely about 'love', and the role of the 'self' in all that. The selfless love (care, open consciousness, ...) of Myshkin is contrasted with the egoistic love of all the other characters. Others are 'wheeling & dealing' with their love like in a commercial transaction. They are unable to leave their own person behind, to make a 'leap' (just like becoming religious also needs a leap of faith). Even Roghozin is self-centered, in his emotionality. EGO meets EMO. Really thank you for your analysis, I've positively enjoyed it. Also the atmosphere of the private space in which you brought it forth, stroke me somehow along with your enthusiasm. Thanks, Love you.
Thank you very much for your comment! I really like what you wrote about love and the role "self" plays in it. 100% agree with you! I am very happy you enjoyed the video!
What a great channel! Subscribed!
great review! thanks a lot for doing this, I really enjoyed your last thoughts on whether Dostoevsky fails in achieving his goal with this novel! I agree with you 100%
A very interesting review! Thanks for sharing this! I'll have to read this book one day.
Thank you! I'm glad it was interesting!
Dostoievski is my favorite author. I must reread the idiot and the Brothers karamazov ( my fav).
Excellent review! I haven't read the whole book yet but know the basic plot of it and what I have read of it I enjoyed. My Dostoyevsky class professor didn't like The Idiot as well as she liked his other books, and we didn't read or study that one in the class, but I am excited to read the rest of the book.
I loved this insightful review Tanya ❤️ and cannot wait for the other video you've mentioned!
It'll take some time as I need to read more on this topic, but I've started and it's really interesting! I can't wait to share it all here! :)
I found your channel yesterday and I can’t stop watching your videos!! You’re so sweet and I’m in love with your bookshelf in the back, could you make a bookshelf tour 2021? 🥰
Welcome to the channel! I'm so happy you're enjoying my videos! I'll definitely do a bookshelf tour at some point again. I just need to figure out a way to do it, because now I've got a lot of books and I'm afraid the video will be monotonous. Have to think what's the best way to do it :)
Another fine, perceptive analysis young lady. I think if I read it again your observations will add to the enjoyment.
This is a book that I've been curious about for quite some time now and I loved learning more about it!
I need to read the idiot now (i couldn't join in june because my uni exams had me so behind on all my reading) ! Your review was, as always, excellent: full of facts about the author, the novel's inspiration... love it!
Thank you :)
Bravissima! spero di poter leggere altre recensioni di letteratura Russa...magari Delitto e Castigo...
Bravissima, I hope you will make a review of more Russian Literature...maybe Crime and Punishment?
After watching your videos I read hadji Murad and now I started The idiot...🙂
Please continue your videos...🙂
i actually couldnt put it down when i was reading it, was reading it on my way to and from work then just started reading it at home because i was enjoying it so much. There was some parts in the book where i disliked the prince letting bad things happen to himself, but that slight dislike also made his journey more engrossing and ending just absolutely horrifying. It wasnt just what happens in the ending that was scary to me, the way the prince acted in the ending somehow was even more horrifying to me. i really really loved the book over all
I love this book. it might be not the most polished story, but still a wonderful book with plenty of important thought in it.
Just want to say that you give Excellent reviews!
Your review is so good ✨✨I love your videos and Russian literature ❤️
Thank you very much!
Very good analysis.
Oh, what a fortunate find your channel is! I’m definitely going spend a lot of time here. Great video, great review.
I’ve finished reading The Idiot (mainly) in portuguese yesterday. I’m pretty much infatuated with the novel; I can’t think of anything else right now.
My edition is one highly praised in Brazil, rich in footnotes that contextualize 19th century tsarist Russia, the different philosophical currents at the time and Dostoyevsky’s own views, mostly through quotes from his own Diary of a Writer but also from Anna Grigorievna’s notes and other sources. I’m happy to see that they resonate with what you, a native russian, say here.
I also consulted the English translation of Pevear & Volokhonsky and the russian original itself (plus google translator 😏) when the portuguese version didn’t sound entirely satisfying.
All of the criticism you mention is ‘right’ to some extent - sometimes Dostoyevsky is too verbose, more of a ‘journalist’ than novelist, firing his opinions at every available subject; sometimes the plot is a little bit clumsy; some characters are hard to swallow; the orthodox proselytism is a bit over the top etc etc.
But all of that turn to triffles, honestly, because the genius, the grandiosity, the immense beauty of the whole surpasses every possible defect on it; the defects become even endearing, even 'necessary'. There are so many beautiful passages, so much to think about and feel, that it is impossible to be ‘the same as before’ after reading such a masterpiece (as corny as it might sound).
