The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky Post 1

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky)

Having just finished a required language elective (the language I ended up taking being Russian), I decided to read more books written by Russians that would give me more cultural insights or maybe writing styles of Russians. Or maybe it was just plain curiosity. I've read in full "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Amazing book. Spectacular. So I decided to find another text that I would hopefully like as well. Livemocha has been a great place to learn languages, so upon browsing profiles of Russians, I stumbled upon "The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky" cited as a favorite book. I decided to give it a try. So here I am, about to start this book blog. The idea of creating this blog came to me on a long ride on the way to a mass. And now I proceed to my "report" on the book.

The first thing that I noticed when I began reading were the patryonymics. I had come across this Russian characteristic during my Russian course in school. If in the Philippines (and in other countries) we have the "middle name", which is the last name of your mother's maiden name, in Russia they have patronymics. Patronymics are formed by getting the first name of your father and adding "ovich" or "evich" if you are a guy, and adding "ovna" or "evna" if you are a girl.
In Part 1, Book 1, Chapter 1 is titled Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov. There is the "ovitch" part. I have no idea why the patronymics in the book have the t though. Maybe it used to be "ovitch" and "evitch" before? Or because this book is a translation... well, nevermind.

As a note, if you have not read this book but would like to read it, stop from reading the rest of this post. I will only annoy you with spoilers from the plot. Be warned. *insert evil laugh here*

The first chapter of the book The Brothers Karamazov is about Fyodor, the father of the brothers Dmitri, (by Fyodor's first wife) and Ivan and Alexey (from his second wife).

There is even a reference to Shakespeare's Ophelia when it tells of Adelaida Ivanovna Miusov, Fyodor's first wife. Apparently, she threw herself off a cliff, which was a romantic and passionate way to die. I have not read in full the play Ophelia, but because of the book "Killing Mr. Griffin" by R.L. Stine, and also that wonderful set of books we have that give a summary and short background of the plays, I know about the suicide scene of Ophelia.

So yeah, Fyodor is, in one word, an "asshole" (if you are below thirteen years old and have read that word, forget you ever read it... or maybe you already know what it means O_O). Or if you prefer, as the text says, he was an "ill-natured buffoon and nothing more."

I am irked by the marriage of Fyodor and Adelaida. Really, if you both did not like each other, why bother going through the whole ceremony? The text does give a rich and interesting description of Adelaida though, and at least explains partly the decisions she made. So much for 'romantic' notions and female independence.

Adjective two to add to my description of Fyodor: gold-digger.

Apparently, Adelaida left him, but she also left their son, Mitya, who was then only 3 years old. 3 years old only?!? Geez, these people were not meant to be parents. At first I was confused as to who Mitya was... Going back, I realized it was Dmitri. That is another thing that is "Russian". Male names are shortened and have nicknames that are actually "female" in gender and are derived from the ending of the names. Dmitri is Mitya.

Adelaida had run away to Petersburg. St. Petersburg. For a report on Social Stratification I made a puzzle for a sort of game motivation. One of the countries that was used as a case study was Russia, and one of the beautiful things about the country is the architecture in St. Petersburg. I hope one day to see it for myself. The multicolored, textured rooftops are breathtaking in the pictures.

The first chapter ends with the realization that "As a general rule, people, even the wicked, are much more naive and simple-hearted than we suppose. And we ourselves are, too." When I read this, I thought "Aha! Quotable quote!". It is something to digest and reflect upon. Is this really true?