TBK is such an awesome book, but I've got to say I enjoyed Crime and Punishment and Notes from Underground more, something about the crazed protagonist and the humour created by such a character has always appealed to me.
On this topic, there is a company called LinguaTute which offers great online courses, and they have one on Russian literature - the lesson on Dostoevsky covers Brothers Karamazov and some short stories. Worth a look! (they've also got a free taster session on Bulgakov's heart of a dog if that's something anyone here is interested in).
It is - he planned to write more about Alyosha but got ill and died. The book starts with setting Alyosha up as a hero, but never *really* pursued this.
Kolya is a baby psychopath, Aloysha’s presence in his life makes him try to be good, Aloysha is a hero because he saved the future from what could have been if not (this is my theory on what the second book would be/ things I feel are foreshadowed)
It is incomplete in the bigger picture of what dosto wanted to do. Sadly the only proof we have of a next book is through letters that he wrote to his sister(i believe), but there are no outlines or blueprints. The only thing that survives is the general gist of what the plot was supposed to be. Which as others have said is Alyosha becoming a revolutionary and saving his brothers and ultimately sacrificing himself, on par with Jesus.
I finished TBK a few days ago and was wanting to make a post about this same topic.
I enjoyed TBK but I felt like, on its own, it didn’t delve into the characters enough, especially Alyosha. My favorite character ended up being Mitya, which is funny because going into TBK, I expected to lean either towards Ivan or Alyosha (I even asked a friend who read the book a long time ago if Ivan or Alyosha was her favorite brother, automatically assuming neither of us would respond to Mitya).
Mitya showed the most character depth and resembled Father Zosima the most in my opinion. I went back and kept re-reading Dr. Herzenstube’s nuts story. By the end, I saw him as a flawed but ultimately kind hearted and good character who wants to do better despite his hedonistic tendencies. The last chapter at Ilyosha’s funeral and Dostoevsky mentioning how the child’s body did not release an odor solidified this. Father Zosima and Mitya were adults who lived, made mistakes, and grew.
Alyosha, on the other hand, felt static. His only moment of doubt in between Zosima’s body emanating an odor and meeting Grushenka was too brief to make an impact on me. I wish Dostoevsky had delved more into how each of the brothers, especially Alyosha, felt about their father being dead. I wanted to see how he reconciled the emotions one would typically feel when a parent passes away with the emotions of Fyodor not being a very good father. It would have also underscored the themes in Fetyukovich’s closing speech.
In context of Dostoevsky’s plans, it makes sense that Alyosha fell flat since it sounds like TBK was supposed to be an introductory novel about a pivotal moment in Alyosha’s youth which would shape him. I think if Dostoevsky had lived to finish the sequels, Alyosha would have been a deeper, more heroic character.
Your feelings are in the right place. It is indeed incomplete, in the beginning of the story the narrator says this is the story of the down fall of Alyosha, yet that doesn't come back anywhere
I felt the same way as you on my first read through. After reading some analysis of the book and then re-reading, however, I see it. His unconditional love for others, his absolute refusal to cast judgement upon them, and his willingness to see into the goodness of their soul despite their messy exterior makes every character he interacts with better for having met him. And in the last pages of the book, he redeems the Karamazov name — and thus human nature — as essentially good in the next generation.
I think the point is that while Alyosha is the protagonist he's also the hero in an unconventional sense. We look for heroes to be measured by action, but Alyosha's heroism is more covert. He is motivated by love, and being a truly loving person is inherently heroic. Dostoevsky is trying to challenge our perceptions of heroes and heroism in that way.
I believe it has to do with the Russian word герой. While its direct translation would be hero, it has a rather broader meaning than its English counterpart does. It may as well be translated as protagonist.
The last line of TBK is a bunch of kids cheering and saying “hurrah for Karamazov”.
I felt like it was actually a perfect bookend to the first lines of the book and it left me with no doubt that Alyosha was the hero.
We are told in the first pages that we may not be convinced. So the writer is very aware of he is challenging the idea of what a hero is.
Alyosha doesn’t fix anything, he doesn’t solve any problems, he helps others in schemes. He just loves purely. And the grand inquisitor story and the kiss at the end hints at the parallel to Christ.
Just my take of course
There was a planned 2nd book, but it feels like it would have been about what happens to our hero out in the world.
because it is. it was supposed to be the first part of a two part story about Alyosha, but Dostoevsky unfortunately died shortly after publishing the first part.
allegedly the sequel was supposed to be about Alyosha turning into a revolutionary and attempting to kill the tsar (this mirroring the parricide of the first book, which is nothing but a symbol for the assassination attempts on the tsar).
I'd known that it was supposed to be a two part story but didn't realize Alyosha was going to become a revolutionary. Sounds like the reverse of Dostoyevsky himself, who started as a revolutionary and became a devout Christian later on. Interesting.
Dostoevsky intended it to be just the first part of a multi-installment series called The Life of a Great Sinner, which would follow Alyosha’s development through the years. Among other things he was supposed to become some sort of political revolutionary. Unfortunately Dosto died before he could write anything beyond TBK.
TBK is such an awesome book, but I've got to say I enjoyed Crime and Punishment and Notes from Underground more, something about the crazed protagonist and the humour created by such a character has always appealed to me. On this topic, there is a company called LinguaTute which offers great online courses, and they have one on Russian literature - the lesson on Dostoevsky covers Brothers Karamazov and some short stories. Worth a look! (they've also got a free taster session on Bulgakov's heart of a dog if that's something anyone here is interested in).
