Once Again Im Thinking About The Brothers Karamazov At 4 Am - Blog Posts

gingerlyj

2 years ago

Honestly, one of the things that fuck me up the most about The Brothers Karamazov, is not only that Dostoyevski names Fyodor Karamazov —arguably the most vile character in the novel— after himself; but that he names this character's pure son, mr. little ray of sunshine Alyosha, the same as the son Dostoyevski lost at three years old, a loss that pained him all his life, like????? what did you meant by this sir???? does such goodness only belongs to the realm of death?? of fantasy?? Are we always to taint good works through our polluting influence? what does this mean!!!!

A quote from W. J. Leatherbarrow's book on The Brothers Karamazov that reads: "If Dostoyevsky felt guilty as a son, he felt no less so as a father. In May 1878 his beloved son Alyosha died after an epileptic seizure, a disease he inherited from his father. The author was inconsolable and his grief contributed to the tenderness with which he portrayed his young hero, Alyosha, and the other children in The Brothers Karamazov."

From W. J. Leatherbarrow's "Fyodor Dostoyevsky: The Brother's Karamazov"