Nicholas Dames has taught Literature Humanities, Columbia University's required great-books course, since 1998. He loves the job, but it has changed. Over the past decade, students have become overwhelmed by the reading. College kids have never read everything they're assigned, of course, but this feels different. Dames's students now seem bewildered by the thought of finishing multiple books a semester. His colleagues have noticed the same problem. Many students no longer arrive at college—even at highly selective, elite colleges—prepared to read books.
This development puzzled Dames until one day during the fall 2022 semester, when a first-year student came to his office hours to share how challenging she had found the early assignments. Lit Hum often requires students to read a book, sometimes a very long and dense one, in just a week or two. But the student told Dames that, at her public high school, she had never been required to read an entire book. She had been assigned excerpts, poetry, and news articles, but not a single book cover to cover.
the future is r-slurred 
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Idk what Dostoevsky is doing in any great books course, who invited him?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
he's the best.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
nah, he sucks bro
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
wrong
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
overrated at least
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Crime & Punishment is definitely overrated, can't speak for his other works
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Dostoevsky is super overrated, if Juice Wrld said this nobody would care.
If you want good Russian literature read Gogol or Bulgakov instead. Dostoevsky is just the Russian author that appeals to the west, he was an anglophile, if you want something more authentic this is not it.
Dostoevsky is just a Russian version of an anglo writer, he is not really what you would describe as "Russian literature"
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
This is actually the same opinion Nabokov had of him, he said Dosto is more revered as a writer in the West and that in Russia he's more of a mumbo jumbo mystic.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Yeah this idea that Russian literature is "gloomy and Nihilistic", thats actually anglo literature, not Russian.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Ironically the same is true of Nabokov...
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
I wanna call this a contrarian take but honestly Dostoevsky was pretty polarizing even during his time. I've only read a couple book by him (Demons and The Brothers Karamozov) and they both have high highs and low lows in terms of what you're getting.
What I will say is that dunking on a random quote like that is funny but pretty much on the same level as /r/MenWritingWomen when it comes to critique. Yes his characters are often extremely melodramatic but those characters often had very realistic and cold aspects to them as well. The psychology of his characterizations are fantastic, and the way he manages to capture seemingly contradictory emotions and actions of people is probably his strongest aspect as a writer. I think a big reason why he was so appreciated in the west was thanks to 1) solid translations and 2) a kind of sincerity that looked in the face of rampant cynicism honestly and attempted to give its own answer.
The problem I had with his work was that the cynical and realist outlooks presented in his book were too ideologically convincing, and it made the sincerity that tried to answer with look pretty weak in comparison. It feels like the same trap that the "New Sincerity" writers a hundred years later in the west struggled with, where the best writing they did was mostly cynical. Makes me think sincerity and transcendence are things that aren't meant for deeply introspective types who write long novels about human suffering. That shit is best left to Chads like Camus who can just go "Yeah you just gotta accept the absurdity of life dude JUST DO IT!" instead of Fyodor who goes "I don't think any just, omnipotent and omniscient God exists if that God is cool with an incredible amount of pointless suffering with things like war and child abuse happening to people that had no choice in the matter... B-But you should still have faith cause this is just part of God's unknowable 4-D chess! R-Right guys?"
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I don't care, sorry boo
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
that's just one sentence, it means nothing.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
maybe
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
forcing kids to read russian litrature in 2024 is a microagression
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context