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Post by vegalyra on Nov 5, 2018 0:23:50 GMT
I just won a 4 lot series of Dostoevsky's books on eBay and was wondering out of the ones I now have where I should start? Here is the list:
Crime and Punishment The Idiot The Devils The Brothers Karamazov
I'm a complete newbie but have been curious to read his works. Which is the most accessible to start with?
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Post by Carl LaFong on Nov 5, 2018 0:40:01 GMT
Only read C&P. It's excellent - especially the beginning.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 5, 2018 0:49:05 GMT
I have read every book he has written. He is in my opinion the greatest author of all time.
My favorite Dostoevsky book is The Idiot so i think you should start with The Idiot.
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Post by darknessfish on Nov 5, 2018 9:27:29 GMT
Of the books I have read, The Idiot was my least favourite. Book board controversy ensues! I just thought it was quite stagey in tone, it's told in a series of set-pieces which don't necessarily flow well as a single narrative, and that irks me a little. Crime and Punishment is probably the easiest to buy into, and is an absolute masterpiece, so I'd start there. The Brothers Karamazov is perhaps more complex, but also an absolute masterpiece. However, if you're finding it difficult to really delve into the atmosphere, I find it helps to buy a version with a cover which matches the mood and times. So I always recommend this one:
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 7, 2018 0:53:29 GMT
The Idiot was my least favourite. Good evening eternal enemy.
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Post by rudeboy on Nov 9, 2018 0:51:52 GMT
Crime and Punishment may be the greatest novel I have ever read. Novels of its era are often a challenge, but I found it a compulsive page-turner and really need to read it again soon.
The Idiot is also excellent. I haven't read the other two but I shall get to them eventually.
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Post by OldSamVimes on Nov 23, 2018 12:29:58 GMT
I just won a 4 lot series of Dostoevsky's books on eBay and was wondering out of the ones I now have where I should start? Here is the list: Crime and Punishment The Idiot The Devils The Brothers Karamazov I'm a complete newbie but have been curious to read his works. Which is the most accessible to start with? I bought three of those last year. So far I've read Crime and Punishment and The Idiot. I really enjoyed both, I guess I started with C&P because he wrote it first. Saving The Brothers Karamazov for the end, since it's considered by some to be his final and greatest achievement.
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Post by yougotastewgoinbaby on Nov 23, 2018 17:28:17 GMT
Crime and Punishment is the best place to start, in my opinion.
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Post by faustus5 on Nov 23, 2018 17:33:58 GMT
Read only The Brothers K. and found his treatment of religion and atheism tiresome. Definitely a writer for the ages, I just found his perspective hard to not roll my eyes at. I've little patience for the worldviews of most authors who wrote before the 20th century, to be honest. What science and technology have revealed about the workings of the universe and what horrors we are capable of once in possession of that knowledge are essential for understanding where we are at. Writers who aren't directly informed by these revelations or who weren't actively predicting them just aren't very interesting to me, whatever genius they have with their craft, and I'll readily admit Dostoevsky was a genius.
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Post by vegalyra on Nov 23, 2018 21:22:48 GMT
Thanks, I'm about midway through C&P now, it's really great so far.
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Post by hi224 on Nov 26, 2018 20:37:44 GMT
Read only The Brothers K. and found his treatment of religion and atheism tiresome. Definitely a writer for the ages, I just found his perspective hard to not roll my eyes at. I've little patience for the worldviews of most authors who wrote before the 20th century, to be honest. What science and technology have revealed about the workings of the universe and what horrors we are capable of once in possession of that knowledge are essential for understanding where we are at. Writers who aren't directly informed by these revelations or who weren't actively predicting them just aren't very interesting to me, whatever genius they have with their craft, and I'll readily admit Dostoevsky was a genius. I actually dislike him because he feels like a go to for a lot of pseudo intellectuals I know.
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Post by faustus5 on Nov 26, 2018 21:04:07 GMT
I actually dislike him because he feels like a go to for a lot of pseudo intellectuals I know. I've noticed that, too. I'll give him credit for having big ideas and trying to work his way through them in all sincerity, I just don't think he was using the right tools or asking questions that feel relevant to me. He was a product of his time, and so am I.
