Brothers Karamazov

Review The final novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, first published as Bratya Karamazovy in 1879-80, and generally considered to be his masterpiece. It is the story of Fyodor Karamazov and his sons Alyosha, Dmitry, and Ivan. It is also a story of patricide, into the sordid unfolding of which Dostoyevsky introduces a love-hate struggle with profound psychological and spiritual implications. Throughout the whole novel there persists a search for faith, for God--the central idea of the work. The dramatization of Ivan's repudiation of God is concentrated in the famous "Legend of the Grand Inquisitor." A response to Ivan is contained in the preaching of the monk Zosima that the secret of universal harmony is not achieved by the mind but by the heart. --The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature[Dostoevsky is] at once the most literary and compulsively readable of novelists we continue to regard as great . . . The Brothers Karamazov stands as the culmination of his art his last, longest, richest, and most capacious book. [This] scrupulous rendition can only be welcomed. It returns us to a work we thought we knew, subtly altered and so made new again. Washington Post Book World A miracle . . . Every page of the new Karamazov is a permanent standard, and an inspiration. The Times (London) One finally gets the musical whole of Dostoevsky s original. New York Times Book Review Absolutely faithful . . . Fulfills in remarkable measure most of the criteria for an ideal translation . . . The stylistic accuracy and versatility of registers used . . . bring out the richness and depth of the original in a way similar to a faithful and sensitive restoration of a painting. The Independent It may well be that Dostoevsky s [world], with all its resourceful energies of life and language, is only now and through the medium of [this] new translation beginning to come home to the English-speaking reader. New York Review of Books Heartily recommended to any reader who wishes to come as close to Dostoevsky s Russian as it is possible. Joseph Frank, Princeton UniversityWith an Introduction by Malcolm V. Jones --Joseph Frank Product Description A tragedy of Shakespearean force and intensity, Dostoyevsky's drama of parricide and family rivalry chronicles the murder of depraved landowner Fyodor Karamazov and the subsequent investigation and trial. Extensive notes explain the many literary and topical allusions and provide background information. About the Author Ralph E. Matlaw was Professor of Russian Literature at the University of Chicago. He was the author of "The Brothers Karamazov": Novelistic Technique and translated and edited Dostoevsky s Notes from Underground and The Grand Inquisitor, Odoevsky s Russian Nights, and Grigoryev s Moral and Literary Wanderings. He also edited Tolstoy: A Collection of Critical Essays; Belinsky, Chernyshevsky, and Dobrolyubov: Selected Criticism; and the Norton Critical Editions of Turgenev s Fathers and Sons and Anton Chekhov s Short Stories.