Jun 08, 2010 08:58 PM
2927 Views
(Updated Jun 09, 2010 02:57 PM)
It took courage on my part to start reading the book. After all it contained over a thousand pages and carried the reputation of being one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. My earlier experience of reading such books (like Ulysses) were far from encouraging. But once I got rid of the initial inertia, it was pure breeze. In fact somewhere around the midway I started panicking that the journey is reaching its destination a bit too soon for my liking. And finally when it was complete, I turned over to read the introduction once more.
This is the power of this book. It stays with you long after you have finished reading it and while you are reading it, nothing else seems to matter. For it is just not a book, it is an exploration of meaning of life itself conducted by one of the most admired mind known to us.
Dostoevsky aimed at studying the mystery of man and devoted his entire life in solving it. This work occupies the summit of his Herculean endeavor – his crowning achievement. Though it cannot be claimed that he succeeded in deciphering the mystery, the effort leaves you spellbound. You keep on wondering while going through the complex exploration of human mind how one person can experience it all by himself. You also understand how much the sensitive heart of the author must have suffered to bring out the innermost joy, sorrow, contempt, confusion, anger, frustration and questions that we undergo while living.
This is a story of four brothers each representing a particular side of human emotion though it is the passionate Dmitry who occupies the centre stage. His love for a woman took him through perilous journey of great suffering. Ultimately he was to pay the price for his passion but not before we are made to witness the virtues of a tormented heart. Ivan, one of his brothers had a logical mind which led him to question religion and ultimately God – atleast a virtuous God. But then he also had his heart and this battle between his tender heart and logical mind ensured that he too will receive his share of punishment. Then there was Alyosha, the mystic who desperately tried to find his God and turned an atheist when He did not reveal himself. Well, almost because he ultimately discovered God’s greatest gift to mankind – Love and with that the realization that a single act of love may make our life bearable. The fourth brother is the illegitimate Smerdyakov whose shadow loomed large on the life of other three brothers and his role become crucial in the ultimate outcome of engrossing courtroom drama.
If you are an atheist and it is difficult to not being one in this age of rational thinking, you will find all your questions finding voice through Ivan when he tormented his mystic brother by asking him to explain the useless suffering in this world. And then he went on to explain the role of organized religion in our lives with the assurance of a master on the subject. How you wanted a reply from Alyosha to these questions but you only find tears of despair. But then ultimately it was Alyosha who provided us with a ray of light (or was it a straw to the drowning man?) to lift us from eternal gloom.
All human beings are leading a life of great suffering, the author had concluded, and that is reason enough for us to love one another. There is plenty of goodness even in the most evil man and we must search for that. There is no other way, no other meaning in life. And you will found yourself agreeing; almost!
Read the book for it will surely enrich you. I have read quite a few influential and thought provoking books and can safely assure you that this belongs to a class of its own, incomparable in its scope and depth. Don’t let its size or reputation intimidate you, for this is meant for people like you and me. I must stop now because my stock of superlatives seems to have exhausted.
