What Dostoyevsky book should I read?
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swill2 (
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March 27th, 2011
I haven’t read anything by him yet, but he influenced John Fante and Nietzsche. Plus, he is considered a forefather of existentialism. What book would be a good introduction to his writing?
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6 Answers
Crime and punishmnt. A real masterpeice and a good first introduction to what makes Dostoyevsky himself.
Wikipedia says “Considered by many as a founder or precursor of 20th-century existentialism, Dostoyevsky wrote, with the embittered voice of the anonymous “underground man”, Notes from Underground (1864), which was called the “best overture for existentialism ever written” by Walter Kaufmann.” So if existentialism is what you’re looking for, then that one.
I have read pretty much everything by him. I started with Crime and Punishment. But the best primer is probably ‘Notes From the Underground’.
I’d choose Crime and Punishment. I was able to handle that at 14. I think its story quality gives it an edge over Notes from the Underground, and it’s not quite as massive a first experience as The Brothers Karamazov.
For an interesting pairing, read The Double back to back with Nabokov’s Despair. You could make an entire separate study of Doppelgänger novels beginning with those two.
@Jeruba – I thought Crime and Punishment was great. But it was a little slow for a hundred pages before it ended. It was worth it in the end but it did get a little slow.
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