Literary Analysis : The Petty Demon, Wings, And Petersburg

Keeping this in mind, it comes as no surprise that Raskolnikov would feel utterly abhorred when Svidrigaïlov refers to them as “birds of a feather”(p.340; Part 4, Chapter 1). While Svidrigaïlov is rather keen of their shared similarities, such as their status as murderers, Raskolnikov willingly fails to realize these associations. Raskolnikov’s better side objects to the hedonistic behavior of Svidrigaïlov, decrying him as a man of the most abject nature. The dramatic irony lies in the fact that Raskolnikov desires to be an “extraordinary” man, the very epitome of Svidrigaïlov, a man he holds in no high regard. Despite their superficial variances and dissidences, Raskolnikov had slowly rendered himself into a facsimile of the man he detested, Svidrigaïlov. Although both men, whether knowingly or unknowingly, desire to transcend above the ordinary masses, it is only a matter of time before self-realization indicates the folly of their ways.

In addition to writing Notes from the Underground, and The House of the Dead, Dostoevsky completes Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and in 1871, he finishes The Devils. In addition, this decade is marked by personal tragedy, gambling, and debts. Beginning in 1862, Dostoevsky makes the first of several sojourns to Europe and his prolonged stay (from 1867-1871), no doubt, significantly influences his belief in the Great Russian Messianism.8

Dostoevsky’s “Notes from Underground” captures the life of a spiteful and hyperconscious man living in the ‘Underground World’. The Underground Man presents a figure of an anti-hero. An anti-hero can be defined as a protagonist with the absence of heroic characteristics. The anti-hero rejects society and connection, fear love but craves for them at the same time. He is a self-centered, strange and obsessive man, he is aware that he is an outsider and admits that he is a malicious man as the book opens up with “I am a sick man . . . I am a wicked man. An unattractive man.” (Dostoevsky 3) The book is divided into two parts; the first part recounts the life of the Underground Man when he is forty years old. The first part of the book presents

Throughout the entirety of Dostoevsky’s novel, The Brothers Karamazov, the author chooses to insert lines of poetry in order to give more insight to the situations he is portraying. Out of all of the Russian poems that were referenced, this paper will be focusing on the five that, I feel, were the most crucial to the deeper understanding of the scenes in which they were placed. These poems; Lermontov’s “Do not, do not believe in yourself,” Pushkin’s “Demon,” Pushkin’s “Chill Winds Still Blow,” Tiutchev’s “Silentium,” and Nekrasov’s “Before the Rain” will be discussed. Each of these poems offers insight to the scene, which goes beyond what was explicitly written by Dostoevsky. “Do not, do not believe in yourself” gives deeper insight to the

The stories of Anton Chekhov mark a focal moment in European fiction. This is the point where 19th realist caucus of the short stories started their transformation into modern form. As such, his work straddles two traditions. The first is that of the anti-romantic realism which has a sharp observation of external social detail. It has human behavior conveyed within tight plot. The second is the modern psychological realism in which the action in typically internal and expressed in associative narrative that is built on epiphanic moments. In consideration of the two sides, Chekhov developed powerful personal styles that presage modernism without losing traditional frills of the form. This essay will discuss the Chekhov's portrayal of women.

From the middle of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, anecdotes were very popular in Russian culture. The most well-used anecdotes had to do with peasants and ethnic minorities which the audience found funny. In the work, Entertaining Tsarist Russia edited by James von Geldern and Louise McReynolds, one is given examples of the anecdotes used during this time period. These stories are more stereotypical of those they are portraying, which in Russian culture was humorous. The anecdotes used in this work, although meant to be funny, shows the underlying social problems in Russia at this time.

Hadji Murat, Tolstoy's second book with the Caucasus as its setting can be considered a work of historical fiction that is a beautiful tale of resistance, and a window into not only the Caucasian War of the mid-nineteenth century, but also the culture of the Russian Empire during this period. As a work of fiction the reader must be wary of depictions of actual persons such as Tsar Nicholas I, whom Tolstoy was not enamored with, to say the least, but many insights about the period and its people can be gleaned from the story. The novel is one of great contrasts between Chechens and Russians and also of what life was like during this time.