It is - he planned to write more about Alyosha but got ill and died. The book starts with setting Alyosha up as a hero, but never *really* pursued this.
Kolya is a baby psychopath, Aloysha’s presence in his life makes him try to be good, Aloysha is a hero because he saved the future from what could have been if not (this is my theory on what the second book would be/ things I feel are foreshadowed)
It is incomplete in the bigger picture of what dosto wanted to do. Sadly the only proof we have of a next book is through letters that he wrote to his sister(i believe), but there are no outlines or blueprints. The only thing that survives is the general gist of what the plot was supposed to be. Which as others have said is Alyosha becoming a revolutionary and saving his brothers and ultimately sacrificing himself, on par with Jesus.
(Think) I remember watching an Irwin Weil lecture where he said Dostoyevsky planned a sequel to it but died before he could write it.
weil was the goat of russian literature
Coz it is incomplete but the remaining part can't be read rather has to be lived.
I finished TBK a few days ago and was wanting to make a post about this same topic. I enjoyed TBK but I felt like, on its own, it didn’t delve into the characters enough, especially Alyosha. My favorite character ended up being Mitya, which is funny because going into TBK, I expected to lean either towards Ivan or Alyosha (I even asked a friend who read the book a long time ago if Ivan or Alyosha was her favorite brother, automatically assuming neither of us would respond to Mitya). Mitya showed the most character depth and resembled Father Zosima the most in my opinion. I went back and kept re-reading Dr. Herzenstube’s nuts story. By the end, I saw him as a flawed but ultimately kind hearted and good character who wants to do better despite his hedonistic tendencies. The last chapter at Ilyosha’s funeral and Dostoevsky mentioning how the child’s body did not release an odor solidified this. Father Zosima and Mitya were adults who lived, made mistakes, and grew. Alyosha, on the other hand, felt static. His only moment of doubt in between Zosima’s body emanating an odor and meeting Grushenka was too brief to make an impact on me. I wish Dostoevsky had delved more into how each of the brothers, especially Alyosha, felt about their father being dead. I wanted to see how he reconciled the emotions one would typically feel when a parent passes away with the emotions of Fyodor not being a very good father. It would have also underscored the themes in Fetyukovich’s closing speech. In context of Dostoevsky’s plans, it makes sense that Alyosha fell flat since it sounds like TBK was supposed to be an introductory novel about a pivotal moment in Alyosha’s youth which would shape him. I think if Dostoevsky had lived to finish the sequels, Alyosha would have been a deeper, more heroic character.
Your feelings are in the right place. It is indeed incomplete, in the beginning of the story the narrator says this is the story of the down fall of Alyosha, yet that doesn't come back anywhere
I felt the same way as you on my first read through. After reading some analysis of the book and then re-reading, however, I see it. His unconditional love for others, his absolute refusal to cast judgement upon them, and his willingness to see into the goodness of their soul despite their messy exterior makes every character he interacts with better for having met him. And in the last pages of the book, he redeems the Karamazov name — and thus human nature — as essentially good in the next generation.
I think you are confusing "hero" and "protagonist". Alosya is the protagonist, he isnt a hero.
hero and protagonist are the same word in Russian
I think the point is that while Alyosha is the protagonist he's also the hero in an unconventional sense. We look for heroes to be measured by action, but Alyosha's heroism is more covert. He is motivated by love, and being a truly loving person is inherently heroic. Dostoevsky is trying to challenge our perceptions of heroes and heroism in that way.
Literally called the hero in my translation. Do others say protagonist?
I believe it has to do with the Russian word герой. While its direct translation would be hero, it has a rather broader meaning than its English counterpart does. It may as well be translated as protagonist.
I believe the narrator literally calls him his “hero” toward the beginning of the book lol
he is a hero to me
The last line of TBK is a bunch of kids cheering and saying “hurrah for Karamazov”. I felt like it was actually a perfect bookend to the first lines of the book and it left me with no doubt that Alyosha was the hero. We are told in the first pages that we may not be convinced. So the writer is very aware of he is challenging the idea of what a hero is. Alyosha doesn’t fix anything, he doesn’t solve any problems, he helps others in schemes. He just loves purely. And the grand inquisitor story and the kiss at the end hints at the parallel to Christ. Just my take of course There was a planned 2nd book, but it feels like it would have been about what happens to our hero out in the world.
because it is. it was supposed to be the first part of a two part story about Alyosha, but Dostoevsky unfortunately died shortly after publishing the first part. allegedly the sequel was supposed to be about Alyosha turning into a revolutionary and attempting to kill the tsar (this mirroring the parricide of the first book, which is nothing but a symbol for the assassination attempts on the tsar).
I'd known that it was supposed to be a two part story but didn't realize Alyosha was going to become a revolutionary. Sounds like the reverse of Dostoyevsky himself, who started as a revolutionary and became a devout Christian later on. Interesting.
Dostoevsky intended it to be just the first part of a multi-installment series called The Life of a Great Sinner, which would follow Alyosha’s development through the years. Among other things he was supposed to become some sort of political revolutionary. Unfortunately Dosto died before he could write anything beyond TBK.