satire – mcsparran.page

Unpublished Diaries and Notebooks (1876-1881) In the notebook jottings he hashed out toward the end of his life, Dostoevsky claims that one can’t honestly write satire without combining it with tragedy. In satire, we laugh at someone absurd, and in tragedy, we pity someone suffering. He calls satire and tragedy two sisters who walk sideContinue reading

“Mr. Schedrin” & “The Crocodile” (1865) In Dostoevsky’s story, “The Crocodile,” Ivan is swallowed alive by a crocodile, but everyone is having a hard time caring about getting him out. The narrator is running around trying to get people to care, but as he continues, it becomes clear that even he may not care allContinue reading