Το ημερολόγιο του συγγραφέα Β΄

Writer's Diary #2

by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Δημήτρης Β. Τριανταφυλλίδης (Translator)

Ευρύτατα γνωστός στο παγκόσμιο κοινό από τα μεγάλα του έργα ο Φιοντόρ Μιχαήλοβιτς Ντοστογιέφσκι έχει και μία άλλη, λιγότερο γνωστή πλευρά, εκείνη του επιφυλλιδογράφου και του σχολιαστή της σύγχρονης του περιρρέουσας πολιτικής, κοινωνικής, οικονομικής και πολιτισμικής πραγματικότητας. Η πλευρά αυτή του δημιουργικού του έργου φωτίζεται μέσα από τα άρθρα, τα σχόλια, τις επιφυλλίδες, τα διηγήματα και τα δοκίμια που κατά καιρούς δημοσίευσε τόσο στον ημερήσιο όσο και στον περιοδικό Τύπο της Ρωσίας κατά την διάρκεια της πολυετούς του παρουσίας στα γράμματα και τις τέχνες της μεγάλης αυτής χώρας του Βορρά. Από το πλήθος των χιλιάδων σελίδων που δημοσιεύτηκαν με την υπογραφή του σε εφημερίδες και περιοδικά της εποχής του, ξεχωριστή θέση κατέχουν τα κείμενα που περιλήφθηκαν στο γνωστό εδώ και χρόνια στους αναγνώστες και άλλων χωρών πλην της Ρωσίας "Ημερολόγιο του συγγραφέα".

Εισαγωγή
ΜΑΙΟΣ
Κεφ.1
Ι. Απόσπασμα από μια ιδιωτική επιστολή
II. O νέος λόγος της επαρχίας
III. Το δικαστήριο και η κυρία Καϊρόβα
IV. O κ. συνήγορος και η Καϊρόβα
V. O κ. συνήγορος και η Βελικάνοβα
Κεφ.2
Ι. Λίγα λόγια για ένα κτίριο. Προσωπικές σκέψεις
II. Μια ανακόλουθη ιδέα
III. Αδιαμφισβήτητος δημοκρατισμός. Γυναίκες
ΙΟΥΝΙΟΣ
Κεφ.1
Ι. Ο θάνατος της Γεωργίας Σάνδη
ΙΙ. Λίγα λόγια για την Γεωργία Σάνδη
Κεφ.2
Ι. Το παράδοξό μου
II. Το συμπέρασμα του παράδοξου
III. Το Ανατολικό ζήτημα
IV. Η ουτοπική αντίληψη της Ιστορίας
V. Και πάλι περί των γυναικών
ΙΟΥΛΙΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΟΣ
Κεφ.1
Ι. Ταξίδι στο εξωτερικό. Λίγα λόγια για τους Ρώσους στα βαγόνια
ΙΙ. Λίγα λόγια για την Πετρούπολη στο Μπάντεν-Μπάντεν
III. Περί της πολεμικής αρετής των Γερμανών
IV. Η τελευταία λέξη του πολιτισμού
Κεφ.2
Ι. Ιδεαλιστές-κυνικοί
ΙΙ. Είναι ντροπή να είσαι ιδεαλιστής;
III. Οι Γερμανοί και η εργασία. Ανυπέρβλητοι στόχοι. Περί ευστροφίας
Κεφ.3
Ι. Ρωσική ή γαλλική γλώσσα;
ΙΙ. Σε ποια γλώσσα μιλάει η πατρίδα στον πατέρα;
Κεφ.4
Ι. Τί βοηθάει στις πηγές: το νερό ή η καλή διάθεση;
ΙΙ. Ένας εκ των ευεργετών της σύγχρονης γυναίκας
III. Παιδικά μυστικά
IV. Η γη και τα παιδιά
V. Ένα πραγματικό καλοκαίρι στη Ρωσία
VI. Post scriptum
ΣΕΠΤΕΜΒΡΙΟΣ
Κεφ.1
1. Piccola bestia
II. Λόγια, λόγια, λόγια
III. Ρυθμίσεις καί ρυθμίσεις
IV. Μπουρνούζια και σαπούνι
Κεφ.2
Ι. Ηλικιωμένοι άνθρωποι
ΙΙ. Το πνεύμα του Κίφα Μοκιγιέβιτς
III. Συνέχεια του προηγούμενου
IV. Φόβοι και ανησυχίες
V. Post scriptum
ΟΚΤΩΒΡΙΟΣ
Κεφ.1
Ι. Μια απλή μα και συνάμα σοφή υπόθεση
ΙΙ. Λίγες παρατηρήσεις για την απλότητα και την απλοποίηση
III. Δύο αυτοκτονίες
IV. Η καταδίκη
Κεφ.2
Ι. Η νέα φάση του Ανατολικού ζητήματος
ΙΙ. Τσερνιάγιεφ
III. Οι άριστοι
IV. Επ' αυτού
ΝΟΕΜΒΡΙΟΣ
Κεφ.1
Η μειλίχια (φανταστικό διήγημα)
Λίγα λόγια του συγγραφέα
Ι. Ποιος ήμουν και ποια ήταν
ΙΙ. Η πρόταση γάμου
III. Ο ευγενέστερος των ανθρώπων, ο ίδιος όμως δεν πιστεύω
IV. Όλο σχέδια και σχέδια
V. Η μειλίχια εξεγείρεται
VI. Μια παράξενη ανάμνηση
Κεφ.2
Ι. Όνειρο υπερηφάνειας
II. Το πέπλο ξαφνικά έπεσε
III. Καταλαβαίνω πάρα πολλά
IV. Άργησα μόλις πέντε λεπτά
ΔΕΚΕΜΒΡΙΟΣ
Κεφ.1
Ι. Και πάλι για μιαν απλή, μα σοφή υπόθεση
II. Αργοπορημένη νουθεσία
III. Αβάσιμοι ισχυρισμοί
IV. Λίγα λόγια περί νεολαίας
V. Περί αυτοκτονίας και έπαρσης
Κεφ.2
Ι. Μια παιδιάστικη ιστορία
II. Εξηγήσεις για την συμμετοχή μου στο υπό έκδοση περιοδικό Κόσμος
III. Για ποια πλήξη συζητάμε τώρα
IV. Μια λέξη για τον κ. «πάρ' τ' αυγό και κούρεψ' το»

