I am not necessarily an emotional reader - I can “turn off” my feelings and read a text clinically (which is what I’m doing with Lolita by, Vladimir Nabokov), or I can “turn” my emotions back on and become as emotionally invested as I want - sometimes it just depends on the content of a book, why I’m reading that text, and if I’m enjoying what I’m reading). Yes, this may sound a bit cold; I’m not a cold person, but I’m a logical one (any fellow INTJs out there? Or ENTJs for that matter…). I don’t alwayds read a book for the sole purpose of having an emotional experience.
You guys, I cried in Part II of The Brothers Karamazov. I had to get up, get a tissue and blow my nose. I’m not a huge crier, but this book - this masterpiece, has so much heart. The only other books that took me there were A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (the end….) and A Tale of Two Cities (THE END!).
This section of the book spends quite a bit of time with the character Father Zosima, the revered Elder at the monastery and a particular favorite of Alyosha’s. An unskilled writer could easily make the life of a religious Elder extremely dull, but Dostoyevsky makes this engaging, evocative and beautiful. Even if a reader does not believe in God, I think it’d be difficult to not feel something as one reads those passages. Myself, as a Christian, felt especially tender towards this element.
“I bless the daily rising of the sun, and my heart sings to is as it did of old, but now I am more enamored of its setting, its long, oblique rays, and the quiet, gentle memories that accompany them, the dear images from the whole of a long and blessed life - and above it all the truth of God, moving, reconciling, all-forgiving!”
In Part II there is also a very interesting and at times endearing conversation between Ivan and Aloysha. The two brothers discuss God and how is it possible to reconcile God with the suffering of the innocent, especially children? Ivan dominates the conversation, as he shares his disillusionment and brings up arguments that may be challenging to Alyosha’s faith. I’m going to take an educated guess and say that this conversation between the two brothers is planting a seed in the “angelic” Aleksey.
“It is out of the question that the innocent one [children] shall suffer for one another, especially when it is such an innocent as that!”
Ivan goes on to make the argument that humans are in fact more cruel than animals.
“Actually, people sometimes talk about man’s ‘bestial’ cruelty, but that is being terribly unjust and offensive to the beasts: a beast can never be as cruel as a human being, so artistically, so picturesquely cruel.”
There is also a more general discussion, raising the question: Why do people like to watch the righteous fall?
“… for men like to see the fall of a righteous man and to witness his disgrace.”
Ah, I think we see this a bit today with “cancel culture”, but in the context of The Brothers Karamazov, I have a gut feeling that this theme is going to be relevant to Alyosha.
Can I just say that I adore Alyosha? I can’t put my finger on it yet, but I feel a bit concerned for him - I have a feeling that experiencing his character go through whatever it is that he’ll be going through will be quite a ride. There is a reason why Dostoyevsky made him the principle character of the novel.
I’m moving through The Brothers Karamazov a bit slower than I anticipated, but I don’t mind. This is a piece of literature that demands to be savored. Many passages deserved to be read and then reread. I’m glad that I’m taking notes on each Part and annotating this book as I go, so that I can refer back to my favorite passages whenever I please.
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