The Dostoevskian

[Screamgrip]

Being an ardent admirer of Dostoevsky I often run into people and stories of real people who, I wonder, might belong to a Dostoevskian page.

The logical step in this direction would be the question: what would D have thought about this? Would it have prompted him to write something on this? Remember, in his time, D took a lot of topical subjects to trigger his stories.

So here is a discussion topic where I will try to post topics of such interest to me and I hope others will follow.

[Screamgrip]

Lets begin with this story:
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-02/ff_aimystery?currentPage=all

Somebody else can have the first word, anyone interested?

[highseas]

     "Wired" should be commended for giving air to such a tragic, gut-wrenching story.  Suicide by younger people is probably  the most disturbing kind of tragedy that can happen.  I'd feel stupid trying to say any more.

     You are right, screamgrip, that FD would tackle this kind of tragic occurence.

     On a lighter note, I like the premise for your topic and will be on the lookout for other Dostoevskian material.

[Screamgrip]

Yes. Wired needs to be commended.

It is strange that both young scientists concerned were captivated by the idea of creating a HAL 9000 from the space odessey saga: a computer design that goes wrong. I wonder if they believed that they could somehow perfect the design or correct the flaw.

It reminds me of a quote I read somewhere:
Most ills in this world are caused by the desire to do good.

[highseas]

     They were both extremely intelligent, genius territory it sounds like,  so they probably did have such ambitious goals in mind.
     I don't have a good quote, but it is true that genius can be as big a burden as a blessing.  It is often a case of living on the edge, I think for those with such high IQs.  Sad but true.

[hull0997]

that was creepy.the story of the west memphis 3 strikes me as something dostoevsky might write about,or the church burnings and murders in norway by black metal dudes..nihilist commiting crimes and going to prison or commiting suicide for an idea.i just watched a documentary about this on youtube called satan rides the media its very interesting

[highseas]

     In "The Brothers K", Ivan, by the end of the story, has gone mad or something close to it.  The other two brothers survive their ordeals fairly well.  Ivan, of the three brothers, was the most intellectual and eloquent, so it is interesting that he's the one who ends up broken and the most violently changed.  Could be FD thought intellectual pride a sin?  That's one interpretation.  Interpretations and intentions are matters of opinion.
     

[Screamgrip]

high seas:

It is interesting that you should say intellectual pride. I wonder if it is a trap...this pride. How much of intellect is about knowing when to stop going down the wrong path? Does pride offer a solution like that. Does it allow you the ability to judge when to stop...when to reformulate/regroup/restart? I wonder if anyone with High I.Q could be confident that they had the right thoughts from the time they woke up. Hence I wonder if intellectual pride is in fact...a mirage by virtue of its consequences.

hull 0997...i will try to catch that documentary you mention. But can you also post a link to it please.

[highseas]

    Well, I don't think intellectual pride is necessarily a sin or a bad thing.  As they say "everything in moderation".  It is true, I believe, that the more intelligent person is statistically less likely to commit a crime.  But crimes against society don't include crimes against God(morality and all that).
     I don't think the person exists who really believes he does nothing wrong from the time he gets out of bed in the morning.  
     But, this kind of discussion can't be answered easily or briefly.
     I've been reading some Joyce Carol Oates recently and she talks about existentialism and essentialism and Dostoevsky's philosophy and of course it gets very involved, complicated.  
     I don't know how much you know about TBK, screamgrip, but JCO seems to think that Smerdyakov is the murderer, Smerdyakov being a kind of sub-concious double with Ivan, who is the cause of the crime because of his repression of violent thoughts and ideas.  It gets pretty involved but that's the gist of it.  Religious beliefs are the main focus of alot of FD's work I would say.
     

[kudzai]

    In "The Brothers K", Ivan, by the end of the story, has gone mad or something close to it.  The other two brothers survive their ordeals fairly well.  Ivan, of the three brothers, was the most intellectual and eloquent, so it is interesting that he's the one who ends up broken and the most violently changed.  Could be FD thought intellectual pride a sin?  That's one interpretation.  Interpretations and intentions are matters of opinion.
     

A most excellent point. With pride comes superiority and throughout the New Testament we have endless emphatic warnings against all kinds of superiority (1 Corinthians 1:26 and 3:18 are good examples).

In relation to this, I have been reading the newspaper articles about the death of the chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer and it saddens me to think how he allowed his 'intellegence' to imprison himself with stubborn pride.

[Screamgrip]

High Seas: I am not sure how well I know TBK but I have read it. And I can see what JCO is saying there.
And I agree with you, that religious beliefs were the main focus of Ds works. However, i am not sure if it stops at religion. D's works are not bound by either the problem of any one religion or the problem of religion in general.
An interesting side question to this: What is the least religious of D's works?
My answer: Notes from the Underground.

Kudzai: The life of Bobby Fischer could belong to the pages of D. What do you think? Doesnt a clever man's descent into chaos get its fair chance in D's literature? (Raskolnikov was clever!) And never mind the reasons for that Descent - bilogical or otherwise. I wonder what D would have looked at it for. Was fischer a man trapped in ideas - a mind of rules and believed in humans playing by rules?  

[highseas]

And I agree with you, that religious beliefs were the main focus of Ds works. However, i am not sure if it stops at religion.

     Right.  I agree with you 100% that religion was not the only focus of TBK.  FD's love of his country and the Russian spirit were probably more of his motivation for his work in literature.  But I'm getting off topic now.

[Screamgrip]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/obituaries/18cnd-fischer.html

[Scoundrel]

thanks for posting these articles....very interesting indeed....I think I'm gonna start playing chess online again

[kudzai]

I was left with a feeling of indifference towards Ivan Karamazov when I read BK. I marvelled at his eloquent and poetic thoughts and I was left in awe at the way his mind brought forth so much discourse, but, to me, he seemed beyond redemption (as a character) because of his haughty intellect. Of course, this is only my own opinion, and I have friends who see Ivan as some kind of literary demi-god because of the ideas he put forward.

Has anyone on the forum read this book?

http://www.amazon.com/Into-Wild-JonKrakauer/dp/0385486804