A Karamazov Companion: Commentary on the Genesis, Language, and Style of Dostoevsky's Novel

by Victor Terras

Overview of A Karamazov Companion: Commentary on the Genesis, Language, and Style of Dostoevsky's Novel

    The text of The Brothers Karamazov is removed from English-speaking readers today not only by time but also by linguistic and cultural boundaries. Victor Terras’s companion work provides readers with a richer understanding of the Dostoevsky novel as the expression of a philosophy and a work of art.
     In his introduction, Terras outlines the genesis, main ideas, and structural peculiarities of the novel as well as Dostoevsky’s political, philosophical, and aesthetic stance. The detailed commentary takes the reader through the novel, clarifying aspects of Russian life, the novel’s sociopolitical background, and a number of polemic issues. Terras identifies and explains hundreds of literary and biblical quotations and allusions. He discusses symbols, recurrent images, and structural stylistic patterns, including those lost in English translation.

Synopsis of A Karamazov Companion: Commentary on the Genesis, Language, and Style of Dostoevsky's Novel

Terras (emeritus, Slavic languages, comparative literature, Brown U.) has written a new preface for this reprint of his magisterial 1981 work. The companion consists of an introduction to the novel, discussion of the process of its creation, and a critical interpretation with regard to Dostoevsky's life and his religious and political beliefs. The bulk of the book is devoted to a reader's guide, which provides detailed annotation to the entire novel. Annotation c. Book News, Inc.,Portland, OR

About the Author, Victor Terras

Victor Terras is the Henry L. Goddard University Professor of Slavic Languages and Comparative Literature emeritus at Brown University. His many books include Reading Dostoevsky, also published by the University of Wisconsin Press; The Idiot: An Interpretation; and A History of Russian Literature, as well as translations of Dostoevsky’s works.

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