Writer's Diary, 1877-1881, Vol. 2
This is the second volume of the complete collection of writings that has been called Dostoevsky's boldest experiment with literary form; it is a uniquely encyclopedic forum of fictional and nonfictional genres. The Diary's radical format was matched by the extreme range of its contents. In a single frame it incorporated an astonishing variety of material: short stories; humorous sketches; reports on sensational crimes; historical predictions; portraits of famous people; autobiographical...
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The Diary is Dostoevsky's attempt to create a new genre maximally open to present experience and unforeseen historical change--to capitalize on the excitement of an author's creative process, which would itself become material for art, and to demonstrate how an artist reflects on experience as it happens. Publishers Weekly This concluding volume of Dostoevsky's experimental one-man journal (he was its editor, publisher and sole contributor until his death in 1881) is a melange of political commentary, observations on current events, reportage of sensational murders, philosophical musings and literary criticism on Tolstoy, Turgenev and Pushkin. Dostoevsky's idealized vision of the Russian people as a nascent fellowship of Christ who reject the values of the godless, materialistic West is a recurrent theme. Offering a ringside seat to the growth of German nationalism under Bismarck, the Russo-Turkish War, political instability in France's Third Republic and the cauldron of Eastern European nationalisms, these voluble outpourings are also of interest for their sketches of ideas developed more fully in The Brothers Karamazov. Dostoevsky's vicious, poisonous tirades against Jews reveal the depth of his anti-Semitic prejudice. Also included is the story ``The Dream of a Ridiculous Man,'' which reflects his search for life's meaning and longing for redemption. Lantz is professor of Slavic languages and literatures at the University of Toronto. (June)
\ Publishers Weekly\ - Publisher's Weekly\ This concluding volume of Dostoevsky's experimental one-man journal (he was its editor, publisher and sole contributor until his death in 1881) is a melange of political commentary, observations on current events, reportage of sensational murders, philosophical musings and literary criticism on Tolstoy, Turgenev and Pushkin. Dostoevsky's idealized vision of the Russian people as a nascent fellowship of Christ who reject the values of the godless, materialistic West is a recurrent theme. Offering a ringside seat to the growth of German nationalism under Bismarck, the Russo-Turkish War, political instability in France's Third Republic and the cauldron of Eastern European nationalisms, these voluble outpourings are also of interest for their sketches of ideas developed more fully in The Brothers Karamazov. Dostoevsky's vicious, poisonous tirades against Jews reveal the depth of his anti-Semitic prejudice. Also included is the story ``The Dream of a Ridiculous Man,'' which reflects his search for life's meaning and longing for redemption. Lantz is professor of Slavic languages and literatures at the University of Toronto. (June)\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalVolume 1 of this new translation, published last year, contains Gary Saul Morson's 117-page "Introductory Study," which means that Volume 2 is rather an orphan on its own. A Writer's Diary began in 1873 as a column in a periodical. From 1876 until his death in 1881, Dostoevsky-editor, publisher, and sole contributor-brought it out monthly as an independent publication. The Diary is a grab bag that includes autobiography, semifictional sketches, journalism, and a few short stories. It offers a valuable perspective on Russian cultural history and is also an important sourcebook for The Brothers Karamazov. The diversity of the Diary provides part of its fascination, though it recommends itself primarily to scholars of Russian literature. Dostoevsky's notion that he was creating a new literary genre is farfetched. The only previously available English translation is incomplete, lacks scholarly authority, and is long out of print. For specialists.-Keith Cushman, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro\ \ \ BooknewsGo out and purchase volumes 1 (see the December 1993 R&R Book News) and 2 immediately. Dostoevsky's Diary--an amalgam of fiction, anecdotes, reminiscences, portraits of famous people, autobiography, polemic, sketches, reports on sensational crimes, historical predictions, and plans for stories--is a fascinating experiment in literary form and absolutely compelling reading, when presented in a translation as clear as that of Kenneth Lantz, who also provides the annotations. Volume 2 includes a comprehensive index to the Diary. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)\ \ \ \ \ Joseph FrankIlluminates and entire stretch of Russian cultural history, and is indispensable on this score alone.\ —London Review of Books\ \
