Take a photo of a barcode or cover
168 reviews for:
Humiliated and Insulted: From the Notes of an Unsuccessful Author
Fyodor Dostoevsky
4.12 AVERAGE
168 reviews for:
Humiliated and Insulted: From the Notes of an Unsuccessful Author
Fyodor Dostoevsky
4.12 AVERAGE
Если бы у меня спросили, о чем эта книга, я ответила бы так:
Эта книга о том, что нужно уметь прощать, о том, что несмотря на положение в обществе, да и в мире в целом, самое главное - это наличие семьи, людей, которые всегда будет рядом и поддержат в любую минуту.Эта книга о любви - о любви, которую ты не в силах контролировать, о любви разрушительной, губительной и в то же время созидательной, о любви юношеской, ветреной, о любви отцовской, о любви братской , о любви вечной. Кроме того, эта книга о пороках и добродетелях, книга о низости души человеческой и одновременно о чистоте нравственного, наивного и благородного сердца .
Также, что не удивительно, эта книга о бедности и богатстве, о том, что бедность не порок, а богатство не всегда есть дар Божий.
К тому же, эта книга о выборе. Эгоизм или самопожертвование? Расчёт или чувство? Разум или сердце?
Это то, над чем нас заставляют задуматься.
Поэтому, пусть каждый сам расставит запятые на свое усмотрение:
Разуму нет говорю сердцу да....
В конце концов, это книга, концовка которой возможно и не поразит вас ничем, но определённо оставит хоть какой-либо след внутри вас и затронет хоть какие-то струны вашей души.
В общем, как сказала бы я в конце своего эссе на английском, it worth reading anyway.(она стоит прочтения!)
Эта книга о том, что нужно уметь прощать, о том, что несмотря на положение в обществе, да и в мире в целом, самое главное - это наличие семьи, людей, которые всегда будет рядом и поддержат в любую минуту.Эта книга о любви - о любви, которую ты не в силах контролировать, о любви разрушительной, губительной и в то же время созидательной, о любви юношеской, ветреной, о любви отцовской, о любви братской , о любви вечной. Кроме того, эта книга о пороках и добродетелях, книга о низости души человеческой и одновременно о чистоте нравственного, наивного и благородного сердца .
Также, что не удивительно, эта книга о бедности и богатстве, о том, что бедность не порок, а богатство не всегда есть дар Божий.
К тому же, эта книга о выборе. Эгоизм или самопожертвование? Расчёт или чувство? Разум или сердце?
Это то, над чем нас заставляют задуматься.
Поэтому, пусть каждый сам расставит запятые на свое усмотрение:
Разуму нет говорю сердцу да....
В конце концов, это книга, концовка которой возможно и не поразит вас ничем, но определённо оставит хоть какой-либо след внутри вас и затронет хоть какие-то струны вашей души.
В общем, как сказала бы я в конце своего эссе на английском, it worth reading anyway.(она стоит прочтения!)
She enjoyed her own pain by this egoism of suffering, if I may so express it. This aggravation of suffering and this rebelling in it I could understand; it is the enjoyment of man, of the insulted and injured, oppressed by destiny, and smarting under the sense of its injustice.
All through this work, a social element envelopes the characters, but it is not merely a social novel. There is a psychological element which deepens the characters, suiting the narration to the more dostoevskian shade.
The autobiographical essence through the narrator is also quite evident, for instance,
“You'll simply write yourself out, Vanya,” she said to me. “You're overstraining yourself, and you'll write yourself out; and what's more, you're ruining your health. S. now only writes a novel a year, and N. has only written one novel in ten years. See how polished, how finished, their work is. You won't find one oversight.”
“Yes, but they are prosperous and don't write up to time; while I'm a hack."
The villain in this story is one of the best villains I've ever read, the fact that he knows his wrongdoings yet attribute the very morality of the human fabric to be at fault, is what makes him so hauntingly evil. He is every bit an atrocious vile human yet one cannot help but agree with some of his reasonings. In one of the best chapters of the book, he proudly proclaims all of it as the narrator sat dumbfounded, much like the reader, and to quote one such instance,
"If it were possible for every one of us to describe all his secret thoughts, without hesitating to disclose what he afraid to tell and would not on any account tell other people, what he is afraid to tell his best friends, what, indeed, he is even at times afraid to confess to himself, the world would be filled with such a stench that we should all be suffocated. That's why, I may observe in parenthesis, our social proprieties and conventions are so good. They have a profound value, I won't say for morality, but simply for self-preservation, for comfort, which, of course, is even more, since morality is really that same comfort, that is, it's invented simply for the sake of comfort."
With Dostoevsky, you know the tale is not going to be a straight one, even though there might be a possibility for the villain to be defeated in the earthly terms, it isn't worth the philosophy Dostoevsky tries to so convey. It is kept open for the reader to take away the winning or the losing in their own aspect, and perhaps to see this conflict beyond a win or a lose, is what he expects most of all. As the heroine of the tale proclaims,
Everything is purified by suffering.
