Demons

[Lev]

Next time I read it I'll take note .

[abutton]

I've just finished reading Demons and I feel very satisfied. The novel was interesting on a variety of levels. I was particularly interested in Mrs Stavrogin's feelings towards Stepan. Their relationship was so funny and cute. Kirillov was an amazing character, and he held my interest everytime he was on the scene. All in all, a great read!

[axon]

>>Kirillov was an amazing character<<

yes I agree, he was by far my favorite. I've written a rather lengthy paper on him in one of my classes - the professor said I defend him too much

er, actually it was a comparison of Kirilov to the Grand Inquisitor - I believe I've mentioned this in some other thread.

[featherbrain]

Hello. I would like to take this moment to announce that, reading "Demons" with my fantasy-deluded brain, I am convinced that Stavrogin is a vampire.

Also, other characters strike me as an enchantress, a Satyr, a princess...

[axon]

>> Hello. I would like to take this moment to announce that, reading "Demons" with my fantasy-deluded brain, I am convinced that Stavrogin is a vampire.<<

great catch, I've noticed it as well! I believe that was surely what Dostoevsky intended him to represent - the character of a mosnter that appeared in many gothic romances that Dostoevsky enjoyed so much.

[featherbrain]

Wow. Thanks. Now I don't feel like I'm just a geek. I am now a geek with...*drumroll*...insight!  

But "Demons" is one of Dostoevsky's books that connected with me more. All of his works were great, but sometimes different things stick in your mind. The themes in demons are things I relate to more than, say, The Brothers Karamazov, which is fantastic but I'm not sure I'm smart enough for it...

[danka_m]

Hi,I'm new here,and this topic seemed interesting to me.I've read "Besy" recently,and really liked it.About the title,there is a word in my language "Bjesovi" which can be translated as a "rage",but it can be connected with possesed better than demons.It signifies that there is something in our nature that causes revolt in us,that oposes us to others and to God.I think that is what was tormenting every charachter in this book :the question of freedom of will.Freedom versus casuality,freedom to do anything you want,like an OldTestament God and not to feel guilt or compassion(Nikolay Stavrogin-maybe that's why "The devils"),or freedom to decide about your life,to sacrifice for someone else,like Christ-Godman did(Kirilov).Maybe it's a kind of a test(I don't know if it is the right word,my English is poor),like the one when the devil tests Christ in the mountains,which was described in the Grand Inquisitor legend.I feel simpathy for Kirilov and Shatov,which I cannnot find for any other charachter, especially for Stavrogin,even though he was the tormented one,too.And I think that Pjotr Verkhovensky is the real vampire,even worse,the leach.It only shows us how Dostoevsky himself was tortured by his inner demons,and how complex he was,when he was bearing all those charachters within himself.I know this is not anything new for you,people,but I just couldn't resist not to say what was on my mind.

[jushoff]

I am currently on my second reading of Demons and am already a little confused...again. Liza seems to be Pavlona's daughter but is not listed with her on the translator's notes. why?

[Hungry Year]

just finished it in almost a month!


Nikolai Stavrogin,I like this charactor so much,I wish I could be like him!

[Willie Maykit]

It’s not really possible to make sense of Demons without being at least partially acquainted with the cultural milieu of Russia in and around the mid-nineteenth century. A good, shorthand way of doing this is by reading Turgenev’s ‘Fathers and Children’ and Chernyshevkii’s ‘What Is To Be Done?’.  The former author, of course, was lampooned as the character Karmazinov in Demons, while the latter novel was Lenin’s personal favourite. Dostoevsky’s book is in many ways an answer to these previous novels which looked at the development of the ‘New Men’ and their belief in a rationally organised socialist system.

Stavrogin remains enigmatic because he is imperfectly drawn (even great writers can get it wrong sometimes). If the deleted chapter, ‘At Tikhon’s’ is taken into account, his character becomes even more improbable, so that it’s not surprising the author took the conscious decision to leave this chapter out in later re-prints. The character’s suicide is simply a typically melodramatic ending to what is after all a frequently melodramatic narrative.

There should be no real problem about the ‘demons’ of the title since the epigrammatic use of Luke 8:32-36 at the start is clear enough. Dostoevsky saw Christ, and Russian Orthodoxy in particular, as the means by which the devils of socialism and Western, rationalist thought would be driven out of Russian culture.

[jushoff]

very reasonable of you. however, dostoevsky puts mellodrama in its place by focusing and developing the psychology and context in cool ways

[underworld men]

It’s not really possible to make sense of Demons without being at least partially acquainted with the cultural milieu of Russia in and around the mid-nineteenth century. A good, shorthand way of doing this is by reading Turgenev’s ‘Fathers and Children’ and Chernyshevkii’s ‘What Is To Be Done?’.  The former author, of course, was lampooned as the character Karmazinov in Demons, while the latter novel was Lenin’s personal favourite. Dostoevsky’s book is in many ways an answer to these previous novels which looked at the development of the ‘New Men’ and their belief in a rationally organised socialist system.

Stavrogin remains enigmatic because he is imperfectly drawn (even great writers can get it wrong sometimes). If the deleted chapter, ‘At Tikhon’s’ is taken into account, his character becomes even more improbable, so that it’s not surprising the author took the conscious decision to leave this chapter out in later re-prints. The character’s suicide is simply a typically melodramatic ending to what is after all a frequently melodramatic narrative.

There should be no real problem about the ‘demons’ of the title since the epigrammatic use of Luke 8:32-36 at the start is clear enough. Dostoevsky saw Christ, and Russian Orthodoxy in particular, as the means by which the devils of socialism and Western, rationalist thought would be driven out of Russian culture.

Most excellent!

[Radio Saturday]

Ahhhhhhhhh.  

I finally got my copy of "Demons" back after about two years (I left it on your continent, Foxhead, and fairly close to your country). It's the Pevear/ Volokhonsky translation, and I am so glad to have it back finally! I'm re-reading it now. I think it's one of my favorite Dostoyevsky novels, but that changes depending on which one I'm reading at the time. My favorite character in "Demons," though is probably either Stepan Trofimovitch or the narrator (even though he's not much of a character, I still kind of like him). I'm not sure why I like Stepan Trofimovitch. I think it's because he likes poetry better than boots, something I have to agree with.    

Also, I have read "Fathers and Sons" (which I liked, even though the translation left something to be desired). However, I have not yet read "What Is To Be Done?" I'm looking into getting a copy.

[Worm]

... my copy of Demons has mysteriously disappeared ... has anybody here seen it? ...  

[axon]

hey radiohead...I'd like to hear the story about how the book got lost and how it reappered two years later. Can you elaborate?


And BTW...my Dosto short stories disapeared as well