As with every thinker, Dostoevsky was deeply influenced by religion and philosophy, which reflects in his works.Magus wrote:LightBrigade, ... ... ...To be entirely honest, I'd never heard of the man before you mentioned him. I am entirely unfamiliar with his philosophies and beliefs, so I cannot claim to comment on them at all. However, if you were to summarize them for me, I might be able to take a stab at it. ... ... ...One is, how would you feel Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov's influence on the author of The Brothers Karamazov (Братья Карамазовы in Russian, the language the work was originally written in), especially regarding patricide, appears in this work of literature?
The Brothers Karamazov indicates influences by the Russian philosopher N.F. Fyodorov’s aspect of patricide as Dostoevski examines the nature of truth and the importance of forgiveness through the actions of its characters. Fyodorov imagined a Christianity where descendants would balance their father’s sins through their own manner of living. In this practice of the whole of mankind, he envisaged a universal family. In this novel, where the sons, instead of redeeming their father, are complicit to their own father’s murder, the ideology of Fyodorov is poignantly reversed, offering The Brothers Karamzov the quality of tragedy in the classic sense.
Personal experience influence also shows in this novel (which began to be written in April 1878).
The death of Dostoevsky’s three-year-old son Alyosha of epilepsy (May 1878), inherited from the father, is apparent in the novel, in the story of Captain Snegiryov and his young son Ilyusha.
While doing forced labour in Siberia (1850’s) for circulating politically subversive texts, Dostoevsky encountered the young man Ilyinsky who had been convicted for patricide in order to acquire his father’s inheritance, yet some years later to be proven innocent when the actual murdered confessed. Dmitri Karamazov resembles Ilyinski in certain physical and emotional characteristics.
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Certain literary techniques Dostoevski applied here have been found interesting. For example, the omniscient narrator angle or speech of the novel characters.
The attorney Fetyukovich says 'robbed' when he means 'stolen' and soon becomes clear he means to show more learned than what he truly is.
The author proclaims himself as a writer and refers to his own traits so often that he becomes a character of the novel himself! He appears to be privy to the protagonists’ thoughts and feelings, and this shows in the novel as his own voice merges with the tone of the characters he is describing. Thus, there is no voice of authority in The Brothers Karamazov.
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What I have just written is merely in my natural habit of discussion, dialogue and debate, not in any way aiming directly or even indirectly to present concepts or worse, any bright ideas of one who thinks he is holding any truth whatsoever *laughter* I am saying this because the Internet is often a poor medium for exchange of ideas. So all this is written in appropriately low tone by one who is forever glad to learn.
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Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing. - Oscar Wilde -
