RUSS3411

A prophet who predicted the October Revolution, the creator of characters so psychologically complex they inspired Freud, a political radical who endured a mock execution and exile to Siberia, a religious nationalist who mocked the racism of the “left” of his time, a forerunner of the Existentialists—Fyodor Dostoevsky has been called all these things and more. His “polyphonic” novels present contradictory points of view so convincingly that readers are sometimes swayed to the view he seems to have wanted to argue against. With novels that survive translation remarkably well, Dostoevsky has had enthusiastic readers across the world ever since he was alive and writing. In this course, we will read several of his best-known pieces of fiction, analyzing his artistic methods as well as his philosophical views. We will consider how his works are related to his eventful life and the debates of mid-nineteenth century Russia, on the one hand, and on the other to universal human themes.

00442

Literature, Global Perspectives

Spring Even Year