“Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.”
—The Brothers Karamazov
January 2010
32 posts
“I am reading The Karamazovs and am yearning to finish it soon. Dostoevskii is a writer of genius, but an antipathetic one. The more I read, the more he weighs down on me.”
—Tchaikovsky in a letter to Modest Tchaikovsky, 23 August/4 September 1881. As I already posted in russianliterature, from the great Tchaikovsky Research.
“I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea.”
—Notes from Underground
“To study the meaning of man and of life — I am making significant progress here. I have faith in myself. Man is a mystery: if you spend your entire life trying to puzzle it out, then do not say that you have wasted your time. I occupy myself with this mystery, because I want to be a man.”
—Personal correspondence (1839), as quoted in Dostoevsky: His Life and Work (1971) by Konstantin Mochulski, as translated by Michael A. Minihan, p. 17
Readers by Author
Leo Tolstoy
Guys I want to date.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Guys I want to sleep with. (The difference between the two Russian authors lies in the fact that I think the Underground Man is sexier than Pierre Buzukhov).
SO MUCH WIN :’D
(full article here)
“Don’t let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them.”
— Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot (via theanimalinme) (via tobia) (via rhea137) (via leda-swanson) (via cargohoo) (via beelockwood) (via aboveall-love) (via fuckyeahexistentialism)
“Granted I am a babbler, a harmless vexatious babbler, like all of us. But what is to be done if the direct and sole vocation of every intelligent man is babble, that is, the intentional pouring of water through a sieve?”
—Notes from Underground
“It is not the brains that matter most, but that which guides them — the character, the heart, generous qualities, progressive ideas.”
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (via shepreachespoetry)
“Because Dickens and Dostoevsky and Woody Guthrie were telling their stories much better than I ever could, I decided to stick to my own mind.”
—Bob Dylan
“Even if man were nothing but a piano key, even if this were proved to him by natural science and mathematics, even then he would not become reasonable, but would purposely do something perverse out of sheer ingratitude, simply to have his own way…then, after all, perhaps only by his curse will he attain his object, that is, really convince himself that he is a man and not a piano key! If you say that all this, too, can be calculated and tabulated…then man would purposely go mad in order to be rid of reason and have this own way.”
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes From Underground (via momofsho)
“I have a longing for life, and I go on living in spite of logic. Though I may not believe in the order of the universe, yet I love the sticky little leaves as they open in spring. I love the blue sky, I love some people, whom one loves you know sometimes without knowing why. I love some great deeds done by men, though I’ve long ceased perhaps to have faith in them, yet from old habit one’s heart prizes them.”
—Ivan Karamazov
“Tell me yourself, I challenge you—answer. Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last. Imagine that you are doing this but that it is essential and inevitable to torture to death one tiny creature […] in order to found that edifice on its unavenged tears. Would you consent to be the architect on those conditions? Tell me. Tell me the truth.”
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, ‘Rebellion’ (via inancyi) (via quote-book)
“‘You’re not Dostoevsky,’ said the citizeness, who was getting muddled by Koroviev.
‘Well, who knows, who knows,’ he replied.
‘Dostoevsky’s dead,’ said the citizeness, but somehow not very confidently.
‘I protest!’ Behemoth exclaimed hotly.
‘Dostoevsky is immortal!’” —Mikhail Bulgakov (via russianliterature)
‘Well, who knows, who knows,’ he replied.
‘Dostoevsky’s dead,’ said the citizeness, but somehow not very confidently.
‘I protest!’ Behemoth exclaimed hotly.
‘Dostoevsky is immortal!’” —Mikhail Bulgakov (via russianliterature)
“I did not bow down to you, I bowed down to all the suffering of humanity.”
— Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (via thechocolatebrigade)
“I know very well that I don’t write as well as Turgenev; still the difference is really not so great, and I hope in time to write quite as well as he does.”
—Fyodor Dostoevsky on a letter to a friend (1859)
“When one’s young, ideas come crowding incredibly into one’s head; but one should not capture each and all of them as it flies, and rush to give it forth. One should rather await the synthesis, and think more; wait till the many single details which make up an idea have gathered themselves into a nucleus, into a large, imposing picture; then, and not till then, should one write them down. The colossal figures, created by the colossal writers, have often grown out of long, stubborn labour.”