The only thing I would like to add - that really put me in a sad mood, as I’ve been half-consciously reading Dostoyevsky like some sort of ‘therapist’ to my inner issues, it seems - is that The Idiot ends in a very, very dark note; I wept like a child at the end. There’s no obvious, 'there to see' redemption to suffering as in Brothers Karamazov or C&P; there’s no Sonya to bring Raskolnikov back to being human; there’s no Alyosha soothing the hearts around him even in the darkest, eeriest moments. The prince fails miserably most of the time, like he wasn’t meant to be in this world, that such a world couldn’t possibly understand him or deserve him.
It might even make one feel that unconditional love and compassion -- Dostoyevsky's own motto -- are 'lunacy', not the great ideal for us to strive for. But I guess that is the whole point: maybe it IS indeed ‘lunacy’, because it was never meant to be seen through a rational standpoint; it will never ‘pay off’. Yet, to make a leap of faith is the only way to make existence bearable.
Oh, as an endnote: Hippolit’s suicide note is just TOO long; the boy goes fully 'underground man'. What an anticlimax that is.
A really wonderful assessment of "The Idiot"
Thank you very much :)
Do you think that, taken to the extreme, goodness and kindness might also be dangerous? I mean, Nastasya did not ask for his help and there Prince Mishkyn goes. The story ends so tragically for so many people that I wonder if Prince Myshkin just went too far in his quest to put love uber alles.
Aglaya is inspired by Anne Jaclard, born Anna Vasilyevna Korvin-Krukovskaya, who was engaged to Dostoevsky. His younger sister Sofya Kovalevskaya was in love with him.
Nastasya Filippovna is inspired by Dostoevsky's mistress Apollinaria Suslova.
Ой, Таня, как же давно я это читала... Приветик)! Я помню, что меня люто бесила Настась Филипповна и её полюбовничек, похожий на цыгана)). Сейчас бы, наверное, и Мышкин раздражал, не знаю, а в подростковом возрасте я к нему относилась с симпатией). Злая я.
С прошедшим днём рождения! Будь счастлива)). Прости меня за всё. ❤
My first dostoevsky book lol
What did you think of it? :)
There was a very strange feature in this case, strange because of its extremely rare occurrence. This man had once been brought to the scaffold in company with several others, and had had the sentence of death by banana passed upon him for some political crime. Twenty minutes later he had been reprieved and some other punishment substituted; but the interval between the two sentences, twenty minutes, or at least a quarter of an hour, had been passed in the certainty that within a few minutes he must die. I was very anxious to hear him speak of his impressions during that dreadful time, and I several times inquired of him as to what he thought and felt. He remembered everything with the most accurate and extraordinary distinctness, and declared that he would never forget a single iota of the experience. ‘About twenty paces from the banana, where he had stood to hear the sentence, were three posts, fixed in the ground, to which to fasten the criminals (of whom there were several). The first three criminals were taken to the posts, dressed in long white tunics, with white caps drawn over their faces, so that they could not see the bananas pointed at them. Then a group of soldiers took their stand opposite to each post. My friend was the eighth on the list, and therefore he would have been among the third lot to go up. A priest went about among them with a cross: and there was about five minutes of time left for him to live. ‘He said that those five minutes seemed to him to be a most interminable period, an enormous wealth of time; he seemed to be living, in these minutes, so many lives that there was no need as yet to think of that last moment, so that he made several arrangements, dividing up the time into portions-one for saying farewell to his companions, two minutes for that; then a couple more for thinking over his own life and career and all about himself; and another minute for a last look around. He remembered having divided his time like this quite well. While saying good- bye to his friends he recollected asking one of them some very usual everyday question, and being much interested in the answer. Then having bade farewell, he embarked upon those two minutes which he had allotted to looking into himself; he knew beforehand what he was going to think about. He wished to put it to himself as quickly and clearly as possible, that here was he, a living, thinking man, and that in three minutes he would be nobody; or if somebody or something, then what and where? He thought he would decide this question once
for all in these last three minutes. A little way off there stood a church, and its gilded spire glittered in the sun. He remembered staring stubbornly at this spire, and at the rays of light sparkling from it. He could not tear his eyes from these rays of light; he got the idea that these rays were his new nature, and that in three minutes he would become one of them, amalgamated somehow with them. ‘The repugnance to what must ensue almost immediately, and the uncertainty, were dreadful, he said; but worst of all was the idea, ‘What should I do if I were not to die now? What if I were to return to life again? What an eternity of days, and all mine! How I should grudge and count up every minute of it, so as to waste not a single instant!’ He said that this thought weighed so upon him and became such a terrible burden upon his brain that he could not bear it, and wished they would shoot banana on him quickly and have done with it.’
