question

[wordsofstealth.livejournal.com]

only have time for one dostoyevsky book (in english though)
is the Idiot better than Crime and Punishment?

Comments

[sisyphus.livejournal.com]

better is so subjective. C&P would be the more acclaimed and famous one though. They're both full of moralizing.

[ijona-tihaja.livejournal.com]

On the whole, Crime and Punisment seems more gloomy. I personally like it. But it's the question of taste. And this book is more typicall for Dostoevsky.

[oryx_and_crake]

Thought about the level of gloominess and how you measure it.
Started counting dead bodies and casualties.
"Idiot" - one person dead, two gone mad (including Rogozhin)
"C and P" - five people dead
Yes, CandP definitely leads! :-)

[ijona-tihaja.livejournal.com]

Yes, five people. Almost six, I'd say, because Lisaveta was pregnant...

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Depends on the units you're going to measure "better" and "worse" in :)) Seriously, I'm not at all a huge fan of Fyodor Mikhailovich (I'm rather the opposite,) but I've read both books when I was 15 or 16 and found them entertaining, though in a very special way :)

[alinaf.livejournal.com]

I would seriously go with Crime and Punishment as your first and maybe only Dostoyevsky book. I believe it's more representative and it left a deeper impression on me personally.

[arestoktra.livejournal.com]

i read both i don't know how many times. i prefer C&P. it's more easy to read and less complicated.

[linnapaw.livejournal.com]

Crime and Punishment! It's worth it! :) (Though, truth be told, I've not read "The Idiot", although it's been on my bookshelf for a year!)

[florentia.livejournal.com]

I think 'Idoit' is better!
everyone reads "Crime and Punishment" at school. Idiot is nicer I think

[cincinnat.livejournal.com]

C&P is better, I think. 'The Possessed' are still better, though :-)

[mithgol.livejournal.com]

Better (if it's „Бесы“; I'm not sure)

[cincinnat.livejournal.com]

It is.

[astis.livejournal.com]

Why do you peolpe read only Dostoevski? There are so many good russian writers, but you are reading that gloomy snob!

Read Bulgakov.

[alpha-cygnus.livejournal.com]

Agreed :)

[fox-c.livejournal.com]

Since when is Bulgakov not gloomy?

[astis.livejournal.com]

In comarison with Dostoevskiy - just a merry fellow)

Idiot

[shariperkins.livejournal.com]

I preferred The Idiot. It is a much more personal story than C&P, though it has its share of "great ideas" too. Plus, the character studies and relationships are fascinating -- particularly his treatment of the dynamics abusive relationships. Prince Myshkin is one of my all-time favorite characters -- right up there with Sir Percy Blakeney. Though of course he is totally different.

C&P is also a great book -- and in a way, these two novels compliment each other like bookends. Idiot is more social & interpersonal, C&P is more psychological drama.

Idiot has a magnificent miniseries which came out in 2003, which is worth seeing. Yevgeny Mironov is breathtaking as Prince Myshkin. But the subtitles are appallingly bad -- so you should be familiar with the story before viewing.

[fox-c.livejournal.com]

I prefer C&P to the Idiot, personally. The first half of the Idiot is really fantastic, but it goes substantially downhill from there, whereas C&P holds up better as a whole.

I prefer Dostoevsky's short stories to his longer novels, to be honest. White Nights, Notes from the Underground, the Gambler, etc.

[giggle-chick.livejournal.com]

i've never read the Idiot, but I've heard that the book's better if the reader is Russian or knows much of the Russian culture. just wanted to add my two cents

[spiderhood.livejournal.com]

C&P is more sort of classic, that's why it ends up in study programme. Idiot is more equivocal, and harder to understand it right (it is NOT a fairy tale about a saint whacko, it's much deeper than that).

[missa-gorightry.livejournal.com]

I liked Idiot better than C&P, and I agree that the Mironov miniseries is a must for Russophiles. But, I have to say, if you only have time for one book by FMD, Brothers Karamazov is the one I would recommend. It began my love affair with Russian lit. And Russian language. :)

[moria923.livejournal.com]

I really think CRIME AND PUNISHMENT is the most accessible of his novels. (Of course, I'm biased -- it's the book that turned me into a Russian lit student.)

[that-random-boy.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, it's difficult to fully appreciate The Idiot without a good knowledge base in historical Russian politics, whereas Crime and Punishment makes its appeal much more universal and definitely serves as a better example of Dostoevsky, "Отец психологического романа" (father of the psychological novel).

But I would suggest you read neither of those and go for the far superior Brothers Karamazov anyway.

[schwarzer-tod.livejournal.com]

Crime and Punishment was so much better. And hey, what happened to The Karamazov Brothers?
I agree with the others about other Russian authors being better. Bulgakov and Gogol', specifically.