Brothers Karamazov: Worlds of the Novel - Paperback

by Robin Feuer Miller (Author)

Fyodor Dostoevsky completed his final novel-- The Brothers Karamazov--in 1880. A work of universal appeal and significance, his exploration of good and evil immediately gained an international readership and today "remains harrowingly alive in the face of our present day worries, paradoxes, and joys," observes Dostoevsky scholar Robin Feuer Miller. In this engaging and original book, she guides us through the complexities of Dostoevsky's masterpiece, offering keen insights and a celebration of the author's unparalleled powers of imagination.

Miller's critical companion to The Brothers Karamazov explores the novel's structure, themes, characters, and artistic strategies while illuminating its myriad philosophical and narrative riddles. She discusses the historical significance of the book and its initial reception, and in a new preface discusses the latest scholarship on Dostoevsky and the novel that crowned his career.

Back Jacket

When The Brothers Karamazov first appeared, it stirred the intellectual community of Russia like no other work before or since. Readers of all backgrounds rushed to hail Dostoevsky's genius and his compelling novel of good and evil, and the book later hurtled to international renown as translations appeared in language after language. Devotees from Freud to Sartre have been caught up by its engrossing plot of parricide, which intertwines with numerous skillfully woven subplots. These mirror each other in theme and structure while intricately stitching together a diverse set of characters, who reflect the rich variety of Russian society. The famous chapter "The Grand Inquisitor" still draws praise as a timeless exploration of the problem of evil. In The Brothers Karamazov: Worlds of the Novel Robin Feuer Miller alerts the reader to the internal rhymes and resonances of Dostoevsky's complex masterpiece and illuminates the philosophical and narrative riddles the novelist continually presents. Her detailed textual and stylistic analysis lays bare Dostoevsky's artistic and narrative strategies; among the many issues studied are guilt, parent-child relationships, and narrative techniques such as parody and comic foreshadowing of serious themes. An original approach to this masterwork, Miller's reading unifies seemingly disparate strands of the novel and clearly demonstrates its brilliance.

Author Biography

Robin Feuer Miller is Edytha Macy Gross Professor of Humanities; professor of Russian and comparative literature; and chair, Department of German, Russian and Asian Languages and Literatures, Brandeis University. Her most recent book is Dostoevsky's Unfinished Journey, published by Yale University Press. She lives in Newton, MA.