Read Across The Seas discussion

What do you think the main theme/ themes of this book are? How does this relate to Nietzsche's ubermensch? Did Doestoyevsky know of Nietzsche? Did they ever meet?

As I am sure you have deduced from our discussions, I think the idea of the ubermensch is a big theme of this book. FD did not meet Nietzsche as far as I know, but I do know he was well-read in the popular psychology of the period. And Nietzsche's idea of the ubermensch, of a person or society overcoming what were thought of as archaic codes of morality, was not an uncommon psychological notion at the time. It seems that FD deals with a lot of moral suppositions in his books, especially relating to religion. In Brothers Karamazov he goes into the idea of evil and suffering and how those correlate to the idea of God and justice. In The Idiot he addresses how morals without passion would characterize an individual. And in this book, he really addresses that notion that Neitzsche made popular, that true freedom is found by overcoming moral constraints and forging one's own morality. Nietzsche thought that those who followed the moral codes imposed by a higher authority were to be pitied, and only those special individuals, those with greatness, could overcome those moral bonds. I love this book because FD really goes into how that notion plays out in real life, when a person strives for greatness by releasing himself from those "archaic" moral bonds and decides he is too great to be constrained by them. I could write more about the moral analogy here but it will go into the significance of Sonia, especially at the end of the story, so I will digress until everyone is done with the book.