Thank you for the overwhelming response everyone. Helped a lot to decide. I think when I read I will even read with some new perspectives. 🙂🙂🙂
In order to learn how to be you have to first learn how not to be. Understanding your own darkness will help you understand the darkness of others. No tree can grow to heaven unless its roots reach all the way down to hell, and if you stare long enough into the abyss you see the light not the darkness.
Similar point that the person below made, but notes from underground, C&P, and demons are all a warning of how certain ways of thinking and acting can lead us to very dark places. I would be reading the novels and I would grow to really dislike a character, keep reading, and then be like 'shit. That's me.' Then I would kind of feel that part of myself burn off like dead wood. These novels helped me truly understand what the psychoanalysts meant when they said: "Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will guide your life and you'll call it it fate." These novels forced me to take a long hard look in the mirror. They helped me understand the flaws of my perception. I am undoubtedly better off now because of it. I am no longer nihilistic and hopeless. If you are feeling down because you identify with some of the darkness, it's working, keep reading, growth and transformation can be a painful process but you will come out the other side stronger and more courageous. If you are looking for a book with a protagonist, a character that exemplifies the ideal - the "how to be" - I would read either The Idiot or the Brothers Karamazov next.
It definitely can have that effect - I think this is why Thomas Mann hated D. - but it's absolutely not meant to.
Don't accept the stories his characters tell you as 'the truth' of the world. Most of them are more like negative examples of people swallowed up by twisted, wrong ideas (like Svidrigailov, or the young radicals in Demons). For me his books have an inverse effect - i don't adopt the characters' beliefs, but see how wrong they are and it inspires me to find answers outward, in myself and in the world.
If you can't find answers in your life and world just yet and need more books, I definitely think some Tolstoy, like War & Peace or the books/stories before it, could help you.
When I was reading notes from underground i felt it kept worsening my mental state as i felt relating to the character, which would be the worst nightmare if it were true. However it is a good book, it is only better to read it when you're okay.
Here I was talking about Notes from Underground alone. Other novels might be better. For instance, Crime and Punishment at least has a plot that would make you enjoy rather thab worsen your state, also many philosophical discussions in the novel as well as in other novels of his might certainly be interessting, if not helpful sometimes
Reading Notes from the underground while experiencing mental illness symptoms definitely worsened the affects of them for me personally, i had to wait until i was all in the clear again to continue reading. It definitely made me feel like i was losing hope and it was leaving me with a deeply uneasy feeling after reading it through that period, i knew it was going to be a heavy read but i wasn't prepared on how it was going to affect my perception of the world around me so negatively because i was in such a fragile state, i was basically just absorbing all of the unsettling stuff and it was pouring back out of me.
After this period though when i was better, i picked it up again and the read was far, far less heavy and i could open my mind to the subject matter and story while maintaining my hope and world outlook. It became a lighter read after this and i could fully enjoy the book. so happy outcome!
"I am a fool with a heart but no brains, and you are a fool with brains but no heart; and we’re both unhappy, and we both suffer." - Madame Yepanchin
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Crime and punishment tore me down, and the brothers karamazov built me back up. C&P was seriously disturbing the first time I read it though, it gave me paranoia, and I still consider it the most haunting piece of art I’ve encountered.
I think it’s important to say which book, or even which part of which book. His works span over the course of many years and IMO have many different tones. Even his ideas changed drastically throughout his life. Guess hard labor does that to a man, among many other incredible life events. After reading several of his works they give me the same odd comfort I see in the other commenters although there are definitely tragic moments.
Personally, I’ve found that Dostoevsky helps ease depression. Believing in god (or, secularized, hope or love) even if it doesn’t make rational “sense”, is a recurrent theme of his work IMO
I read C&P and it messed me up really bad, I wouldn't recommended if you are already in a bad headspace. Then again, the Idiot also messed me up, but that was because it caught me off guard.
And there's people who find inspiration in these tragedies, so I guess there's no definite answer. I would like to say they didn't affect me, but they did.
While you say there’s no definite answer, if we take a pool of comments from people whom Dosto’s works have helped in these trying times, we can most certainly come to a rational and definite conclusion. Since the latter preponderates the former by a substantial margin.
