Author Archives: jkmcsparran

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

Letters between Poor Folk and The Double (1846) Shortly before publishing his second novel, Dostoevsky wrote the following to his brother: Some [critics] find a new and original streak in me in the fact that I proceed by Analysis rather than by Synthesis, i.e., that I go deep down and, digging it up, atom byContinue reading

Poor Folk (1846) Fascination—the reader’s holy bliss, thus the writer’s holy grail.  Fascination often starts when I find myself wanting something on behalf of a character.  When this character’s desire meets resistance, my urge to see the character fulfilled increases.  This could be part of why the two narrators of Poor Folk can fascinate meContinue reading

Letters Leading up to Poor Folk (1838-1846) I just reread Poor Folk, published when Dostoevsky was twenty-four.  Twenty-four? How did he have such a deep sense of psychology at twenty-four?  I found a clue in his letters.  He writes this to his brother, Mikhail, in 1839: “I am learning a good deal about ‘what is man and what isContinue reading