Vote for your favorite work by Dostoevsky

[Secret Smile]

Personally, I like Crime and Punishment for its psychology and politics. The Idiot was not as good. It was a little disjointed, a precursor to Demons and BK, and I disagree with Dostoevsky's view about pity in marriage.

[Dori]

I've only started The Idiot which is my first Dostoevsky book. After finishing it I plan on reading the BK. I wont vote until I have read a few more of his books.

[Dori]

I'm at the part where they go to Lebedev's villa at Pavlovsk. I am reading Les Miserables along with this book so it's going a bit slow.

[poor knight]

Dori,

The Idiot and Les Miserables are my two favorite books. What a joy to be reading them at the same time. But possibly too much of a good thing. I understand FD was a big fan of Hugo's and the books were written within about 7 years of each other. Where are you in it?

[Pato]

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.

[the double]

I choose "Other", my favorite Dostoyevsky work is definitely The Double.

I like that novle too,i am now writing my master's paper on Jekyll and Hyde theme.One of the four novels i have chosen is The Double.Maybe i am the first chinese logged in this forum

[Mogwai]

After several years, it looks like TBK and Crime and Punishment are neck and neck!  The Idiot is not too far behind...

Thanks everyone for your votes.  

[islander]

Hi everyone! I'm a Dostoevsky fan and decided to join your discussion.

I've read the three major works, C&P, TBK and TI, and right now leaning towards C&P…  but will have to read them once more before I cast my vote!  

I'll be reading some more post before jumping in off the deep end!

 

[Atreyu]

I've read many of Dostoevsky's literary works so far in a period of one year, 'cause, you know, the other authors seeem to be so pale when confronted to him.

Every time someone asks me what is my favorite of his books, I just don't know what to say, because ALL of them brought me something special and were a unique experience and marked a period of my life.

I read them in this order: 'The Gambler' (The one that got me hooked), 'Notes from the Underground', 'Crime and Punishment', 'The Dream of a Ridiculous Man', 'A Gentle Spirit', 'The Idiot', 'Netochka Nezvanovna', 'White Nights', 'The Landlady', 'The Eternal Husband', 'Notes From the House of the Dead', and now I'm struggling through 'The Demons'!

I can say the one that disturbed me most, emotionally, was 'Notes From the House of the Dead', 'cause of its portrait of the human being. But intellectualy, it might be 'Notes from th Underground'.

The one I more fond of is 'The Idiot', 'cause I love the protagonist and Nastacia Filipovna.

But I love the short ones, specially 'Netochka Nezvanovna' and its passionate and painful view of a teenage girl.

I think 'The Demons' might be a serious candidate, but I have to finish it first.

I just bought a four volumes collection of The Complete Works of Dostoevsky (The others I read in separeted editions) and, after 'The Demons' I'm planning to read from 'Poor Folk' to 'The Brothers Karamazov' in order.

'The Brothers Karamazov', by the way, is the one I want to read the most, but, if I stick to the plan, is the last one I'll read.

After that, Joseph Frank's biography!

Maybe, then, I'll have an answer for that question. Maybe not.

[Scoundrel]

That's a hefty task, reading all of Dostoevsky's works.  It'll take me a few more years at least to do that... I've read most all of his major works and a few short stories... and  I'm always tempted to just read another of Dosto's works, or re-read one I've already read, so I often have to force myself to read other authors on my shelf... that's not to say that I don't enjoy the other authors I read, but I always feel that urge to read Dostoevsky in the back of my mind...

...Right now I'm reading Jean Santeuil by Proust... the prose is solid

[olgak]

I also ALWAYS have D. in the back of my mind. Like you I enjoy reading other books but for some reason, hardly any of these books affect and influence me as much as D's works.  Reading D. is a completely different, even other worldly experience than reading most other books.
As you can tell, I'm a big fan! 

[Sasha]

I just love this web site because I am obsessed with Dostoevsky's novels.  They are so deep and the telling, exhaustive details fascinate me.  My personal favorite is Crime and Punishment because it so unexpected, so original.  I love the way it starts and the way Rodion commits the crime in an off-hand manner.  I like the way his landlady will ask him what he is doing, and he say "I am thinking". 
I am re-reading The Brothers Karamazov right now.  The character Smerdyakov beats all for vanity and perversion. When you read it a second time you notice more his twisted and calculated ways.  The conversation he has with Ivan in Chapter 5, ( Part 2, Book 5), lays the foundation for his plot to create a convenient opportunity to kill Fyodor Pavlovitch.  I love it when Ivan says "What a ragmarole!  And it all seems to happen at once, as though it were planned. "

[Sasha]

To Mogwal:  I tried to fill out the personal profile but was unable to enter anything.  Also, I want to modify my characterization of Smerdyakov but I was not able to properly enter it.  Please advise.  Thank youl  I cannot wait to start reading the short stories.  I am goint to start with Notes From the Underground.  Do you think that is a good idea?  Would you recommend starting with another?

[Mogwai]

To Mogwal:  I tried to fill out the personal profile but was unable to enter anything.  Also, I want to modify my characterization of Smerdyakov but I was not able to properly enter it.  Please advise.  Thank youl  I cannot wait to start reading the short stories.  I am goint to start with Notes From the Underground.  Do you think that is a good idea?  Would you recommend starting with another?

Hi Sasha,

I'm so sorry I didn't see this until now.  What do you mean your "personal profile" and "modify my characterization of Smerdyakov"?  Please let me know in more detail.

I definitely recommend reading Notes from Underground and then maybe White Nights or A Dream of a Ridiculous Man after that.  All are stellar reads!

[helgis]

I'm not going to answer this question prematurely since D's works are somewhat new to me. I've read C&P, The Idiot and Notes from Underground.

I'm currently reading The Brothers Karamazov and I'm at chapter 7. I'm sorry to say that it hasn't yet sucked me in like Crime and Punishment and (especially) the Idiot did, but hopefully it will eventually. It's a long novel after all.

I have bought "Demons" and "The Gambler and The Double". I'll take em soon enough.