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Post by OldSamVimes on Dec 15, 2018 12:49:09 GMT
Read only The Brothers K. and found his treatment of religion and atheism tiresome. Definitely a writer for the ages, I just found his perspective hard to not roll my eyes at. I've little patience for the worldviews of most authors who wrote before the 20th century, to be honest. What science and technology have revealed about the workings of the universe and what horrors we are capable of once in possession of that knowledge are essential for understanding where we are at. Writers who aren't directly informed by these revelations or who weren't actively predicting them just aren't very interesting to me, whatever genius they have with their craft, and I'll readily admit Dostoevsky was a genius. I actually dislike him because he feels like a go to for a lot of pseudo intellectuals I know. That's perhaps the dumbest reason to dislike someone I've ever heard. Intellectual insecurity is a bitch I guess...
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Post by faustus5 on Dec 15, 2018 13:05:20 GMT
I actually dislike him because he feels like a go to for a lot of pseudo intellectuals I know. That's perhaps the dumbest reason to dislike someone I've ever heard. Intellectual insecurity is a bitch I guess... Yeah, that must have really burned, given that Jordan Peterson is one of the most well known pseudo intellectual frauds in the West and he's the only reason you ever bothered with this author. hi224 was certainly on to something. But if you get something out of the big D, that will have been worth something, I guess.
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Post by OldSamVimes on Dec 15, 2018 13:15:32 GMT
That's perhaps the dumbest reason to dislike someone I've ever heard. Intellectual insecurity is a bitch I guess... Yeah, that must have really burned, given that Jordan Peterson is one of the most well known pseudo intellectual frauds in the West and he's the only reason you ever bothered with this author. hi224 was certainly on to something. But if you get something out of the big D, that will have been worth something, I guess. It's too bad your genius is not recognized. Your intellect is wasted here.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Dec 15, 2018 13:25:01 GMT
If you don`t like Dostoevsky you can't be viewed as intelligent.
Of course liking Dostoevsky don`t make you intelligent either. I am a perfect proof of that.
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Post by faustus5 on Dec 15, 2018 13:28:15 GMT
It's too bad your genius is not recognized. Your intellect is wasted here. Never claimed to be a genius, cupcake, nor particularly intellectual or intelligent. I just have the minimum standards it takes to filter out bullshit from real science and real scholarship. You, sadly, do not.
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Post by faustus5 on Dec 15, 2018 13:30:29 GMT
If you don`t like Dostoevsky you can't be viewed as intelligent. That's too simplistic. One can recognize that he was a brilliant author who dealt with big ideas (that's the part that requires some level of intelligence), but strongly disagree with his worldview and ideas to the point where you actively dislike him. Disliking him on those grounds doesn't make you stupid.
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Post by OldSamVimes on Dec 15, 2018 13:33:44 GMT
It's too bad your genius is not recognized. Your intellect is wasted here. Never claimed to be a genius, cupcake, nor particularly intellectual or intelligent. I just have the minimum standards it takes to filter out bullshit from real science and real scholarship. You, sadly, do not. You're smarter than Jordan Peterson and you are smart enough to dismiss Dostoevsky as a product of his time after reading The Brothers Karamazov. Quit being modest, you are WAY smarter than the average person. You should be writing books or lecturing in packed halls. You are wasted here.
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Post by faustus5 on Dec 15, 2018 14:37:55 GMT
You're smarter than Jordan Peterson. . . Don't know if I'm "smarter" than Jordan Peterson--that's a vague and unspecific term. However, I most definitely have a much superior grasp of science and sound epistemology. Alas, that's not because I'm an exceptional person, because I'm not. It's because he's incredibly ignorant and badly informed in comparison. What he's very good at is suckering in gullible marks like you, which is a people skill I'm happy to say I'll never excel in. That, and not his intelligence or work as an important "scholar," is why he's as popular as he is. Without YouTube and a generation of insecure, scientifically illiterate losers to worship him, no one would know he existed. And in a few more decades, no one will anyway. That's not what I did or said, but one can hardly be surprised you'd hallucinate something simple rather than appreciate that something more complicated was being expressed. It's the best you are capable of.
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