Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov

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Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov is unquestionably one of the greatest works of world literature. With its dramatic portrayal of a Russian family in crisis and its intense investigation into the essential questions of human existence, the novel has had a major impact on writers and thinkers across a broad range of disciplines, from psychology to religious and political philosophy. This proposed reader's guide has two major goals: to help the reader understand the place of Dostoevsky's novel in Russian and world literature, and to illuminate the writer's compelling and complex artistic vision. The plot of the novel centers on the murder of the patriarch of the Karamazov family and the subsequent attempt to discover which of the brothers bears responsibility for the murder, but Dostoevsky's ultimate interests are far more thought-provoking. Haunted by the question of God's existence, Dostoevsky uses the character of Ivan Karamazov to ask what kind of God would create a world in which innocent children have to suffer, and he hoped that his entire novel would provide the answer. The design of Dostoevsky's work, in which one character poses questions that other characters must try to answer, provides a stimulating basis for reader engagement. Having taught university courses on Dostoevsky's work for over twenty years, Julian W. Connolly draws upon modern and traditional approaches to the novel to produce a reader's guide that stimulate the reader's interest and provides a springboard for further reflection and study.

Reviews

A superb introduction to Dostoevsky's great novel. Connolly offers a wealth of original and convincing new insights, situating them within a thorough reading of both classic and recent scholarship. Of particular value is the pitch-perfect analysis of The Brothers Karamazov in its religious context. The extensive and up-to-date bibliography is one of the best I have seen. Connolly's book will be an essential resource for first-time readers and seasoned scholars alike. -- Carol Apollonio, Professor of the Practice, Slavic and Eurasian Studies, Duke University, USA
This is an excellent guide to Dostoevskys final grand statement as a novelist, illuminating the complexities of its plot, characters, themes, and motifs, and paying special attention to its religious dimensions. Drawing on a wide body of scholarship, it will be helpful both for first readers of the novel and for its more advanced students. -- John Burt Foster, Professor of World and Comparative Literature, George Mason University, US
After guiding the readers through the intricacies of Nabokovs Lolita, Julian W. Connolly once again produced a valuable companion, this time to Dostoevskys The Brothers Karamazov. Connolly should be commended for the lucid and at the same time insightful and nuanced presentation of the complexities of Dostoevskys last novel. Connollys book will be indispensable not only for students in every echelon of academic learning, but also for all those interested in Russian literature. -- Gavriel Shapiro, Professor of Comparative and Russian Literature, Cornell University, US
Connolly does an excellent job of guiding the reader through Dostoevsky's vast and complex novel. His prose is straightforward and free of jargon; the book is a pleasure to read. [...] Even an experienced student of Dostoevsky will find Connolly's survey and deployment of recent scholarly work on the novel to be of great interest and assistance. [...] Connolly's guide to The Brothers Karamazov will be useful and illuminating for students and general readers as well as Russianists interested in an incisive prcis of recent work on the novel. -- Susanne Fusso, Wesleyan University * Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 58, No. 2, Summer 2014 *

Author Bio

Julian W. Connolly is Professor and Chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Virginia, USA. He is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov (2005), and author of Nabokov and His Fiction: A New Perspective (1999) and Nabokov's 'Invitation to a Beheading': A Critical Companion (1997). He has taught university courses on Dostoevsky for over 20 years.