Dostoevsky'S Secrets: Reading Against The Grain (Studies In Russian Literature And Theory)

Review Many Readers May Be Disturbed By The Conclusions Apollonio Reaches, But She Is To Be Congratulated For Taking Such A Bold, Fresh Approach, Which Will Reinvigorate Dostoevskii Studies For Years To Come. Slavonic And East European ReviewCarol Apollonio Has Written A Profound Book. A Major Contribution To Dostoevsky Studies, Dostoevsky'S Secrets: Reading Against The Grain Is Packed With New Insights Into Dostoevsky'S Narrative Strategies, His Metaphysical Thematic, His Characters' Psychologies, And The Sexual Substrata Of His Plots. Deborah Martinsen, Columbia University Marvelously Provocative. Apollonio Pursues To Its Gaping End The Radical Gogolian Thought That Words Must Lie, And Thus The Entire Surface Of A Dostoevskian Novelnot Only Individual Personalities Withinis Designed To Deceive, To Be Prodded Open And Cleansed In The Interests Of A Greater, Counterintuitive Truth. Caryl Emerson, Princeton University Product Description When Fyodor Dostoevsky Proclaims That He Is A Realist In A Higher Sense, It Is Because The Facts Are Irrelevant To His Truth. And It Is In This Spirit That Apollonio Approaches Dostoevskys Work, Reading Through The Factsthe Textof His Canonical Novels For The Deeper Truth That They Distort, Mask, And, Ultimately, Disclose. This Sort Of Reading Against The Grain Is, Apollonio Suggests, Precisely What These Works, With Their Emphasis On The Hidden And The Private And Their Narrative Reliance On Secrecy And Slander, Demand.In Each Work Apollonio Focuses On One Character Or Theme Caught In The Compromising, Selfserving, Or Distorting Narrative Lens. Who, She Asks, Really Exploits Whom In Poor Folk? Does White Nights Ever Escape The Dream State? What Is Actually Lostand What Is Wonin The Gambler? Is Svidrigailov, Of Such Ill Repute In Crime And Punishment, In Fact An Exemplar Of Generosity And Truth? Who, In Demons, Is Truly Demonic? Here We See How Dostoevsky Has Crafted His Novels To Help Us See These Distorting Filters And Develop The Critical Skills To Resist Their Anaesthetic Effect. Apollonio'S Readings Show How Dostoevsky'S Paradoxes Counter And Usurp Our Comfortable Assumptions About The Way The World Is And Offer Access To A Deeper, Immanent Essence. His Works Gain Power When We Read Beyond The Primitive Logic Of External Appearances And Recognize The Deeper Life Of The Text. About The Author Carol Apollonio Is An Associate Professor Of The Practice Of Slavic Language And Literature At Duke University. She Lives In Durham, North Carolina. Excerpt. Reprinted By Permission. All Rights Reserved. Dostoevsky'S Secretsreading Against The Grainby Carol Apollonionorthwestern University Presscopyright 2009 Northwestern University Pressall Right Reserved.Isbn: 9780810125322Contentsacknowledgments................................................................................................Ixnote On The Text...............................................................................................Xiintroduction...................................................................................................3Chapter One The Body And The Book: Poor Folk...................................................................13Chapter Two The Spirit Of St. Petersburg: White Nights.........................................................27Chapter Three Purging Bad Money: The Gambler...................................................................43Chapter Four Confession And Slander In Action: Crime And Punishment............................................67Chapter Five The Idiot'S Vertical Sanctuary: The Holbein Christ And Ippolit'S Confession.....................93Chapter Six The Demon Of Doubt And The Revenge Of The Neglected Son: Demons....................................104Chapter Seven On Slander, Idolatry, And Impostors: Demons......................................................117Chapte