The recent stories about the murals at the new Dostoevsky metro station in Moscow, which have led to concerns that it could become a favourite spot for suicides, have made me think about why Dostoevsky is considered such a depressing writer. Is it because he depicts so much poverty and misery? I doubt it, because […]
All posts tagged Dostoevsky
Dostoevsky: not so grim?
Posted by Sarah Young on June 24, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/06/24/dostoevsky-not-so-grim/
Women, beauty and other things
The ambiguous treatment of some of Dostoevsky’s major themes was high on the menu in the first session on Thursday. Joe Andrew gave a very interesting paper on the ‘woman question’ in The Brothers Karamazov, discussing how marginalized the female characters are – in the central family grouping there are no mothers, daughters or sisters […]
Posted by Sarah Young on June 18, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/06/18/women-beauty-and-other-things/
The underground man at the International Dostoevsky Symposium
Wednesday was all about Notes from Underground for me. Carol Apollonio’s paper was stunning, probably the highlight of the symposium, and it confirmed my view of her as one of the most original scholars working on Dostoevsky. She examined the use of pronouns in Notes from Underground (specifically ‘I’), but also giving a broader perspective […]
Posted by Sarah Young on June 17, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/06/17/the-underground-man-at-the-international-dostoevsky-symposium/
More news from Naples
Naples is hot and tiring, but there have been some really great papers and discussions today. Probably the best presentation was by Liza Knapp, on the idea of motherhood and intercession for their sinful sons in House of the Dead – a wonderful, thought-provoking conception which opens up that text in all sorts of interesting […]
Posted by Sarah Young on June 15, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/06/15/more-news-from-naples/
Live from Naples
I’m currently at the 14th International Dostoevsky Symposium in Naples, which started this morning. I missed the opening sessions so don’t have a great deal to report yet except to say that the surroundings in the Palazzo Du Mesnil are really rather sumptuous, and they provided us with a very fine lunch, for which I […]
Posted by Sarah Young on June 14, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/06/14/live-from-naples/
The Crocodile and the Crystal Palace: a whimsy
Some of the best ideas are destined never to make it into print. They’re usually the ‘wouldn’t it be great if…’ ideas, that you know probably aren’t true, and even if they are, there’s no way you’re ever going to prove them. At the same time you don’t want to let them go altogether. And […]
Posted by Sarah Young on June 5, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/06/05/the-crocodile-and-the-crystal-palace-a-whimsy/
Dickens and anti-Semitism
Now I’ve finished reading Oliver Twist, I can say for certain that the depiction of Fagin is undoubtedly the most problematic aspect of the novel. It is widely known to be a graphic example of anti-Semitism, but even so, it’s quite shocking. I say this as someone who’s used to reading Dostoevsky, but I would […]
Posted by Sarah Young on June 1, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/06/01/dostoevsky-dickens-and-anti-semitism/
Summer reading
The exam season is more or less over, my marking marathon is finished, and one of the things I always look forward to at this time of year is being able to read intelligent books for fun. First up is my annual Dickens fix, and this time I’m reading Oliver Twist. This was the book […]
Posted by Sarah Young on May 27, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/05/27/summer-reading/
Imagining St Petersburg
I’ve finally got round to reading Solomon Volkov’s St Petersburg: A Cultural History (Simon & Schuster, 1995). I’ve felt a bit ashamed that I haven’t managed to read it before, but since I reached the half-way point I’ve changed my mind about how important it is, for me at least. It mainly deals with twentieth-century […]
Posted by Sarah Young on May 20, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/05/20/imagining-st-petersburg/
Dostoevsky and Holbein
I have a new publication, but unfortunately I fear that most of my readers will be as incapable of reading it as I am: ‘“Hakuchi” to Holbein “Hakano nakano Kirisuto”,’ Gendai Shiso, 38.4 (2010), 298-307. That’s ‘Holbein’s Christ inthe Tomb in The Idiot‘, translated by Kyohei Norimatsu (to whom many thanks) in a special Dostoevsky issue […]
Posted by Sarah Young on May 15, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/05/15/dostoevsky-and-holbein/