Genres: Russian Literature, Russia, Nonfiction, Literature, Essays, Classics, Diary

395 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1886

About the author

Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский (Russian)

Works, such as the novels Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880), of Russian writer Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky or Dostoevski combine religious mysticism with profound psychological insight.

Very influential writings of Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin included Problems of Dostoyevsky's Works (1929),

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky composed short stories, essays, and journals. His literature explores humans in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century and engages with a variety of philosophies and themes. People most acclaimed his Demons(1872) .

Many literary critics rate him among the greatest authors of world literature and consider multiple books written by him to be highly influential masterpieces. They consider his Notes from Underground of the first existentialist literature. He is also well regarded as a philosopher and theologian.

(Russian: Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский) (see also Fiodor Dostoïevski)

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you don't love Dostoevsky or Russian literature of the 19th century, or if you are not an historian, this probably is a volume you can skip.

But if you are an historian in particular--more than a lover of Dostoevsky and literature of his century--you probably would want to read this book and think about what it means in the 21st century.

Here there is one overwhelming issue, what Dostoevsky calls "The Eastern Question." This is the issue that pertains to Russia's mission, driven by Orthodox Christian values, protecting the Slavs of the Balkans and thereabouts from Islamic Turkey's encroachment and Western European machinations.

Second, one is exposed to Dostoevsky's almost irrational passion about the Russian "People," in contradistinction to the Europeanized class (he was a member) who mistook Russia's fate as lying in the west.

In combining these two issues (The Eastern Question and The People) by virtue of Orthodoxy, Dostoevsky exhibits a genteel but Leninesque intensity that rejects anything other than either a universal or perhaps simply Asian fate for the Russians.

He argues, argues, argues, and you wouldn't want to try to wear him down. We are the true children of Christ, he says, whereas Rome is a secularized version of Christianity that when it lost true power through the Vatican picked it up in France and then ran smack into Lutheran Germany.

And Asia, including Constantinople, is Russia's destiny. Likewise, one presumes, though he doesn't make the case, the Levant, including Palestine (now Israel.)

That Dostoevsky would blog at a length comparable to War and Peace on matters of political and military consequence is almost astonishing. Here you have the master psychological novelist giving up his greatest strength--characterization--in order to try to make an abstraction called the People central to his writing. It doesn't really work. He is syrupy in his devotion to these peasants. He overlooks what we can safely assume is a full quotient of human fraility and venality. He insists that Christ dwells within the reaper's heart and the sweat on her back and the warts on her chin. And he rather genially won't give up, employing vast rhetorical skills and that unmistakable energy of his, the energy that created Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, and so many other much more compelling--riveting--novels and stories.

The level of historical and contemporary information he attains is nothing short of awesome. This is before the Internet, remember. This is before fresh newspapers at your doorstep. People did have newspapers, of course, but they arrived late, and you had to recompose chronologies and reimagine realities out of sequence. So one assumes he read all he could and did what people used to do: talked with others whenever he wasn't writing.

