Matt & Brad did a nice job of teasing out the ways in which Demons (I always preferred the translation, The Possessed) provides a mirror in which we can perceive the nutty, quasi-religious derangement of our contemporary radical cultural/political scene. However, it strikes me that the novel's message & Dostoyevsky himself reflect an equally troubling image on the right. While Dostoyevsky wasn't an unadulterated Slavophile like Alexey Khomyakov, he definitely shared their disdain for western liberalism and commitment to the greatness of the Russian "narod" (people) as well as their rejection of materialism for the for Orthodox faith. This sounds a lot like like our own post liberals such as Patrick Deneen -- Why Liberalism Failed or even J.D. Vance's Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.
I had goosebumps and almost tears listening to the closing lines of the book. Wouldnt have been nearly the same without having read the confession. Contemporary audiences must have missed a LOT by not having that.
I wonder if it was enough to earn Stavrogin a zillion years of purgatory (since he rejected 5 years as a lay servant to some monks) rather than Pyotr's eternal damnation (since Pyotr, in conscious league with Satan, blasphemed the Holy Spirit).
Did anyone else catch the passage in the middle of the book where the women literally exhausted the patience of a saint? 🤣🤣 Stavrogin found the saint's verbally abusive reaction amusing, and the women had no response.
I think some of the discordant aspects of this book are as they are, because they express something deeply real and important that cant be left out. Life is messy. Reading the Bible is like this, but even moreso.
Dostoevsky clearly found two New Testament passages especially significant: the pasaage with the demons and the swine, and the piece of Revelation rebuking a particular church body for being "neither hot nor cold." This latter is a pretty apt description of the fools taken into Pyotr's conspiracy, and all thr various fools in high social positolns around them (excepting Stavrogin, who is a highly important special case). Also of so many older fools in and around the modern Democrat Party.
Stepan trofimovich was neither hot.nor cold his whole life, but before he died that changed. He found God. This might be unsatisfying on the literary level, but it is deeply true and deeply important. It also happens every hour of every day throughout the world.
Guys I appreciate you but episode 7 on this book is going way too far. You could have read the entire thing out loud in seven hours. This is approaching a sort of Warholian dullness where the discussion of the book is exactly as long as the book itself.
Their discussions give us background info on the time in which it was written, word play on the Russian names, and criticism of the writing methods.
I'm really enjoying it. I would probably never have picked up this book on my own, and their discussions make me feel like I'm in a college course with two great professors, whose reflections on the text have really added to the experience.
I find that the best books merit much longer to discuss than to read. I've probably spent 10x the time listening to or participating in discussions of The Divine Comedy than I have reading it.
I am still reading Discourses on Levy.
Matt & Brad did a nice job of teasing out the ways in which Demons (I always preferred the translation, The Possessed) provides a mirror in which we can perceive the nutty, quasi-religious derangement of our contemporary radical cultural/political scene. However, it strikes me that the novel's message & Dostoyevsky himself reflect an equally troubling image on the right. While Dostoyevsky wasn't an unadulterated Slavophile like Alexey Khomyakov, he definitely shared their disdain for western liberalism and commitment to the greatness of the Russian "narod" (people) as well as their rejection of materialism for the for Orthodox faith. This sounds a lot like like our own post liberals such as Patrick Deneen -- Why Liberalism Failed or even J.D. Vance's Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.
I had goosebumps and almost tears listening to the closing lines of the book. Wouldnt have been nearly the same without having read the confession. Contemporary audiences must have missed a LOT by not having that.
I wonder if it was enough to earn Stavrogin a zillion years of purgatory (since he rejected 5 years as a lay servant to some monks) rather than Pyotr's eternal damnation (since Pyotr, in conscious league with Satan, blasphemed the Holy Spirit).
Did anyone else catch the passage in the middle of the book where the women literally exhausted the patience of a saint? 🤣🤣 Stavrogin found the saint's verbally abusive reaction amusing, and the women had no response.
Hello post-2020 HR culture. 🤣🤣🤣
I think some of the discordant aspects of this book are as they are, because they express something deeply real and important that cant be left out. Life is messy. Reading the Bible is like this, but even moreso.
Dostoevsky clearly found two New Testament passages especially significant: the pasaage with the demons and the swine, and the piece of Revelation rebuking a particular church body for being "neither hot nor cold." This latter is a pretty apt description of the fools taken into Pyotr's conspiracy, and all thr various fools in high social positolns around them (excepting Stavrogin, who is a highly important special case). Also of so many older fools in and around the modern Democrat Party.
Stepan trofimovich was neither hot.nor cold his whole life, but before he died that changed. He found God. This might be unsatisfying on the literary level, but it is deeply true and deeply important. It also happens every hour of every day throughout the world.
Guys I appreciate you but episode 7 on this book is going way too far. You could have read the entire thing out loud in seven hours. This is approaching a sort of Warholian dullness where the discussion of the book is exactly as long as the book itself.
I think they could have done twice as many episodes on this book.
I couldnt agree more.
Disagree. Appreciate the depth.
No, because this is a long and complex book.
Their discussions give us background info on the time in which it was written, word play on the Russian names, and criticism of the writing methods.
I'm really enjoying it. I would probably never have picked up this book on my own, and their discussions make me feel like I'm in a college course with two great professors, whose reflections on the text have really added to the experience.
All this for only a few bucks a month, too.
I find that the best books merit much longer to discuss than to read. I've probably spent 10x the time listening to or participating in discussions of The Divine Comedy than I have reading it.