On Dostoevsky

Of all the Russian authors I've read, I think Dostoevsky is my favorite. I read Crime and Punishment a few years back, and I've been reading the Brothers Karamazov recently. His stories center on the issue of guilt. Both stories are about murder. In C and P the main character (Rashkalnikov?) kills and old woman and robs her to regain a pawned watch. This happens relatively early in the story and as the novel unfolds he is eaten away by his guilt until he confesses to the murder at the climax. BK is more of a mystery. Fyodor is killed and robbed, and all of the evidence points to his son Dimitri. As Dostoevsky presents the case, there is no conclusion we can draw other than that Dimitri has killed him despite his protestations (I'm not done yet, the trial is about to start).

These two characters are worthy of disgust, and are presented in the most unfavorable light. And yet it is impossible for me to do anything but sympathize with them and pity them. This is masterful storytelling at its best. I'm still trying to figure out how he does it. Somehow he manages to link these characters to me by their humanity, to open a window into what is universal in the human condition (guilt) and to convince me without saying it that I am them but for a matter of degree (don't worry Dad, its a pretty big degree).

Tolstoy on the other hand fails in this very exercise by my estimation. In Anna Karinina for instance, though I am told by Oprah that I should pity Anna, I can't. Instead I identify with Levin. Though I did enjoy the book.