Demons

reREEEEEEEEEEEE i just bought this

>>9753494
Ha, have you started it yet? What translation do you have?

Yeah, its his hardest, slowest book. I felt the same way but pushed through. Towards the latter parts of the book it gets better. Once I finished it, taken as a whole, it was definitely worth it.

>>9753505
P&V. Haven't started it yet but really excited to. The only other D I've read was TBK but it was the Garnett translation.

>>9753523
My university library only had a Penguin copy translated by Maguire reee. Good luck.

>>9753507
Thanks for the reply, this is encouraging. I didn't know it had that reputation. I read some little bit about how the novel is a warning against the dangers of radicalization, and I wanted to read it because I feel my political views becoming increasingly extreme with each passing day. Did you find it to be such a warning as a whole?

>>9753557
He's warning against the dangers of various "isms" like nihilism, idealism, atheism communism, etc. and how they can wreak havoc in society. IIRC the one of the characters at the dinner party in the last third of the novel presenting his ideas is a thinly veiled caricature of Lenin. Each of the main characters represents one of these "isms". One is an idealist, one is an atheist, one isn't, etc (I can't remember who is who though).

But yeah, it was definitely a warning for Russia at the time. I want to read it again in the near future because it was very interesting and Dostoevsky's ideas in that book were worth studying.

>>9753466
How is the tone of this novel? Heard it was actually satirical, compared to the more serious C&P and Brothers K.

>>9753846
Satirical.

What's the shortest most entry level Dostoviesky novel?

t. pseud with not enough time

>>9754063
Notes from Underground.

For shorts try The Crocodile or The Double.

Demons is fuck awful. Dropped it 100 pages from the end. I got the point and the stupidly obvious plot but it was just a drab and uninteresting affair. it's put me off Dosty and Tolstoy and other Russian novels of this period desu

>>9754188
t. Massive pleb.

>Dropping a tome 100 pages from the end when Demons in particular is summed up at this point, making it worth reading.
>Getting put off from Tolstoy.
>Getting put off from Russian literature.

I hate Americans so damn much.

Demons is the second best Dostoyevsky novel. I don't understand you fucks, why would you not want a book in which every character is a different personification of Ivan Karamazov?

>>9754218
>why would you not want a book in which every character is a different personification of Ivan Karamazov?

you're making me want to read it even more. pls anon im saving it for laters.

>>9754216
I'm English but okay.

I have no qualms with Russian lit. Fathers and Sons for me was a better take on the Russian fear of nihilism and the work of Bulgakov is some of my favs. Gogol too is great and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is next on my reading list also. Demons bored the shit outta me so I dropped it. Its still on my bookshell because the woodcutting on the cover is neat.

I am hesitant to try Tolstoy because everyone throws him in with Dosty and I am not a great fan of dry period dramas. Just not my thing.

tbf I'll probably read Brothers K or C&P in the near future. Tolstoy soon if there's any shorter recommendations aside from the massive obvious tome?

>>9754519
regardless of anything, you can not justify putting down a book 100 pages to the end, jesus...its well known that russian authors, specially dosto, are slow and takes some hundred pages to get going. you read 600 pages of something you didn't like but didn't get to the end, its like you ran the entire marathon but decided not to take a great prize because you didn't enjoy running lol

>>9754838
I don't like quitting books. It's only the third I've given up on

>>9754218
None of the characters are as intelligent as Ivan by estimation.

>>9753494
stop saying REE you puerile virgin faggot

just finished The Idiot, which shoyld i read next, Crime and Punishment or The Brothers Karamozov?