The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-11-07
SOME NEW BOOKS.
The Genius Of DOstoieysky

N'tTEh : ffif'''F -" "."f'" "f'
.millans) is perhaps the most readable,
because 1t Is the most temperate. "
his novels. The likeness to Dickens.
always barring the fact that this vol
Juno contains no humor. is more
marked In this volume than In any of
his great ones. The figure OF Nelly one
might assert with surety is studied
from Little Neil.
To road Russian literature. more o.
pecially Russian fiction. is 10 enter a
new world. We have TO cad Il great
deal. of 1t to believe it real at all. The
emotions are 50 quick and so exuber-
'oantly expressed that that in itself leads
his into another world. In THE
Brothers Karamazov" two ladies meet
in q drawing room: In the first fifteen
, minutes they are embracing II kiss
ing each others hands and cheeks.
hut In the second fifteen minutes they
.are ~assau!ting and beating each other
and pulling each others hair until they
have to Ike separated. Naturally this
..is unconvincing to the Anglo-SaNur
reader. We have M parallel To IL. The
q chief tenet In the morality of our own
race Is undoubtedly s~elf-control. and
where that cannot he compassed, self
concealment. There may lie Instances
in our American life where ladies meet
ON a friendly basis at first. and by
some inadvertent word or revelati,n
they part hating one another. The diff
ference Is that they do net in either
cas- give free expression TO the emo
ton. This ~s'Siftness and violence OF
feeling in the Russian temperament
--...-- IN COMMUNICATION ..I,A ,h.
Slav paralysis of the will. There
eve was a people 80 little convinced
Of the relation OF cause and effect.
The whole Russian people should he
trained to recite in early childhood
4he nursery refrain
II at iirst you don't succeed
Try. try again.
There is a real Slavon!c genius for
giving up. They KIN w and love and
. describe despair as do no other people
or earth.
- Any one of Dostoievsky's novels re-
.quires OF the reader translation into
n Russian atmosphere. This atmos-
phere first OF al. i onc Of great brutal
ity amo:, the lower classes: - cNu-
bersnt emotion anon all the people
. and the habit of giving fdl expression
to emotion. MI Russian men seem t.
he n prey to oVcrst!niul; ted brains an,
paralyzed wills: herc, he overwhetm'
ing amount of talk compared with Tho
pauci:y of action in their literature
The Russian women also are la"k!ul
in initiative. while their capacity fol
endurance is amaziug. What surprise:
us throughout Russian literature is tn
secondary place which work falls into
Some ore has already pointed out tina
in De Maupassant's "Une We thu
heroine has nothing in the world TO d'
but suffer. She makes no friends. shI
pays no visits. she apparently has n
o%ccupation: w~henevershe is depicted 1.
q the book she is discovering new cause:
for suffering, and suffering. In our race
however much We suffer. we punctuat'
our suffering with earning Il living
taking diversion. loving our friend
md family. avoiding u" eremies
gardening. hcusecleaning or tendins
children. IL, short VT interrupt sui
fering with activities which for IN
time being release us from ourselves
Not SO among Latin ard Slav races
They are more contained within them
selves; they seem TO have less powe
70 live and think in the universe.
They are as a race seli-imprisoned
Moreover. a difficult transition from
the .Aug,o-SaSou To the Russian atmos
. phere is thai of finding oneself in ;
moral mi.ieu where nothing Is tixcc
: All morality is fluid; every question
open. The Russian constantly arralgn
God aad Destiny. but he Is iniinitel,
tender toward the faiiings of mar
Apparently it does not occur to hir
that man can build a civilization wher
there is less suffering and that II
Incumbent upon him To do il. TAX
for example. Ivan's announcements q
Destiny in THE Brother karama
sov':
l!s,cn' I took the case NJ on ld-sn on!
90 make my case clearer. OF the other tear
Of humanity Win which the earth
soaked from Its crus, to It's centre. I wi
say nothing. ] have narrowed my subje,
on purpose. am "A hug. and ! recogni7
in all humility that | cannot unicrstan
why the world l. arranged as II IL. Me
are themselves to blame. | suppose; the
were given paradise, they wanted freedom
and stole fire from heaven. though the
knew they would become unhappy. 50 the,
II no need 20 pity them. With my pitIfu
earthly. 'Euc!idian understanding. IL!
know is tina; there II suffering and thl
there are none guilty; that cause follow
effect. simply and directly; that every
thing flows and finds It's level-Dut that
only Euclidian nonsense, ! know thai, an
] can't cons mt to live by It. what CON
fort IN i to me that there are none gull,
ana that cHusn follows effect simply al
directly. and mat I know it mus, IA,
Justice, or ! VIII destroy myself. AuI ~
justice In some remote Infinite time an
spu"e, out here an earth, and that ! coV,
eco myself. have be,iey"I In f.. wal
10 rec It, aud II am dead by thon. q
me rise again, for n 1t all happens Nl'Iui
me-, 1t will 10 too uufaI-. surely I haven
sunerei, simply that /, ny cri nos a!
my suffering, ma" mauurc the soil uf NJ
future harmony for somebody else. fvan'
zee with my own eyes tho h,nd lie dow
With the lion and the victim rise up an
embrace his murderer. I want to hc thor
when every ono suddenly understands vii,
3 has all been for. All he religions Of d,
world are built on this longing. and am
believer. But then there are the chl
drcn. and what am I TO do about them
. That's a question | can't answer. FOR II
hand reIth time repeat, there are nuII
bcrS OF questions. but ! Va, only taken Il
children because In their rasc what
mean Is 50 uR~answerahly clear. l.istel
II all must suffer to pay for the ctern
harmony, what have children to do vii
". tell me, please? It's beyond all "ulnpr
hension why they should suffer, and vi
they should pay for the harmony, WI
should they. too, furnish material 10 q
viph the .nIl for tho hurmnnv ar tn, y