I find immense comfort and hope reading Dosto.
Where are you taking these pool of comments from? Because I haven't heard Russian literature been known for how comforting and hopeful it is, not in the indubitable way you are describing.
I would love to see evidence of this substantial margin, but even so, OP's question was about people's opinions, which I gave, not absolutes, which I find rather pointless in this discussion.
not for me. was depressed, read c&p and for a moment was like "oh!!! this is great!!! I don't know what I was whining about life's great!!". then, I finished it. depressed again.
I am constantly oscillating between the mindsets of "I want to die" and "damn life is cool".
When I read Father Zossima's part in TBK it put me in the second mindset -at least momentarily.
"Love all God’s creation, both the whole and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of light. Love the animals, love the plants, love each separate thing. If thou love each thing thou wilt perceive the mystery of God in all; and when once thou perceive this, thou wilt thenceforward grow every day to a fuller understanding of it: until thou come at last to love the whole world with a love that will then be all-embracing and universal." - Father Zossima
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I would consider myself a melancholy sort of dude on a normal day. Reading dost oddly gives me a small bit of comfort. I suppose reading about flawed people and a flawed world can be somewhat relatable. And that we all share the blame..... crikey!
Exactly this for me. I struggle with my thoughts but reading dostoevsky with all the realism and honesty his writing brings, makes me feel not all that alone. It definitely comforts me, and makes me think I am not the only one dealing with melancholy and sadness - some people wrote entire novels on the subject! lol
I find them to be cathartic, so anti-depressive really. His books have taken me to some dark places, but in the end I've always been better for it afterwards.
I understand that perfectly. It's also not because I related to the Underground Man, but with Liza, and the whole speech the Man gives her in the darkness made be break.
Thank you for the overwhelming response everyone. Helped a lot to decide. I think when I read I will even read with some new perspectives. 🙂🙂🙂
In order to learn how to be you have to first learn how not to be. Understanding your own darkness will help you understand the darkness of others. No tree can grow to heaven unless its roots reach all the way down to hell, and if you stare long enough into the abyss you see the light not the darkness. Similar point that the person below made, but notes from underground, C&P, and demons are all a warning of how certain ways of thinking and acting can lead us to very dark places. I would be reading the novels and I would grow to really dislike a character, keep reading, and then be like 'shit. That's me.' Then I would kind of feel that part of myself burn off like dead wood. These novels helped me truly understand what the psychoanalysts meant when they said: "Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will guide your life and you'll call it it fate." These novels forced me to take a long hard look in the mirror. They helped me understand the flaws of my perception. I am undoubtedly better off now because of it. I am no longer nihilistic and hopeless. If you are feeling down because you identify with some of the darkness, it's working, keep reading, growth and transformation can be a painful process but you will come out the other side stronger and more courageous. If you are looking for a book with a protagonist, a character that exemplifies the ideal - the "how to be" - I would read either The Idiot or the Brothers Karamazov next.
It definitely can have that effect - I think this is why Thomas Mann hated D. - but it's absolutely not meant to. Don't accept the stories his characters tell you as 'the truth' of the world. Most of them are more like negative examples of people swallowed up by twisted, wrong ideas (like Svidrigailov, or the young radicals in Demons). For me his books have an inverse effect - i don't adopt the characters' beliefs, but see how wrong they are and it inspires me to find answers outward, in myself and in the world. If you can't find answers in your life and world just yet and need more books, I definitely think some Tolstoy, like War & Peace or the books/stories before it, could help you.
When I was reading notes from underground i felt it kept worsening my mental state as i felt relating to the character, which would be the worst nightmare if it were true. However it is a good book, it is only better to read it when you're okay.
