The grand inquisitor on the nature of man

Name: The grand inquisitor on the nature of man
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)
Author: Unknown Author
ISBN: 9780023406003

by Unknown Author

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47 pages1948MacmillanISBN 9780023406003

Continental european fiction (fictional works by one author)Dostoyevsky, fyodor, 1821-1881 Fiction

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About this book

Ivan is a man of many passions and weaknesses and full of vehement, animal vitality. Now and then he shows a surprisingly deep insight into human nature while remaining an eruptive, incalculable and utterly selfish cynic. His four sons suffer from various splits in their personalities. Alyosha, cast in the mold of sainthood, suggests at times that he too is secretly fragile. He is a churchman and lives in the mysteries of the invisible but has not yet attained the “unmixed wisdom” of the pure. Dmitri is impulsive and can be as chaotic as his father but lives, generally, on a higher level than his parent. Smerdyakov, the illegitimate degenerate, kills his father in the ﬁnal tragedy in which money, lust, jealousy and the most primitive instincts make a weird mesh of guilt and fate. Ivan represents the intellectual element in this family gallery. In many respects he is the double of several other characters in Dostoevski's novels and—of Dostoevski himself. Full of zest for living, he too is a divided man. He wavers between intellectual honesty and a moral nihilism and it is no surprise that his incessant play with truth and its perversions brings him close to insanity. But he has our sympathy when he rebels against society and a church which deny social justice to the many sufferers of his time. He is an atheist, yet he is also compelled to admit the existence of God, or at least of a God of his own making: if man is responsible to God, so he argues, God is also responsible to man, and it is therefore only logical that he quarrels with Him about senseless suffering and injustice in human life. Traits like these are part of Dostoevski’s own development and experience. The Grand Inquisitor stands high above all similar attempts of our poets, dramatists, and novelists to deal with the ﬁgure of Christ. All such portraits in American and European literature are done on too small a canvas and with faded colors. Dostoevski’s story rises from a moment of apostolic illum

Publication Details

Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 1948
Pages: 47
ISBN: 9780023406003
Language: en

About Unknown Author

Russian novelist Fyodor Mikhailovitch Dostoyevsky was a journalist and short-story writer, whose psychological penetration into the human soul profoundly influenced the 20th century novel. Dostoevsky's novels have much autobiographical elements, but ultimately they deal with moral and philosophical questions. He presented interacting characters with contrasting views or ideas about freedom of choice, Socialism, atheisms, good and evil, happiness and so forth. Dostoevsky's central obsession was God, whom his characters constantly search through painful errors and humiliations. ([Source][1]) Dostoyevsky's literary output explores human psychology in the troubled political, social and spiritual context of 19th-century Russian society. Considered by many as a founder or precursor of 20th-century existentialism, his *Notes from Underground* (1864), written in the embittered voice of the anonymous "underground man", was called by Walter Kaufmann the "best overture for existentialism ever written." A prominent figure in world literature, Dostoyevsky is often acknowledged by critics as one of the greatest psychologists in world literature. ([Source][2]) Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский (рус. дореф. Ѳедоръ Михайловичъ Достоевскій; 30 октября [11 ноября] 1821, Москва, Российская империя — 28 января [9 февраля] 1881, Санкт-Петербург, Российская империя) — русский писатель, мыслитель, философ и публицист. Член-корреспондент Петербургской АН с 1877 года. ([Source][3]) Как в начале, так и в продолжении своего литературного творчества после четырёх лет каторги и ссылки за участие в кружке Петрашевского Достоевский выступал в качестве новатора в русле традиций русского реализма, что не получило должной оценки современников при жизни писателя. ([Source][3]) После смерти Достоевский был признан классиком русской литературы и одним из лучших романистов мирового значения, считается первым представителем персонализма в России. Творчество русского писателя оказало воздействие