The Classics Challenge: "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Dostoyevsky is an intimidating name in the world of literature. Readers tend to avoid him for fear of not being able to understand his ideas. This is a pity. When I read The Idiot this past month, I was struck by how contemporary his prose was. Granted I read it in Russian, however his language is not archaic or hard to understand. Moreover, the subjects, the characters, the issues are all timeless and still relevant today.

The main theme in The Idiot is society's inability to take seriously an adult who conducts himself with childhood innocence and trust, who constantly gives people the benefit of a doubt and is always ready to see good in everyone. For others, such an individual (in this novel it is Prince Myshkin) is a subject of ridicule. His manner is not refined, his speech is not sophisticated, and he is very far from being street smart. He is always genuine and frank, compassionate to a fault, and is the absolute opposite of cynical. This is not compatible with our worldly notions of wisdom and maturity. Dostoevsky is a master of writing unforgettable characters. Each one is truly a masterpiece. Each one is complex and meticulously thought out. 

It is truly impossible to describe the depth of this novel in a blog post, so I will focus on one other theme which struck me as quite relevant today. The main female character Nastasya Filippovna was molested as a young girl by her benefactor and guardian. When she comes of age, she is basically a kept woman; or a fallen woman in the eyes of all upstanding citizens. What Dostoyevsky zeros in is her brokenness. Her mind and soul are a gaping wound that would not heal. She yearns for love and goodness. She never lost her innocence, but she is unable to understand that what happened to her is not her fault. She defies all notions of propriety in any way she chooses, except one: she cannot allow herself to become "good". I thought it was fascinating that she alone understands Prince Myshkin and makes her mission to see to it that he is happy. And he, for his part, understands how confused and damaged she is. He refers to her as "mad" and feels deep compassion for her. The love he feels towards her is what King James Version of the Bible calls "charity" in I Corinthians Chapter 13. 

Dostoyevsky is always true to his Christian ideals. His protagonist, who is always an idiot in the eyes of the world, is the author's Christian ideal of a man: innocent, forgiving, always seeing good in his neighbor. In the end, the world rejects this ideal man, just like it refused to accept and chose to crucify instead the one perfect man: the Son of God. Those parallels are clearly there. And in fact, in early drafts, Prince Myshkin was Prince Christov (Christ's). 

This book was entertaining, frustrating, profound, never boring, in many ways surprising, and so very readable. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 5 out of 5 stars - could it be any other rating?