Dostoevsky wrote that “beauty will save the world,” and I happen to think he’s right. And I also happen to believe that if ever there was a time the world needed to be saved, it’s now. So we’re going to spend some time paying attention to beauty. We’ll be looking at books, poems, music and art that exude beauty, and as a result, we will become more beautiful ourselves. Let’s begin.
Today we’re going to be discussing one of the most beautiful books of all time: “The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
I first read this book in 2013, when I was a freshman in college. I remember loving the book, and the characters and a few of the ideas stuck with me more than many ever have. And ever since I first read it, it’s been calling out to me, and I knew that at one point, I would read it again. And what better time than a decade later? And as I’m in the midst of rereading this novel, it’s striking me how different my experience is the second time around. Of course, as it has been ten years, I’m a different person now, and as I’m reading and it’s being reflected back to me how much I’ve changed, it’s as if I’m reading a completely different book. But, it’s still even more powerful and beautiful the second time around.
Now, we could spend days, weeks, months, and years talking about this novel. It’s huge – and I’m not just talking about the 776 page length of this work. It’s biblical, it’s mythological, it’s philosophical, and it’s partially autobiographical. It’s layered and complex and psychological and cognitively challenging. So today, I’m going to narrow this discussion down to a few chapters, which I believe form the crux of the novel. We’ll be picking up in the middle of the book, so there will be spoilers. However, I don’t think this is the type of book that you need to be spoiler-free for. Actually, the plot of this novel is of secondary importance. It doesn’t matter so much WHAT happens, this novel is not plot-driven; it’s thought-driven.
The Brothers Karamazov is broken into four parts, and those parts have books and chapters. So we will be examining book five, which is titled “Pro and Contra,” and book six, which is titled “The Russian Monk.” As this book was originally written in Russian, the translation we will be reading from is the Pevear and Volokhonsky. It’s very important, if you’re considering picking up your own copy of the book, to go with the right translation, and I believe this is the best. Since this discussion will also refer to the Bible, we will be reading from the English Standard Version, as this is the translation I’m most familiar with.
So without further ado, let’s get into our discussion.
