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The Brothers Karamazov
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Brothers Karamazov w/reading schedule
Mod
Mod
http://www.amazon.com/The-Brothers-Ka...
and it is a free online e-book for anyone here on Goodreads as well:
http://www.goodreads.com/reader/691-t...
I'm in too.. I already own a copy :)
I'm in! I've wanted to read this for a long time. I'm worried that I won't have enough time to devote to it, but I'm really going to try. Thanks for the link to the free Kindle version Sheila!
I have tried and given up on it once or twice in the past. Let me see whether a group discussion will tempt me to finish it off once and for all..
Meg, do you have a recommendation for which translation to read?
Mod
Translation
The diverse array of literary techniques and distinct voices in the novel makes its translation difficult, although The Brothers Karamazov has been translated from the original Russian into a number of languages. In English, the translation by Constance Garnett probably continues to be the most widely read. However, some have criticized Garnett for taking too much liberty with Dostoyevsky's text while translating the novel in a Victorian manner.[who?] Another popular translation is by Julius Katzer, published by Progress Publishers in 1981 and later re-printed by Raduga Publishers Moscow.
In 1958, Manuel Komroff released a translation of the novel, published by The New American Library of World Literature, Inc.[11] In 1976, Ralph Matlaw thoroughly revised Garnett's work for his Norton Critical Edition volume.[12] This in turn was the basis for Victor Terras' influential A Karamazov Companion.[13] In 1990 Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky released a new translation; it won a PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize in 1991 and garnered positive reviews from The New York Times Book Review and the Dostoyevsky scholar Joseph Frank, who praised it for being the most faithful to Dostoyevsky's original Russian.[14] The translation by Andrew R. MacAndrew is also highly regarded.
Mod
The free version available here on Goodreads is the Garnett translation, revised by Ralph E. Matlaw.
The copy I have says it was translated by Andrew R. MacAndrew.
What translations does everyone else have? It's always interesting to see how they all compare. :o)
I will try to get to the bookstore and see what is available. My life right now is upside down. We are on strike and my son is get married in two weeks. I don't have the clothes/shoes yet for the wedding. Life is interesting!
That is a book I've picked up and put down about a hundred times, lol. I did love The Brothers K, though, which was supposed to be (loosely) based on it.
I am going to try and go with the kindle version. The MacAndrew's version for those holding books looks like a really nice version. I will post the reading schedule momentarily. If any one wants to lead the discussion let me know, otherwise I will be doing it!
November 13 - read Book 1November 20 - discuss Book 1 read Book 2 Chaps 1-4
November 27 - discuss Chaps 1-4 Finish Book 2
December 4/11 - Discuss Book 2 Read Book 3
December 11 - Discuss book 3 read Book 4
December 18 - Discuss Book 4 Read Book 5 Chaps 1-4
January 1 - Discuss Book 5 (1-4) Read Finish book 5
January 8 - Discuss Book 5 read Book 6
January 15 - discuss Book 6 Read Book 7
January 22 - Discuss Book 7 read Book 8
January 29 - Discuss Book 8 Read Book 9 Chaps 1-5
February 5 - Discuss 1-5 Finish Book 9
February 12 - Discuss Book 9 read Book 10
February 19 - Discuss Book 10 read Book 11 Chaps 1-5
February 26 - Discuss Book 11 1-5 and finish Book 11
March 4 Discuss Book 11 read Book 12 Chaps 1-7
March 11 - Discuss Book 12 Chaps 1-7 Finish book
March 18 - Discuss entire book
Happy reading!!!
Because I am doing it kindle style I might not have assigned enough reading per week so that can change, also the reverse if I assigned too many pages for a week. I have given a couple of extra weeks due to the holiday season.
Rebecca wrote: "I think that this finding makes me want to go with this translation but also because my copy of War and Peace is also done by these translators as well. The Constance Gardner one looks to be widely..."Thank you Rebecca! I loved Pevear and Volokhonsky's translation of War and Peace. I just ordered their translation for this read and now, I'm really looking forward to it - thanks for letting me know it was out there!
This is my favorite novel. Let me encourage those so inclined to just skip the long-long-long section where what's-his-name the religious leader (the bad one, not the good one) goes on and on and on....Because there's so much else that's great in this book!
Shelley
Rain: A Dust Bowl Story
http://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.com
OK my friends, are we good with the reading schedule?