Darkness at Noon, by Arthur Koestler, dives into what it would be like to be a political prisoner in Russia during Stalin’s time in power. The story is divided into four parts: First Hearing, Second Hearing, Third Hearing, and Grammatical Fiction. The subject of the book is given a look at by examining the story of Nicholas Rubashov, an older revolutionary and member of the Old Army, who is imprisoned and accused of crimes that he didn’t commit. To begin the First Hearing, Rubashov is arrested and put in solitary.

The empire of Russia spread drastically over the course of the nineteenth century. With the expansion of the borders of the nation, as well as the establishment of the Soviet Union, the influence of other cultures and an array of diversity soon melded into the nation. With the inflow that presented itself at the time, there was also a loss of talent that struck the region. Due to a constant fear of persecution due to the views or affiliation of an individual, there was a great deal of fleeing or exile from Russia of writers. From such exiles, authors were molded to emulate their experiences in both their lives in Russia and away from their home country. Such writers, Vladimir Nabokov and Viktor Shklovsky, while not overtly stating their experiences in exile in their work, clearly derive much from their lives. The novels The Gift, as well as Zoo or Letters Not About Love, respectively, drew upon certain realities that existed for the authors, specifically their lives in exile from Russia in Berlin.

His conflict shows us the peasant’s dignity in the depths of deprivation. His full tolerance of his new identity and of his camp life, and his remarkable ability to build a worthwhile existence for himself out of the capricious camp system, make him a spiritual hero. His intensity in living, eating, and working puts him in control of his world. This is exemplified when Shukhov labors on a brick wall, the narrator says that he concentrates on it as if he owned every inch of it. In a way, although he is a slave, he is still the leader of his own small dominion. He is not an aristocrat by birth, but inwardly he is proud, dominant, and invulnerable. Accordingly, immortalizing Shukhov through publication will paint a poignant portrait of survival to the Soviet people, with the added bonus of expediting the liberalization of the national political and intellectual climate.

Notes from the underground, is a book about a man who is both physically and mentally confused, unhappy, and lonely. He is a retired government worker who lives in St. Petersburg whose life is consumed with criticizing everything. If the reader is not careful, this book can cause perplexity, because as you read the story you start to contemplate how someone can behave and think as negative as the “unknown man.” Appolon is a worker who resides in the unknown man’s house whom he does not like, but refuses to fire. The narrator’s actions and attitude towards his servant, Appolon, are similar to the story of the man who thinks of himself as a mouse because the unknown man believes human lives like a mouse has no meaning, when challenged or in despair retreat is the best option, and both species routine are the same even if it is not beneficial to either.

This paper will analyze the paragraph from Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog” on page 572 that begins with “The room was close and smelt of the scent she had bought…”. This paragraph consists of a narrative discourse, focusing on Gurov’s previous relationships with women.

During this interactive oral, it was pointed out that the dreams in this novel are very influential to a character’s state of mind and actions. We discussed the graphic dream in which Raskolnikov, as a child, watches a mare as it is beaten to death. This dream is interpreted by Raskolnikov as a cue to murder the old woman. The mare seems to be a parallel to the

More so than that of most other comparably illustrious writers, a number of Vladimir Nabokov’s works beckon near polarizing discrepancies in interpretation and actual author intent amidst literary circles. In a letter to the editor of The New Yorker, he concedes to constructing systems “wherein a second (main) story is woven into, or placed behind, the superficial semitransparent one” (Dolinin). In practice, such an architectural premise is complicated further by his inclination to dabble in the metaphysical and occasionally, in the metafictional. Nabokov’s inclusion of meticulous description and word choice coupled with his reliance on unreliable narrators—in “Signs and Symbols,” “The Vane Sisters,” and “Details of a Sunset”-- permits him

In “Princess Mary,” Lermontov reveals how the heroes of 19th century Russia exemplified Byronic traits to such an extent that they had become fashionable to imitate. In A Hero of Our Time, Lermontov situates Grushnitsky as a foil to Pechorin to demonstrate how Pechorin serves as an example of the typical Byronic Hero. There are several moments where the parallelism between