Jon Taylor > Recent Status Updates

Grim, nightmare imagery of the ‘scorpion’ cracked in the dog’s mouth. Can’t grasp the metaphor yet…

Wish I knew what to make of Lebedyev. The monologue about technology seems prescient. But this doesn’t fit my view of him as a scoundrel. I could be reading him wrong…

Rogojin and Muishkin are two halves of the same coin. As are Aglaya and Nastasia. None are complete and each needs something from the other to survive.

There is a strange mania to this novel; weird leaps in the narrative, sudden fits of madness in the characters and unfathomable motives. Nastasia and her crew of misfits appear again and everything goes to Hell in a basket just like that. Aglaya is involved but how? The prince is lost in the middle of all the melodrama. Madness.

A debate about Russian liberalism. Points made about liberals actually hating their country seem pertinent to right wing views today.

To the end of Part II. This part loses its way after the murder attempt. Hard to be interested in the sub-plots after that. Still, Myshkin’s increasing paranoia is interesting and Mes Epanchin is some character.

He writes at such a pace! The prince is in the middle of a whirlwind of characters, and ‘double motives’. Who is ‘in on it’? Lebedyev certainly. Classically bourgeois melodrama - much ado about nothing - but it feels like there is something deeper about society in here somewhere…

Hippolyte - a dying man who knows he is to die - much like those awaiting execution, as Dostoevsky was. There is nothing more terrible. Hippolyte uses this to cut through the hypocrisy of polite company. Fascinating stuff.

Mrs Epanchin kicks off and is then totally wooed by Hippolyte’s frailty. Verges on comedy whenever she’s around…

The claim on Myshkin’s money - masterfully handled again - by making Burdovsky ‘simple’ Myshkin spares his honour. Seems somewhat episodic at the moment - will it all hang together?

The ‘good knight’? And then someone’s son? This was hard to follow…

After the last chapter, this one builds on that tension and delivers. Honestly think this is one of the greatest passages I’ve read. The combination of Myshkin’s brewing epileptic fit, the thunderstorm and Rogojin’s terrifying, passionate madness is electric. The images: the knives, Rogojin’s eyes, are absolutely chilling. This and the Bradbury - the reason to read.

The picture of dark passionate madness is chilling. Rogojin’s sudden shifts in temper are extremely unnerving. He even tells Myshkin not to trust him, in so many words. Dostoevsky also seems to want to express the hypocrisy of Christian worship. Duality again, perhaps?

Been thinking about Lebedev - is he the devil, at work in the shadows, to Myshkin’s Christ?

Anyway, powerful, dark chapter with Rogojin. Passion and love / hate. Obsession. Knives. And Myshkin’s epilepsy brewing. Nobody is doing what would make them happy because of how it would look. And it is brewing murder, I think…

Lebedyev: a corrupt and corruptible figure, exploiting his own mourning. We dislike the nephew but perhaps the nephew is right. Another beheading story. And the apocalypse. All seems to be happening here…

Great dramatic ending to Part One. Yes, Nastasia is like the Japanese Hari Kiri. Her need for revenge greater than her need for love. Bizarre and brilliant scene with the money and Gania.

Again this is somewhere between and melodrama and a farce. I’m sure there is something metaphorical about the old beggar and the ‘fist’ man - is this allegory for Russia? I don’t know. Dostoevsky had a way with a cliffhanger…

An odd game. Ferdishenko tells a terrible tale and is shocked by the angry response, but, in some ways far more cowardly, Totski and the general Epanchin tell stories where they manage to emerge heroic. Nastasia is appalled. Once again, the prince is the only really honest person, and she knows it. How is she going to cope without the marriage or Totski’s sponsorship?

Nastasia’s gathering. She is truly enigmatic. The prince obviously wants to tell her he loves her and all the others can tell that’s what he wants.

Enjoy the general, despite his pathetic, desperate need to be respected.

Got confused here - I’d forgotten the deal between Epanchin and Totski to marry Nastasia off (to Gania so Epanchin can keep her as a mistress?). All very exploitative. Gania seems to be particularly unpleasant. In fact many of Nastasia’s suitors are grim men. Rogojin seems worse. There’s a doomed romance blooming here I think…

There’s a cruelty to many of the characters here: Nastasia delighting in Gania’s embarrassment and the others’ arrogant amusement at the old general. Again, only Myshkin remains with any kindness and honesty, which is increasingly out of place. When Nastasia questions why he didn’t reveal himself, his response is honest and touching.

We are introduced to the motley cast of characters in the Gania household. This chapter is dizzying, almost like a bedroom farce as we meet one character after another in quick succession - I was particularly taken by the general, who is off his rocker. And then, in the midst of a blazing row, Nastasia is finally introduced. A brilliant character introduction it is too…

The end is nigh…

Things move to a conclusion. Doesn’t make too much sense - why does Deborah die? What kills her? Why does she have to be naked? Why bother with possessing Deborah at all? All a bit shonky and seedy. Still, it’s pacy enough as it moves to the climax.

Ending much better. There is a psychedelic feel to the narrative now - things are unhinged. Deborah’s sexuality makes more sense now too. Dunno how no-one has connected the change in Deborah with the cat attack though…

The tale of Marie which demonstrates Myshkin’s Christ-like forgiveness and love. He is an outsider because of this. Others cannot fathom his openness and honesty. Aglaya is interesting - there is a coldness, perhaps a rational one, given the degrees of superficiality and selfish motives of those around her (Gania). Mrs Epanchin appears to be totally taken in by Myshkin.