Toward the end of his diaries, just before his death, Dostoevsky muses about whether Russia shouldn't just forget about Europe for a while and concentrate on Asia. He's prescient, in a way. He understands the minerals, oils and gases out there in Siberia and down in the Caspian basin. He foresees the geo-political fact that is beginning to dawn on the rest of us (here in the U.S.). Europe is really only a little piece of what we call Eurasia, giving Europe far too much credit. It's Asia that is humanity's fulcrum, not Europe, and not North America. Hence, when we ponder Putin, we are well advised to ponder Russia's passion for authority at the top. This man is a czar reincarnated. Mere ideology (Marxist-Leninism) isn't enough to hold 11 time zones together. For that the Russians expect a kind of demi-god to do the job, or the demi-god expects that of himself.

There are passages in this volume devoted to literature and society--particularly one incident in which a pregnant woman throws her step-child out a window and the child survives a forty foot fall--but these passages are diversions from the main argument: Russia is an Orthodox country, full of Christian believers, destined to bring the world a new "word." It is almost impossible to believe that a writer so gifted in portraying impassioned evil could be such an advocate for self-sacrificing faith, but to a lesser extent, Tolstoy and Solzhenitsyn were cut from the same cloth. This is the way Russia is: on the margins of the world and determined to change all that, placing itself at the center.

[Vanjr · Rating 3 out of 5]

My (and apparently based on reviews and critics) least favorite Dostoevsky work. The real gems in this collection occur early in volume 1.

[Doris Raines · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVELY BOOK.

[saeed rmzni · Rating 2 out of 5]

یکی از خسته کننده ترین کتاب‌هایی در زندگیم خوندم
حدود ۲سال و نیم طول کشید تموم کردنش

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dostoevsky covers ground similar to that which we find in volume 1, with a heavy emphasis on the contemporary political situation in Europe. Dostoevsky’s conservative politics carry with them an implicit belief in the goodness of Russia, particularly in the way Orthodoxy has influenced the country with the ideals of Jesus Christ. This informs his suspicion of liberal Western Europe, as well as his references to the brutality of the Turks. His embrace of the Slavs in Eastern Europe looks forward to a time when those nations fall behind the Iron Curtain, but Dostoevsky’s politics hardly lend themselves to Communism. In his discussions of other people groups, he also addresses one piece to the Jewish question, wherein he responds to the letters he has received about his occasionally abusive or off-color language in reference to Jews. Dostoevsky asserts that he has nothing against them as a people, but neither does he apologize for using the offensive terms. Clearly he exhibits an obtuse attitude on this point, though I would be interested to hear of explicitly Jewish responses to the piece.

The best portions of the Diary involve his continued reflections on the case of the pregnant stepmother from volume 1. Dostoevsky illustrates the power of imagination in finding a compassionate response, particularly in his response to one piece which criticizes him for his role in getting the woman acquitted of the charges. Dostoevsky’s response shows not only compassion, but a clear understanding of the cases details, as well as a firm sense of where the moral weight rests in this case. His clear thinking about the case also shows how well he understood the psychology of people, one element among many that make his novels so great.

All that said, I found the Diary a difficult read overall. It has some bright spots, but the continued emphasis on the political situation in Europe simply doesn’t capture my own personal interests.

[Frankie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This 2nd volume of the diary didn't resonate with me as much as the first. The first part had a few political ravings, but they were spread among fictional stories, character sketches, bits of journalism, etc. In this volume, Dostoevsky gives way to a much-more personal political style of writing. He stamps his foot, repeats himself, boasts his own predictions – in short, this is the weakest and least pleasant I've seen of him.

In every chapter, he dips into the Eastern Question more frequently. As Russia's conflict with Turkey gets more complex, so do Dostoevsky's prophecies and ravings. When the war ends, however, Dostoevsky does not move on. He talks about the Asiatic frontier, Constantinople and the Black Sea. The only way I can describe Dostoevsky at this point is as an exiled general on an island, writing to his army and inciting them to riot. That's the impression I get. There are some moments of lucidity, where his real moral omniscience shows, but these are fleeting. Even the one fictional piece in April '77 is political and pointed. His Pushkin speech was similar.

The "Jewish Question" chapter, which I had longed to read, was a disappointment. I was hoping for something more sensible. This translation of the Diary is riddled with what today we'd consider racial epithets. It only proves that though someone may display genius in one art form, he is not perfect after all.

I'm going to move on to reread The Brothers Karamazov, my favorite novel. I probably won't reread the Diary.

[Alireza Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

جلد دوم قدرت تحلیلی داستایفسکی را در نقد اجتماعی و روانشناسانه نشان می‌دهد و خواننده را به تفکر درباره انسان و جامعه وامی‌دارد، اما همچنان روایت خطی و داستانی ندارد.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I skimmed. But I loved it.