The concluding page of the novel only amplifies this conflict through the vileness of humans, both in their own suffering and their beastly cruelty for other's suffering, where Nellie, the sweet perfect (and my favourite character of the book) poetically embraces her mother's footsteps but never forgives, which takes me back to a somewhat similar interpretation in Ivan Karamazov's rebellion from The Brothers Karamazov, where he complains how the tears of a child can never be justified, and even if a mother can forgive the abusers of the child, the child never could.
This also makes me conclude, that the comprehension of this work would had been incomplete without being aware of Dostoevsky's philosophy through his later works. Undoubtedly, the story is poignant and carries some very emotional and profound moments but, personally, I was able to completely comprehend the characters, specially their psychological aspects, because of my prior acquaintance with his later works.
All through this work, a social element envelopes the characters, but it is not merely a social novel. There is a psychological element which deepens the characters, suiting the narration to the more dostoevskian shade.
The autobiographical essence through the narrator is also quite evident, for instance,
“You'll simply write yourself out, Vanya,” she said to me. “You're overstraining yourself, and you'll write yourself out; and what's more, you're ruining your health. S. now only writes a novel a year, and N. has only written one novel in ten years. See how polished, how finished, their work is. You won't find one oversight.”
“Yes, but they are prosperous and don't write up to time; while I'm a hack."
The villain in this story is one of the best villains I've ever read, the fact that he knows his wrongdoings yet attribute the very morality of the human fabric to be at fault, is what makes him so hauntingly evil. He is every bit an atrocious vile human yet one cannot help but agree with some of his reasonings. In one of the best chapters of the book, he proudly proclaims all of it as the narrator sat dumbfounded, much like the reader, and to quote one such instance,
"If it were possible for every one of us to describe all his secret thoughts, without hesitating to disclose what he afraid to tell and would not on any account tell other people, what he is afraid to tell his best friends, what, indeed, he is even at times afraid to confess to himself, the world would be filled with such a stench that we should all be suffocated. That's why, I may observe in parenthesis, our social proprieties and conventions are so good. They have a profound value, I won't say for morality, but simply for self-preservation, for comfort, which, of course, is even more, since morality is really that same comfort, that is, it's invented simply for the sake of comfort."
With Dostoevsky, you know the tale is not going to be a straight one, even though there might be a possibility for the villain to be defeated in the earthly terms, it isn't worth the philosophy Dostoevsky tries to so convey. It is kept open for the reader to take away the winning or the losing in their own aspect, and perhaps to see this conflict beyond a win or a lose, is what he expects most of all. As the heroine of the tale proclaims,
Everything is purified by suffering.
The concluding page of the novel only amplifies this conflict through the vileness of humans, both in their own suffering and their beastly cruelty for other's suffering, where Nellie, the sweet perfect (and my favourite character of the book) poetically embraces her mother's footsteps but never forgives, which takes me back to a somewhat similar interpretation in Ivan Karamazov's rebellion from The Brothers Karamazov, where he complains how the tears of a child can never be justified, and even if a mother can forgive the abusers of the child, the child never could.
This also makes me conclude, that the comprehension of this work would had been incomplete without being aware of Dostoevsky's philosophy through his later works. Undoubtedly, the story is poignant and carries some very emotional and profound moments but, personally, I was able to completely comprehend the characters, specially their psychological aspects, because of my prior acquaintance with his later works.
The ending reminded me of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. Isn’t it pretty to think so?
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Toxic relationship, Abandonment
Minor: Death, Pedophilia, Sexism, Death of parent
A very interesting read! Dostoevsky always manages to pull of what should be the impossible: telling a story with such detailed accounts of the main character's day to day activities, and with the plot moving at not a very fast pace, yet the story still intrigues one enough to keep reading and not want to stop. This work does not fully capture Dostoevsky' ability to do such, as well as Crime and Punishment did, but it was a great tale nonetheless. It was funny, had it's main plot twist along with a couple smaller ones, and made one want to shake their head at the dramatics of all the characters.
Truly, an enjoyable read!
Truly, an enjoyable read!
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"We shall go hand in hand, and I shall say to them, 'This is my dearly beloved daughter, my daughter without sin whom you have humiliated and insulted, but whom I love and bless for ever and ever!…'"
More sentimental than you'd expect from Dostoevsky and certainly not as deep as his masterpieces, but I still enjoyed it a lot and even cried at the end <3
More sentimental than you'd expect from Dostoevsky and certainly not as deep as his masterpieces, but I still enjoyed it a lot and even cried at the end <3
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
It is a magnificent novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky that can be read by itself, with ease, with enthusiasm! We run out of steam at one point; we catch our breath at another. Sometimes, the story escapes us, and we enthusiastically pick up on it. Although the feelings fold with a lot of violence and insight, the universe of madness, so pronounced in other works of the author, is not yet in the embryonic phase in Humiliated and Offended, making this book a real treat.