Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm
Reading Against the Grain
Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm
Reihe: Studies in Russian Literature and Theory
ISBN: 978-0-8101-3985-5
Verlag: Northwestern University Press
In each work Apollonio focuses on one character or theme caught in the compromising, self-serving, or distorting narrative lens. Who, she asks, really exploits whom in Poor Folk? Does ""White Nights"" ever escape the dream state? What is actually lost-and what is won-in The Gambler? Is Svidrigailov, of such ill repute in Crime and Punishment, in fact an exemplar of generosity and truth? Who, in Demons, is truly demonic? Here we see how Dostoevsky has crafted his novels to help us see these distorting filters and develop the critical skills to resist their anaesthetic effect. Apollonio's readings show how Dostoevsky's paradoxes counter and usurp our comfortable assumptions about the way the world is and offer access to a deeper, immanent essence. His works gain power when we read beyond the primitive logic of external appearances and recognize the deeper life of the text.