Dostoevsky made me want to unlearn Russian. 
Goncharov and Gogol could outwrite Dostoevsky with one hand tied behind their backs. The true genius of Russian literature lies in social satire and black humor, not waffling considerations of German philosophers.
You've got to admit that Raskolnikov (or Rudya :3) was kind of a schmuck, what with his sighing and turning to the wall and so on.
Fixed that for ya.
Seriously, Raskolnikov is what soured me on Dostoevsky. I can't have the slightest shred of sympathy for a character who waffles between thinking he's a Nietzchean
übermensch and being a self-loathing proto-emo wannabe.
"I must kill simply because I CAN kill! Muahaha!"
"Oh crap, I killed someone! What do I do? What do I do??"
"I know, I'll kill MORE people!"
"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap...."
Whereas Goncharov's Oblomov is far more realistic and sympathetic. He too, is a waffler, the difference being that like a true slacker, he never actually gets around to doing anything to begin with. If Goncharov had written Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov would have planned to kill someone to prove the strength of his will....then gone back to bed because it was too cold outside. And had his servant fetch some more soup.
In more seriousness, House of the Dead was extremely interesting. No waffling or philosophy, just a bunch of prisoners doing... prisony things.
Admittedly, I shouldn't issue a blanket denunciation of Dostoevsky based on Crime and Punishment. But I can't help it...it was just SO infuriating to read. Kind of like James Fenimore Cooper and
The Pioneers. After that, I refuse to lift one more page of Cooper's works even if his other stuff is better.
Trying to remember what play I saw in university... "The Suicide: A Russian Comedy," I think it was. Says a lot.
That pretty much says it all. Russians and Brits -- best bitter humor on the planet.
Author
Topic: Things that made you sad today thread. (Read 9776523 times)