In this blog post, I’ll focus on ‘The Brothers Karamazov’—one of Dostoevsky’s major works—to explore my empathy with and resistance toward the characters, the inner demons and spiritual reflections, and the exhaustion and sweetness of the reading journey. The Reading Journey and Emotions I’ve finally finished it. It feels as though I’ve completed a truly long journey. Starting...
What Questions Should We Ask After Reading Dostoevsky’s ‘The Possessed’?
In this blog post, we’ll examine the questions raised by Dostoevsky’s life and his novel ‘The Possessed’, as well as their contemporary significance. Dostoevsky: Life and Literature Dostoevsky was born in Moscow in 1821. His father was a doctor at a charity hospital, and his mother was a deeply religious woman. He entered the Engineering School at the age of 17, became a non...
Analysis of Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’: Prince Myshkin and the Meaning of Purity
In this blog post, we’ll focus on “Analysis of Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’: Prince Myshkin and the Meaning of Purity,” naturally summarizing the background, main content, and the key meanings and impressions revealed throughout the narrative in a single sentence. Introduction No matter how long or tedious a work may seem, every work possesses a taut tension. The reason we cannot...
How Did the Decembrists’ Return Home Change Tolstoy’s Vision for ‘War and Peace’?
In this blog post, we examine how the Decembrists’ return home, the Crimean War, and the reign of Nicholas I influenced Tolstoy’s motivation to write and the expansion of the narrative in ‘War and Peace’. The Decembrists Return On December 14, 1825, a group of young officers from distinguished aristocratic families in Russia staged an uprising with the aim of overthrowing the...
Is the Life I’ve Chosen Really the Right Choice? — Reflections on “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”
In this blog post, I’d like to share how reading “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” led me to reflect on the path I’ve chosen in life and its meaning. My Choice “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Questions about what our future will look like—one of the most common questions we hear as we grow up—didn’t mean much to me until high school. Since my career path was determined by studying...
Why did Nabokov use death to explore art and freedom in ‘An Invitation to the Gallows’?
In this blog post, I reflected on the meaning behind the contrasts between reality and fantasy, time and memory, and art and freedom as they appear in ‘An Invitation to the Gallows’. Nabokov’s Literary World Shaped by Exile and Memory Vladimir Nabokov was born in 1899 into a wealthy aristocratic family in St. Petersburg. He spent his childhood and adolescence in that city, and...
How does ‘Talent’ transform life and loss into art and immortality?
In this blog post, I’d like to share my reflections, focusing on the complex structure of Vladimir Nabokov’s ‘Talent’, its portrayal of Russian literary heritage, Fyodor’s journey toward becoming an artist, and the work’s significance in sublimating life’s losses into creation and immortality. “Talent”: A Microcosm of Culture “Talent” marks the culmination of Nabokov’s Russian...
Why does ‘Russian Nights’ inspire us to continue our journey toward the fullness of life and the pursuit of truth?
In this blog post, I’d like to examine how ‘Russian Nights’ explores the issues of human life and happiness, scholarship and art, truth and language, and what insights it offers through the characters’ journeys and conversations. A Book That Seeks to Connect Everything What struck me most while reading “Russian Nights” was that the work does not limit itself to a single theme...
What Does “Mother”—Which Depicts Revolution, Religion, Ideological Education, and Women’s Lives—Reveal?
In this blog post, I reflected on the significance of Maxim Gorky’s “Mother” by focusing on the themes of revolution and religion, the ideological education of workers, women’s lives and the revolution, and the issues of power and oppression as depicted in the work. Maxim Gorky’s real name was Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov, and he was born on March 28, 1868, in Nizhny Novgorod. Born into a...
Why did Platonov become a banned author in the Soviet Union despite being a communist?
In this blog post, we will carefully examine Platonov’s contradictory life and literary journey—including his major works and biography—to understand why he was criticized and banned during his lifetime and how he came to be reevaluated after his death. Platonov’s Life and Work The history of Andrei Platonov and the reception of his works is as contradictory and ambivalent as the fate of...