Mod
Looks good - thanks Meg!
Depending on a couple of variables (school, finishing Frankenstein, and work), I might join in, so I'll keep my eye on this thread. I bought a copy of this over the summer (the P&V translation) and the Russians intimidate me, so the group setting might be helpful.
Lori wrote: "Depending on a couple of variables (school, finishing Frankenstein, and work), I might join in, so I'll keep my eye on this thread. I bought a copy of this over the summer (the P&V translation) an..."I could not have gotten through War & Peace with out the group read! It definitely made the experience much better and more "do-able"! Hope you decide to join in!
I hope you join in also Lori. One of the things that work in our group is the fact that we usually don't read over 100 pages per week, then it is not as intimidating.
I really hope that I'll be able to, but I'm in thesis hours and a directed readings, both of which involve a ton of reading. However, a pleasure book is always nice to have around.
Well if you can we would love to have you.
I'm in this one. I ordered the book from Amazon and it should get here tomorrow.
I just got the book and I'm ready to go!
I think I want to be in too!I just need to find a good Swedish copy now.
I am excited. I am going to really try to make time for this.
I am very excited with our group!
Mod
Has anyone in the group read this before?
I read it about 30 years ago, I remember loving it but don't remember it at all.
I'm going to *try* doing this, lol. I downloaded the book on my Kindle today. Since it was free, it was a very good deal :)
BIOGRAPHYDostoevsky was born of lower-middle-class parents in 1821, the second of seven children, and lived until 1881. His father, an army doctor attached to the staff of a public hospital, was a stern and righteous man while his mother was the opposite — passive, kindly, and generous — and this fact accounts perhaps for Dostoevsky's often filling his novels with characters who seem to possess opposite extremes of character.
Dostoevsky's early education was in an army engineering school, where he was apparently bored with the dull routine and the unimaginative student life. He spent most of his time, therefore, dabbling in literary matters and reading the latest authors; the penchant for literature was obsessive. And, almost as obsessive was Dostoevsky's interest in death, for while the young student was away at school, his father was killed by the serfs on his estate. This sudden and savage murder smoldered within the young Dostoevsky and, when he began to write, the subject of crime, and murder in particular, was present in every new publication; Dostoevsky was never free of the horrors of homicide and even at the end of his life, he chose to write of a violent death — as the basis for his masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov.
After spending two years in the army, Dostoevsky launched his literary career with Poor Folk, a novel that was an immediate and popular success and one highly acclaimed by the critics. Never before had a Russian author so thoroughly examined the psychological complexity of man's inner feelings and the intricate workings of the mind.
Following Poor Folk, Dostoevsky's only important novel for many years was The Double, a short work dealing with a split personality and containing the genesis of a later masterpiece, Crime and Punishment.
Perhaps the most crucial years of Dostoevsky's melodramatic life occurred soon after the publication of Poor Folk. These years included some of the most active, changing phases in all of Russian history and Dostoevsky had an unusually active role in this era of change. Using influences acquired with his literary achievements, he became involved in political intrigues of quite questionable natures. He was, for example, deeply influenced by new and radical ideas entering Russia from the West and soon became affiliated with those who hoped to revolutionize Russia with all sorts of Western reforms. The many articles Dostoevsky wrote, concerning the various political questions, he published knowing full well that they were illegal and that all printing was to be controlled and censored by the government.
The rebel-writer and his friends were, of course, soon deemed treasonous revolutionaries and placed in prison and, after nine months, a number of them, including Dostoevsky, were tried, found guilty, and condemned to be shot by a firing squad.
The entire group was accordingly assembled, all preparations were completed, and the victims were tied and blindfolded. Then, seconds before the shots were to be fired, a messenger from the Tsar arrived. A reprieve had been granted. Actually, the Tsar had never intended that the men were to be shot; he merely used this sadistic method to teach Dostoevsky and his friends a lesson. This soul-shaking, harrowing encounter with death, however, created a never-to-be forgotten impression on Dostoevsky; it haunted him for the rest of his life.
