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“Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath…�� �� Ephesians 6:4

I greeted the prospect of reading The Brothers Karamazov with trepidation. It is the book of choice by the Obscure Reading Group and part of me wanted to join in the discussion, which I know will be rewarding. The reluctant part of me fretted about not having sufficient time to read this tome and whether I am ready for this classic, Dostoevsky’s last work that has been hailed as his masterpiece.

A new year has dawned and on the wings of courage borne of new beginnings, I decided to make the acquaintance of the three Russian brothers. What a meeting that was! For an entire month in January right up to the eve of the lunar new year (when I heard the tiger roar), I was steeped in an intricate philosophical treatise that examined good and evil, the abyss of human depravity, hope, and redemption. The propensity to wrongdoing was matched by a knowing surrender to all that was vile and violent. This complex examination of the human condition was accomplished via a story of three brothers and their father’s murder. The tale was sordid and ugly, and there were days I fled and read a lighter work to catch my breath. Yet, I cannot help but recognize the enormity of the conflict between the flesh and the spirit that Dostoevsky painstakingly and brilliantly brought to awareness.

Right from the start, there was a sense of impending doom. Blood would be shed. The characters, both major and minor, were skillfully developed. They came across as real people percolating evil and justifying their evil to themselves. The patriarch, Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov, is a mean, lascivious, self-serving debauchee who mistreats his children. Dimtri (Mitya), abandoned as a child and cheated of his birth right, is irascible, impulsive, self-loathing, passionate and lives by his senses. Ivan, an atheist and the intellectual in the family, scorns faith and believes he is the law unto himself. Alexey (Alyosha), the youngest son is like a lamb living amongst a pack of wolves. A novice monk under the tutelage of Father Zassimov (a name I still cannot remember: Mimossa, samosa, Assimov �� dreadful) is the voice of conscience. Dostoevsky seemed to have represented in this set of brothers: the senses, the intellect, and the soul. The Karamazov family saga, bitter feud, parricide, and trial of the murderer were carefully staged. It picked up pace in the last two parts and then I read on rather feverishly.

Of interest to me is this idea of hatred and murder. Dostoevsky suggests that hatred is murder in itself. With it, guilt is inevitable. As the unnamed narrator, the author evidently had some words of wisdom and a compassionate worldview strewn throughout this massive work. Here is a quote by Father Zassimov:

“for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all... But active love is labor and fortitude, and for some people too, perhaps, a complete science.��

It has not been easy to read The Brothers Karamazov but I am glad I did. Published in 1879, its insight into human nature continues to hold true today.