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Chapter 1 finished

Finished Part 1, now preparing to start PART II
The Years of Ordeal, 1850–1859
In part 1 we learn about Dostoevsky's family, education, military school experience, his religious awakening and subsequent challenges by Belinsky, Petrashevsky, and Speshnev, the radical socialists he met. We see the beginnings of his literary genius and finally his arrest for his involvement in conspiratorial circles.

"You can't eat, drink, or wear memories."

A very interesting reflection on the past, who "owns"a particular moment in time? Those who "now' occupy that location, or others in other times who occupied it then?

What impact does a specific memory of the past have on the present?

Is it more or less advantageous to dredge up particularly traumatic memories?

3rd story - Flies - terrible. Didn't understand the point. Meandering. Confused.

Finished the 2nd story in collection. Bluebeards 1st Wife. Good but I liked the 1st story better. Don't wanna say more to not spoil it if someone is going to read it soon.

"And so even if no verse ever emerges from the mute poet, even if the painter never sets brush to canvas, he is happier than the wealthiest of men, happier than any strong-armed emperor or pampered child of this vulgar world of ours—for he can view human life with an artist’s eye; he is released from the world’s illusory sufferings; he is able to come and go at ease in a realm of transcendent purity.." Read slowly.