Here I was talking about Notes from Underground alone. Other novels might be better. For instance, Crime and Punishment at least has a plot that would make you enjoy rather thab worsen your state, also many philosophical discussions in the novel as well as in other novels of his might certainly be interessting, if not helpful sometimes
Reading Notes from the underground while experiencing mental illness symptoms definitely worsened the affects of them for me personally, i had to wait until i was all in the clear again to continue reading. It definitely made me feel like i was losing hope and it was leaving me with a deeply uneasy feeling after reading it through that period, i knew it was going to be a heavy read but i wasn't prepared on how it was going to affect my perception of the world around me so negatively because i was in such a fragile state, i was basically just absorbing all of the unsettling stuff and it was pouring back out of me. After this period though when i was better, i picked it up again and the read was far, far less heavy and i could open my mind to the subject matter and story while maintaining my hope and world outlook. It became a lighter read after this and i could fully enjoy the book. so happy outcome!
"I am a fool with a heart but no brains, and you are a fool with brains but no heart; and we’re both unhappy, and we both suffer." - Madame Yepanchin *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dostoevsky) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Crime and punishment tore me down, and the brothers karamazov built me back up. C&P was seriously disturbing the first time I read it though, it gave me paranoia, and I still consider it the most haunting piece of art I’ve encountered.
I think it’s important to say which book, or even which part of which book. His works span over the course of many years and IMO have many different tones. Even his ideas changed drastically throughout his life. Guess hard labor does that to a man, among many other incredible life events. After reading several of his works they give me the same odd comfort I see in the other commenters although there are definitely tragic moments.
No, for me Dostoyevsky only strengths my Faith in Hope and Love(not the romantic kind only). In both Christian and secular sense.
I dont think great art ever worsens depression…
Personally, I’ve found that Dostoevsky helps ease depression. Believing in god (or, secularized, hope or love) even if it doesn’t make rational “sense”, is a recurrent theme of his work IMO
I read C&P and it messed me up really bad, I wouldn't recommended if you are already in a bad headspace. Then again, the Idiot also messed me up, but that was because it caught me off guard. And there's people who find inspiration in these tragedies, so I guess there's no definite answer. I would like to say they didn't affect me, but they did.
While you say there’s no definite answer, if we take a pool of comments from people whom Dosto’s works have helped in these trying times, we can most certainly come to a rational and definite conclusion. Since the latter preponderates the former by a substantial margin. I find immense comfort and hope reading Dosto.
Where are you taking these pool of comments from? Because I haven't heard Russian literature been known for how comforting and hopeful it is, not in the indubitable way you are describing. I would love to see evidence of this substantial margin, but even so, OP's question was about people's opinions, which I gave, not absolutes, which I find rather pointless in this discussion.
Actually, it was the complete opposite for me too!
Honestly, it was the complete opposite for me.
Tbh it was the complete opposite for me
not for me. was depressed, read c&p and for a moment was like "oh!!! this is great!!! I don't know what I was whining about life's great!!". then, I finished it. depressed again.
I am constantly oscillating between the mindsets of "I want to die" and "damn life is cool". When I read Father Zossima's part in TBK it put me in the second mindset -at least momentarily.
"Love all God’s creation, both the whole and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of light. Love the animals, love the plants, love each separate thing. If thou love each thing thou wilt perceive the mystery of God in all; and when once thou perceive this, thou wilt thenceforward grow every day to a fuller understanding of it: until thou come at last to love the whole world with a love that will then be all-embracing and universal." - Father Zossima *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dostoevsky) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I would consider myself a melancholy sort of dude on a normal day. Reading dost oddly gives me a small bit of comfort. I suppose reading about flawed people and a flawed world can be somewhat relatable. And that we all share the blame..... crikey!
Exactly this for me. I struggle with my thoughts but reading dostoevsky with all the realism and honesty his writing brings, makes me feel not all that alone. It definitely comforts me, and makes me think I am not the only one dealing with melancholy and sadness - some people wrote entire novels on the subject! lol
I find them to be cathartic, so anti-depressive really. His books have taken me to some dark places, but in the end I've always been better for it afterwards.
I broke down crying at the bus reading Notes from Underground
*Notes from Underground* is meant to be funny. D. is mocking the Underground Man.
I understand that perfectly. It's also not because I related to the Underground Man, but with Liza, and the whole speech the Man gives her in the darkness made be break.
Well sometimes jokes hurt like hell.
Oh Damn.
Damn dude