After the commutation of the death sentence, Dostoevsky was sent to Siberia and during the years there, he changed his entire outlook on life. During this time, amidst horrible living conditions — stench, ugliness, hardened criminals, and filth — he began to re-examine his values. There was total change within the man. He experienced his first epileptic seizure and he began to reject a heretofore blind acceptance of new ideas that Russia was absorbing. He underwent a spiritual regeneration so profound that he emerged with a prophetic belief in the sacred mission of the Russian people. He believed that the salvation of the world was in the hands of the Russian folk and that eventually Russia would rise to dominate the world. It was also in prison that Dostoevsky formulated his well-known theories about the necessity of suffering. Suffering became the means by which man's soul is purified; it expiated sin; it became man's sole means of salvation.
When Dostoevsky left Siberia, he resumed his literary career and soon became one of the great spokesmen of Russia. Then, in 1866, he published his first masterpiece, Crime and Punishment. The novel is the story of Raskolnikov, a university student who commits a senseless murder to test his moral and metaphysical theories concerning the freedom of the will. The novel exhibits all the brilliant psychological analyses of character for which Dostoevsky was to become famous and incorporates the theme of redemption through suffering.
Most of Dostoevsky's adult life was plagued with marital problems, epileptic seizures and, most of all, by creditors. Often he had to compose novels at top speed in order to pay his many mounting debts, but by the end of his life, he was sufficiently free of worry so that he was able to devote all his energy to the composition of The Brothers Karamazov and at his death, only a year after the publication of this masterwork, he was universally acknowledged to be one of Russia's greatest writers.
from cliffnotes.com
The Karamazov FamilyCharacter List
Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov The father, who is a cynical, immoral, and depraved sensualist dedicated only to the fulfillment of his carnal desires.
Dmitri (Mitya) His oldest son, who develops an intense hatred for his father
Ivan The second son, who develops into the extreme intellectual and who questions all values of life.
Alyosha (Alexey) The youngest son, who is deeply religious and who functions as the central figure in the novel.
Smerdyakov (Pavel Fyodorovitch Smerdyakov) Old Karamazov's illegitimate son, whose last name was assigned to him by Fyodor and whose first names were merely adopted.
Adelaida Karamazov's first wife and the mother of Dmitri.
Sofya Karamazov's second wife and the mother of Ivan and Alyosha.
To help you get started, a summary of book 1 and its presentation (again from cliffnotes)Book I provides a history of the major characters and their relationships, so the narrator can jump right into the main story in Book II without stopping to explain things as he goes. The narrator presents all of the incidents described in these chapters as though they take place before the real beginning of his story, describing the events as information that is generally well-known, repeated only for the convenience of a reader who somehow may not have heard it before. The narrator, as a result, is a strong presence in these chapters. The narrator signals that the story he tells is widely known by interjecting phrases such as “only later did we learn” and “well known in his own day.”
I'd love to join in this one, not sure if time will permit, but .... I will if I can. Thanks Meg.
Great! we would love to have you.
Mod
Character List
Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov The father,."
Dang, another book with a ton of confusing Russian names. :o)
I am going to have to cram and get finished with Anna Karenina, which I am currently reading and which also has a ton of confusing Russian names. Otherwise I am going to start mixing the characters in these two books up! LOL
Dang, another book with a ton of confusing Russian names. :o)Lol. I know, right? I had the same trouble with this when I read Crime and Punishment and The Idiot. I wonder if Russians find English/Canadian/U.S. names confusing?
Rebecca: yes, I reread it every few years, but it's been a while now. When my daughter was about junior high age, I read it out loud to her while she lay on the floor drawing.Meg, I was just rereading this whole thread and I have to ask: did you end up homeless??
Shelley
Rain: A Dust Bowl Story
http://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.com
Shelley I am not homeless! I did make it and enjoyed my son's wedding, it was great. And the strike ended. Now my attempt at normalcy.
Excellent - I've been trying to read this for 13 years. I'm in! I'll download the Kindle version tomorrow.
I'm starting right now...let's see how it goes. I use a piece of cardstock that I type the characters names and a little summary about them on, as a bookmark. I fold it in half and I also have lines printed on it...just in case I want to remember something and feel the need to write it down. It helps me stay on track.
I am going to give it a try. I had downloaded it awhile ago on my Nook. I started it tonight.
Chicks On Lit
Books mentioned in this topic
The Brothers Karamazov (other topics)Crime and Punishment (other topics)
The Idiot (other topics)
The Idiot (other topics)
Crime and Punishment (other topics)
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How does start date of 11/13 sound? Anyone interested in leading this? My life should be back to normal by then or else I will be homeless, either way I will have more time to read!