“Non-Russian readers do not realize two things: that not all Russians love Dostoevsky as much as Americans do, and that most of those Russians who do, venerate him as a mystic and not as an artist. He was a prophet, a claptrap journalist and a slapdash comedian. I admit that some of his scenes, some of his tremendous farcical rows are extraordinarily amusing. But his sensitive murderers and soulful prostitutes are not to be endured for one moment—by this reader anyway.” V. Nabokov, [0]
I really recommend Nabokov's full lecture on Dostoyevsky [1], plus obvs all the of the lectures in the series are brilliant.
Nabokov is the proof that being a genius writer doesn't always imply having good taste. For example, see his opinion on Henry James, Faulkner or Camus.
The man wrote what he wanted to read and hated everything else.
I think that in general some artists are this way and that makes what they produce different from anyone else. Jonathan Blow for example is snobby and hates a lot of stuff, but his intense and specific ideas about the way games should be has led to some very interesting and thoughtful work
A dissing with two of my favourite authors as protagonists, thank you!
A small extract of “Transparent Things" by Nabokov that I love so much: how a Caran d’Ache pencil is built. An incredible travel through space and time!
This criticism is all the more poignant given that it comes from Nabokov. He is one of the few authors for whose works the Russian and English versions are almost equivalent; he was bilingual and did the translation himself.
> But it’s worth recognizing that you like a translation of D
Probably he just lucked out, and all his translators are geniuses. Tho this would be a more remarkable skill, than just being a literary genius..
BTW I usually like derivative works, in every arts.
If a translator makes changes, and she is only right 60% of the time, that's still a net positive. I encourage every translator to make changes, if they think they can make the text better.
Not by a long shot. War and peace is the classic long read, but outside of Russian literature you also get authors like Victor Hugo and Les Miserables.
Also, depending on your tastes, Charlotte Bronte and other similar period writers were equally bland or significant.
I read Crime and Punishment as a teenager and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Raskolnikov’s misadventures are not ‘fun’ but as a psychological exploration of guilt (or lack thereof), it was very interesting.
I like Notes from the Underground and his other short stories (like the Double) even more.
Dostoevsky is funny, but his humour is very subtle and can be easily lost in translation. And being funny and dark are not mutually exclusive things, there is a whole genre of tragicomedies, after all
All the “Amazon classics” have audible included which can make it go quickly. The dinner table conversation with a host which had consumption was quite amusing. Agree on darkness.
Something wrong with the way Dostoyevsky wrote them, according to someone who died in 1977.
I had to look up what "soulful" even means because I see it used so infrequently: "expressing or appearing to express deep and often sorrowful feeling" — while I cannot guess what would appeal to someone who would hire a sex worker as that isn't my thing in the first place, nor can I guess to the lived lives of those who so work, what I can say is that "observing someone being openly sad" doesn't pattern match my ideal for a fun time either when reading or when getting off, even though that is an entirely sympathetic and believable personality trait for a character who is a sex worker.
Especially believable in the case of characters that Dostoyevsky, who died in 1881, would have written about — not only because of the stereotype that Russia is even more grim than Country/Blues paints the USA, but also because while things like chloroform for childbirth pain relief had been used by Queen Victoria this was only in 1853 for the first use on the 8th child, but still advised against it for the 9th child in 1857*; or that likewise "it's a good idea to wash your hands between autopsies and assisting midwifes in childbirth" was only even noticed (and not immediately well received) in 1847.
* including by religious figures even though she was the head of the church
One cannot write without tropes, and not only because the attempt itself is such a trope.
That doesn't mean one cannot find Flanderization to be annoying, not even a decade (at least) before the character after which that TV Tropes entry was named, was created.
I really recommend Nabokov's full lecture on Dostoyevsky [1], plus obvs all the of the lectures in the series are brilliant.
[0] https://lithub.com/on-dostoevskys-199th-birthday-heres-nabok...
[1] Lectures on Russian Literature, Vladimir Nabokov, https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/lectures-on-rus...