The Fyodor Dostoyevsky Group discussion

Hello everyone and Welcome again!

The main reason behind the formation of this group was the interest shown by few readers in doing a joint read of Dostoyevsky's masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov but given the wonderful response we have got in terms of members who have joined us and hopefully will join in the near future, this group is going to devote itself to the entire oeuvre of Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

For our first reading, we’re going to undertake The Brothers Karamazov.

Start Date: January 31, 2014.

Tentative Finish Date : May 2, 2014

Majority of us will opt for Pevear and Volokhonsky translation but considering that some will be reading Garnett or other translations, individual threads with more details will be posted soon so that everyone can follow the discussion without much trouble.

After considering a wide variety of editions and different translations, all the moderators have come to the conclusion that specifying page numbers for the individual sections to be read over a 1-week or 2-week period will be near impossible. Hence based on the Constance Garnett and the Pevear and Volokhonsky translations, I have estimated the rough number of pages that will be read every week and formed a schedule to be followed for the group read based on this information. But the number of pages are bound to vary significantly from one edition to another. Nearly all the editions are divided into 12 distinct Books (in the way of Book I, Book II and so on) plus an Epilogue. Hence that seems to be a better marker for our collective use than page numbers.

31/01/2014 - 6/02/2014 - Book I and II
(around 72 pages in P&V translation)
(around 93 pages in Garnett version)

7/02/2014 - 13/02/2014 - Book III
(around 60 pages in P&V translation)
(around 76 pages in Garnett version)

14/02/2014 - 20/02/2014 - Book IV
(around 43 pages in P&V translation)
(around 54 pages in Garnett version)

21/02/2014 - 27/02/2014 - Book V
(around 60 pages in P&V translation)
(around 77 pages in Garnett version)

28/02/3014 - 6/03/2014 - Book VI and Book VII
(around 69 pages in P&V translation
(around 91 pages in Garnett version)

7/03/2014 - 13/03/2013 - Book VIII
(around 69 pages in P&V translation)
(around 92 pages in Garnett version)

14/03/2014 - 20/03/2014 - Book IX
(around 58 pages in P&V translation)
(around 75 pages in Garnett version)

21/03/2014 - 27/03/2014 - Book X
(around 41 pages in P&V translation)
(around 53 pages in Garnett version)

28/03/2014 - 10/04/2014 - Book XI
(around 80 pages in P&V translation
(around 106 pages in Garnett version)

11/04/2014 - 24/04/2014 - Book XII
(around 85 pages in P&V translation)
(around 109 pages in Garnett version)

25/04/2014 - 2/05/2014 - Epilogue
(around 18 pages in P&V translation)
(around 22 pages in Garnett version)

Book XI and XII have been spread over a 2-week schedule individually because they are longer. Book I is very short (only 23 pages in P&V and 29 pages in Garnett) hence I clubbed it with Book II. Same goes for Book VI which is only 49 pages long in Garnett and 37 pages long in P&V translations, hence has been clubbed with Book VII.

If anyone has a problem with this schedule and wishes for further rearrangement of dates, please let us know.

it looks promising. I usually read faster, but I plan to take notes (not in the underground, I don't have one in my town), and join discussions on each morcel.

Great job, Samadrita. The schedule certainly looks manageable and now I'm super excited for our read.

Great job . looking forward to it.

I think it would have been better if we did a reading of his works in chronological order. But still, I'm in.

Nice work on the division, Samadrita! ;)

Meticulously Marvellous, Thank you Samadrita for this :)

Excellent Samadrita! Thank you very much for organizing the group. Outstanding job.

Thank you Samadrita for organising this. Looking forward for the read :)