jkmcsparran

A Christmas Tree and a Wedding (1848) The basic outline of “A Christmas Tree and a Wedding” is quite conventional. The affinity between a boy and girl is threatened by the girl’s grotesque suitor, whose social position enamors the girl’s parents. I’ve heard variations on this theme many times. But Dostoevsky’s version has some oddContinue reading

An Honest Thief (1848) If I’m going to write fiction, I must be curious about people. That’s vital. But if one of these people, say a roofer come to fix my leaking chimney, actually knocks on my door, two inner voices can drown out my ears of curiosity. The first voice calls curiosity unnecessary. “YourContinue reading

Another Man’s Wife, or the Husband Under the Bed (1848) In Herman Melville’s The Confidence-Man, the narrator claims that the best readers look for “more reality, than real life itself can show.” An actor’s body is more expressive than a candid person’s because the actor must reveal what a person experiences but cannot express. FictionContinue reading

A Weak Heart (1848) The narrative style of “A Weak Heart” is full of gaps and misdirection. Vasya and Arkady are both infatuated with Lizanka, yet at no point do either speak of jealousy. Who ever heard of a love triangle without jealousy? After Vasya and Arkady have a long and passionate discussion about Vasya’sContinue reading

Polzunkov (1848) “Polzunkov” is about a man who’s unable resist the impulse to humiliate himself. I can’t read this story without a feeling a searing “why?” The narrator insists that Polzunkov is kind and noble, yet his life is a grotesque parody of Christ’s call to turn the other cheek. “They strike you on theContinue reading

The Landlady (1847) One of the most difficult decisions one makes when composing fiction is how to frame the point of view. In The Landlady, Dostoevsky tackles this issue in interesting ways. He largely relies on the perspective of his protagonist, Ordynov. In the early pages, the narrator describes Ordynov’s childhood: “Every one was alwaysContinue reading

A Novel in Nine Letters (1847) What I find fun about this story is the sort of relationship Dostoevsky develops with me as the reader. The story, like Poor Folk, is written as an exchange of letters between two people. Early on, I discover that one or both of the narrators is willfully lying. ThisContinue reading

Four Essays from The Petersburg News (1847) Toward the end of Dostoevsky’s essays for The Petersburg News, he a sketches a personality type he calls The Dreamer. The Dreamer’s defect is his “uncontrolled imagination,” which intoxicates him. The Dreamer thinks he is being inspired with great art, but in actuality “the talent of real lifeContinue reading

Mr. Prohartchin (1846) Part of my awe of reading comes from the experience of discovering that differing characters, events, places, and objects all have a unifying element that creates a grand pattern. When fiction is too clearly unified, it’s boring. Why would I want to read about something that is exactly as it appears? There’sContinue reading

The Double (1846) The Double has a distinct resemblance to Nikolai Gogol’s Diary of a Madman (1835). Both chronicle a man’s descent into delusion, both are energized by curiosity about the experience of psychosis. Yet the readerly experiences they offer are about as similar as watching a bullfight on TV to being eye to eyeContinue reading