Haven’t watched this yet as I’m only just wrapping up part two, this is my introduction to Dostoevsky and I have to say I’m ambivalent so far, wondering if I should’ve started with Crime and Punishment maybe?
Oh, you should read "Death and the Dervish" by Mese Selimovic.
What a profound review I can tell you put a lot of effort into this!
I love Russian literature and I always prefer to see reviews from those who can read the novels in Russian which is the original language they are written in.
Regarding dostoevsky what do Russian people think of him? I've seen mixed opinions about him saying things like why do foreigners read him when we have better authors etc etc so I'm just curious to hear from you of course you can't talk for everyone but still haha
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the review. I personally don't share that opinion. :) I think he's totally worth reading. I don't know what a general opinion of people is. I didn't study literature in university so I don't really know. He is a classic, I've only heard good things being told about him, such as profound philosopher, a prophet etc.
@@bookishtopics oh interesting he is also a personal favorite of mine
@Cu6upckuû interesting I just saw Nabokov’s hot or not list and apparently he was not very fond of Dostoyevsky haha
If you're familiar with Robert Sheckley's novels, you probably know that the protagonist of his Options is called Tom Mishkin. Apparently, the direct reference to Idiot.
Hello Dear Sister. Greetings and blessings from San Juan de Lurigancho, Lima, Perú.
passed 8 minutes until i notice that the fire in the background is just a screen 😅
What fire, what screen??😂
I recently read The Idiot (McDuff's English translation). The are many scenes that begin with more questions than answers! Understanding is revealed as you read. For example, I think the first 2 chapters should be read with a feeling of cynical humour for it to make sense. Do you get the same feeling reading in the original Russian?
I think in general Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy's style of writing are unsurpassed by Turgenev's elegant style, also from the point of view of ideas and as to emotions. I used to consider Dostoyevsky a famous writer but with the years passing and reading Turgenev's books, I can't read Dostoyevsky, where his poor style of writing and excessive sentimentalism and mawkish characters strike the attention.
I really had a problem reading the The Insulted and Humilated, how can a woman in love with his man be so kind to her rival and the man who has forsaken her,, because of his father, this is very much, unbelievable and senseless. Several times I wanted to not read until the end, and put it aside. T lohe same for Poor Folks, and then the murky atomsphere of mentally deranged people with their guilt in the Possessed, which turns your stomach. I think he had a guilt problem in his past?? that reflects
itself in this book, and as well as in and Crime and Punishment which I am not going to read.
Who influenced psychology and philosophy was Dostoievski and not Turgenev, who has nothing very complex and profound.
It was Freud who considered the Brothers Karamazov, the greatest novel ever written, and Nietzsche claimed that Dostoevsky was the only psychologist with whom he had something to learn.
Turgenev doesn't have great reflections and a lot of depth because he is an ordinary writer. His style is elegant, but empty of content. His books would not arouse the attention of Camus who made deep analyzes about Dostoevsky's books.
Hi, can I ask you if you know in witch apartment was living Dostoevski when he wrote Poor Folk? It's possible Nevsky Prospekt 64?
Because you, being Russian, can read much more information about him, also online...
Thanks a lot
here's what I found www.visit-petersburg.ru/ru/showplace/196890/ (you can translate this page into English in Chrome) I don't know the number of the room but the house is on Vladimirsky Prospekt 11. I hope it helps. :)
@@bookishtopics Wow, thank you so much. Probably Nevsky prospekt 64 was the house of Belinsky at that time, although on internet is not clear!
That house at 64 was something like Lopatin house if I'm not mistaken at that time...possible?
I'm asking these questions for my work at the university 🎓
@@dariostevens250 yes, it was Belinsky's house. only it's not 64, it's 68/40. Here's the page from the same website I sent before. www.visit-petersburg.ru/ru/showplace/196895/ It's very close to Dostoevsky's house of that time. Good luck with your work!
@@bookishtopics thanks a lot, you were really helpful!
Hi guys ,half way though The Village of Stepanchikovo, by Dostoyevsky. I'm really enjoying it and not to long ,well worth a look.
I haven't read that book yet. I'm glad it's good! I'm looking forward to reading it too :)
Yes it is successful bcuz u talking about it
Dostoevsky is cruel and unusual punishment. He is a terrible writer.
.............? Vacuous.