The Brothers Karamazov: Introduction by Malcolm Jones

This is the great book -- so much so that I've read it several times at different points in my life. On earlier readings in my youth, I was struck with the brilliance of Ivan Karamazov and his ability to anticipate and articulate the great philosophical movements of the 20th century. Dostoyevsky is remarkable because he can give the devil his due, with strong characters who embrace visions opposing his own conservative brand of Christian philosophy. On this reading, though, it is clear to me that Dostoyevsky exposes the essential shabbiness of Ivan's thinking. Ivan is the one who is most like Fyodor, observes Smerdyakov. I suppose this is so because he can't transcend his passions, which are in his case intellectual. It is no accident that the devil appears in this book as the shabby poor relation. Evil is both powerful and pathetic. Alyosha's speech at the end of the novel is such a pure and warm spirited evocation of optimism and virtue as to be unlike anything Dostoyevsky ever wrote. It is a beautiful a speech as there is in literature, rivaled perhaps only by Gabriel's musings at the end of Joyce's "The Dead." I've only read the Constance Garnett translation in the past. This translation is quite good and more appealing to the modern reader -- free of the Victorian prudery of Garnett.

Best book I’ve ever read by an unmeasurable margin, this translation is particularly helpful for me to keep everything straight. The binding is classy and the paper is beautiful, the book is done beautifully and the treatment of this masterpiece is appropriate to say the least!

More than 50 years after I first read 'The Brothers Karamzov' while in high school (my existential phase, which became more than a phase), I re-read it as a part of our successful "read the classics" program with my wife in December 2014. And the novel, read through a second time (and possibly more closely than the first time) "holds up" amazingly -- although it stands in stark contrast to much of what is around nowadays in both form and content. After all, a novel where some paragraphs are three or four pages long is not about to get to the top of today's Best Seller lists. But it's worth the time and effort Dostoevsky demands. His characters are complex and provide some insights into the worlds of pre-Revolutionary Russia that would be lost to history had Dostoevsky not taken on this massive "psychological" novel. The challenges faced by the three Karamatzov brothers (and their half brother) may seem unusual today. After all, nearly 150 years of modernity have passed since the patrimony in the family Karamazov caused the three brothers -- Alexi, Ivan, and Dimitri -- to face the various insults and injuries put upon them by their monstrous father. And as close readers realize, it is the fourth brother who has the most to be angry about, because he was the product of the rape of a girl from the town by the elder Karamazov. A crime novel, a "psychological" novel, and series of meditations that helped give rise to 20th Century "existentialism" -- and in some ways a proto-feminist meditation, "The Brothers Karamazov" challenges the reader, in the most intelligent ways. The novel could be a 21st Century soap opera that could stretch for years (decades perhaps) just based on the panoply of characters presented to the reader. But if a novel is also to be judged based on the fulfillment of its "minor" characters, then here, too, Dostoevsky has triumphed. Despite the fact that none of the female characters is one of the leading characters, a half dozen of the women in the novel could easily be featured in a long-running HBO series. I can almost picture the reviews five years hence, when a bunch of "bingers" compare "The Brothers Karamazov" to "Breaking Bad," "The Sopranos," or the immortal "The Wire" (which I have compared to the great Russian novels). A 21st Century genre could perhaps revive this masterpiece of the 19th. Dostoevsky still holds second place in my heart to the great novels of Tolstory (I taught "Anna Karenina" to Chicago high school students for several years, always with great satisfaction to both the students and myself; and I always wished I could teach "War and Peace" -- but there just wasn't time). And I don't know if we are up to the challenge of going through "Crime and Punishment," "The Idiot," and "The Possessed" as closely as we did "The Brothers Karamazov" as the cold weather began here in Chicago. But the effort was well worth it. (Even though I had to read a Carl Haisson novel in the middle of the long march through Dostoevsky to take a breather). And you have to wonder how Dostoevsky would have written that sequel to the story of the Karamazovs, the one he was outlining after the publication of the story of Alexi, Dimitri, and Ivan. But he died, as to all great artists, and we don't have to worry, I hope, about someone taking up the next generation of the works of one of the world's great novelists the way some lesser novelists, from Ian Fleming to Margaret Mitchell, have been...

This is fully a philosophy book about religion and family not really a novel. Still it was enjoyable and I would 100% reread certain chapters

This novel is a joy to read! Why is great literature great? It inspires thoughtful and entertaining contemplation upon humanity, and, one's own self. The interactions are profound, the characters live within each of us! Know thyself, and smile.

One of the best ever written. The storytelling is just amazing, although some parts where characters just keep on rambling on about religion can be a bit tiresome. But reading the book is a very rewarding experience. I'd rank this above Crime and Punishment, but just below Anna Karenina and War and Peace. I simultaneously read the e-book of Michael Katz's translation and this physical book which is the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation. You can't go wrong with either versions. They're both better than the Garnett translation. The quality of the Everyman's Library edition is very good, certainly for the price. Just be warned that the leters are on the small side. For those interested, there's a Youtube channel (Mosfilm) showing Soviet era movies, and one of them is the 1968 film version of this book.

Excellent book!

I really enjoyed this long work of Dostoevsky's, and despite the length, it did not feel like a chore to finish. There was a heavy emphasis on Christian philosophy, with great insight into different characters' psychological perspectives. I particularly enjoyed (and reread multiple times) The Grand Inquisitor chapter and Ivan's conversation with the Devil. If you have difficulty reading small text, avoid this book! It is beautiful in every other way: the cover, binding, paper, etc., but the text was the smallest of the Everyman's Library books I have read thus far. Overall, an excellent book, my #1 fiction book to date!

書籍版Richard Pevear＆Larissa Volokhonskyバージョン「カラマーゾフの兄弟」の「その他のフォーマット」からKindle版に飛んで購入したのだが、いざKindle版を購入してみるとコンスタンス・ガーネット版であった。 にもかかわらずKindle版の商品説明欄の「抜粋」は上記リチャード・ピビア＆ラリサ・ボロホンスキの文章と全く同じままである。これではカスタマーが間違っても仕方ないのではあるまいか。 それどころか、他の英訳版もほとんどおんなじ商品説明である。これでは、一体全体どれがどの英訳なのか、判断がつかない。 「カラマーゾフの兄弟」には数種類の英訳があるのだが、どうもKindle版はコンスタンス・ガーネット版らしい。だが商品説明の「抜粋」は別の英訳(リチャード・ピビア＆ラリサ・ボロホンスキ)のものなので紛らわし過ぎる。 それぞれ、ちゃんと訂正してほしい。せめて訳者名だけでも明記してほしいところ。

This novel is undoubtedly one of the greatest novels ever written. It is impossible to "review" this masterpiece - it MUST be read!