—Fyodor Dostoevsky on letter to a friend (1856)
So here's a hard one. What would you say is your favorite of Mr. D's extensive writings?
@substitutescene: The Idiot.
@ishityounot: The Devils.
While I think The Devils is BS, @ishityounot thinks the same thing about The Idiot.
P.S.: @substitutescene hasn’t finished The Idiot yet
P.S.2: I’M BUSY OK? TKS
Ask us anything
“I’ll give you my impressions [about literature], such as they are: Turgenev pleases me best; it is only a pity that he’s so often unequal to his great talent. Liev Tolstoy I like very well, but I have an idea that he won’t do much (perhaps I’m mistaken, however)”
—Fyodor Dostoevsky on a letter to friend (1856)
“There is immeasurably more left inside than what comes out in words. Your thought, even a bad one, while it is with you, is always more profound, but in words it is more ridiculous and dishonorable.”
—Fyodor Dostoevsky (via rondamarie)
“Every man has some reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends. He has others which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But finally there are still others which a man is even afraid to tell himself, and every decent man has a considerable number of such things stored away. That is, one can even say that the more decent he is, the greater the number of such things in his mind.”
—Notes from the Underground
“There are three forces, the only three forces capable of conquering and enslaving forever the conscience of these weak rebels in the interests of their own happiness. They are: the miracle, the mystery and authority.”
—Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821 - 1881) (via justbesplendid)
How to Fake Like You've Read Dostoevsky
Reading books is hard, yo! Fake your favorite author.
How To Fake Like You’ve Read Dostoevsky
If you’re trying to present yourself as someone who is a brooding intellectual, let’s do a quick review of Fyodor Dostoevsky.
1. Knowing Dostoevsky’s first name is not important. Knowing how to pronounce his name is important. Say it like this: DOS [like the “dos” in “Dos Equis,” you drunk] – TOY [the dirty kind]- EV [the nickname for that Russian guy you slept with] – SKI [the sport I cannot do]. Also, Dostoevsky is spelled various ways, but since you’re already too dumb and lazy to read, let’s only focus on this spelling. It’s how most Americans spell it and America – fuck yeah!
2. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are not the same thing. Just because they are both Russian authors does not mean that you should put them in the same camp. Tolstoy will be covered in another post.
3. Crime and Punishment is like the Tell Tale Heart (you know the story by the first major Goth guy, right?). A man kills and the guilt eats away at him psychologically (very barebones of the plot, try not to talk specifics). No one who is a fan of Dostoevsky would only read Crime and Punishment. Name drop The Brothers Karamazov, say that you still read over Zosima’s passages when you need to feel inspired about your worldview.
4. Dostoevsky got exiled to Siberia because he’s a badass motherfucker.
5. Dostoevsky focused on ethical questions such as the role of free will and God in a man’s life. He wanted people to understand that depravity breeds depravity. Hopelessness will lead to hopelessness. Basically, if you act like an antisocial asshole, you’ll be an antisocial asshole (see: The Underground Man). This is because Dostoevsky was against nihilism and rationalism – he wanted to show how thinking without emotions leads to actions without emotions. But I’m probably getting too philosophical for you.
“[I’ve] come to two conclusions: that I’m illiterate, I write atrociously and that I’m a boaster.”
—Fyodor Dostoevsky on a letter to his brother Mikhail (1845); always down to Earth…
nathalie: what are you favorite books? do you love bukowski?
elliott smith: i don’t care too much for bukowski - i like beckett and dostoevsky and a lot of russian novelists. bukowski is american and seems too much like he’s telling me stuff i already know. (source)
I know this is not an exactly Dostoyevsky post but Elliott is a personal favorite, so as Beckett.
The new year came with something great to us, our 100th follower. We would like to thank every single one of you for following us. Happy New Year everyone!
Also, we would like to remind of our twitter: http://twitter.com/FMDostoyevsky
and formspring (ask me anything!): http://www.formspring.me/dostoyevsky
