When was The Brothers Karamazov published?
The Brothers Karamazov was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger from January 1879 to November 1880. Dostoevsky died less than four months after its publication concluded.
Questions about The Brothers Karamazov
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What are the main themes of The Brothers Karamazov?
The novel's central themes include the conflict between faith and atheism, the question of free will, and the morality of patricide. Dostoevsky also explores freedom of the human personality against mechanistic or deterministic psychology, set against the backdrop of a modernizing Russia.
Who is the Grand Inquisitor in The Brothers Karamazov?
The Grand Inquisitor is a figure in an imagined poem narrated by Ivan Karamazov to his brother Alyosha in Book V. The Inquisitor arrests the returned Jesus during the Spanish Inquisition and argues that the Church was right to replace Christ's gift of freedom with bread and earthly authority, which he claims is the only realistic basis for human happiness.
Who actually killed Fyodor Karamazov in The Brothers Karamazov?
Smerdyakov, the probable illegitimate son of Fyodor Pavlovich and his servant, murdered Fyodor Pavlovich. Smerdyakov confessed this to Ivan in their final meeting, claiming Ivan was morally complicit because Ivan had taught him that in a world without God, everything is permitted. Smerdyakov then hanged himself.
What did Sigmund Freud say about The Brothers Karamazov?
Freud called The Brothers Karamazov 'the most magnificent novel ever written'. In a 1928 paper titled 'Dostoevsky and Parricide', he argued that Dostoevsky's epilepsy was a physical manifestation of hidden guilt over his own father's death, citing the fact that Dostoevsky's epileptic fits began at age 18, the year his father died.
Which English translation of The Brothers Karamazov is considered the most faithful to the original Russian?
The 1990 translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is widely regarded as the most faithful to Dostoevsky's original Russian. It won a PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize in 1991 and was praised by Dostoevsky scholar Joseph Frank for that reason.