Richard Wolin has an extended review of several books by Tzvetan Todorov in a recent issue of TNR that provides a neat window into the workings of French theory in the middle of the twentieth century. Todorov came to Paris from Bulgaria in 1963 at the age of 24, already trained in Slavic theory by . . . . Continue Reading »
There are plenty of reasons to dislike VS Naipaul, his talent notwithstanding. Now this: Asked whether or not any woman writer was his match, he predictably answered No, and then put in a gratuitous swipe at Austen: I “couldn’t possibly share her sentimental ambitions, her sentimental . . . . Continue Reading »
A friend sent me a link to a Wall Street Journal column by William Deresiewicz describing how studying Jane Austen taught him the meaning of manhood. Reading about Elizabeth Bennet’s failures and her resulting humiliating, Deresiewicz learned what real manhood, and real education, was all . . . . Continue Reading »
G. K. Chesterton had a way with words. Some of my favorite quotes come from him, and that includes a quote about fairy tales. The quote is usually stated like this: “Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that . . . . Continue Reading »
“I see a voice,” says Bottom the Weaver. And we all laugh. John on Patmos hears a trumpet voice, and turns “to see the voice” (Revelation 1:12). We know Bottom is a seer from his later garbled use of Pauline visionary language. Bottom is Paul the seer, and John the seer, . . . . Continue Reading »
William Leatherbarrow makes the intriguing suggestion that Dostoevsky’s “non-Euclidian” response to the Inan’s Grand Inquisitor poem in the “Russian Monk” is part of “Dostoevsky’s professed desire to show his readers the way to the Church is . . . . Continue Reading »
From the Russian mystic Nikolay Fydorov: “The task of the fathers, the parents, ends with the upbringing of the children; then begins the task of the sons, who restore life. In giving birth to and raising their children, the parents give life to them, while the task of resurrection belongs . . . . Continue Reading »
RD Laing offers a trenchant analysis of the letter that Raskolnikov’s mother sends him, and its effects on Raskolnikov. She is informing Raskolnikov that his sister Dunya has agreed to marry, and tells him he should be grateful and happy. If he is unhappy, he will make his mother and sister . . . . Continue Reading »
Think of Milbank’s question, Can a Gift Be Given? Derrida says no, because the purity of the gift is always polluted by expectations of return. Dostoevsky asks, Can a Crime Be Committed? And he returns something like Derrida’s answer, though ironically. Raskolnikov claims in his . . . . Continue Reading »
Dostoevsky wrote about crime, but not only crime: He also wrote about punishment. As Wasoliek suggests, Raskolnikov doesn’t flee the crime, or try to cover it. He seems instead to flee toward it, regularly leaving clues, nearly confessing, reviving Porfiry’s investigation when it is . . . . Continue Reading »
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