Fyodor Dostoevsky in 1879, photographed by Constantin Shapiro (1839-1900). Shapiro made photo portraits of other great Russian figures of the day, including story-tellers Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy, and philosopher Vladimir Solovyov. By this time, Dostoevsky was a household name, author of Crime and Punishment (1866) and The Idiot (1869). The students wanted his reassurance, as a man of letters, that they were not to blame for the unrest in society, and Dostoevsky acquitted them; but it was because he saw them as honest dupes of the pro-Western elite. “The younger generation lives in dreams, follows foreign teaching,” he wrote, “cares to know nothing that concerns Russia, aspires, rather, to instruct the fatherland.”
Assuredly many sad and deplorable facts must be recognized: sincere, honest young men, earnestly seeking the truth, went on their quest to the people, trying to alleviate its woes. And what happened? The people drove them away, and refused to recognize their honest efforts. For those young men hold the people to be otherwise than as it is. [...]
Blessed, none the less, be those who shall find the right path in these circumstances! The breach with environment is bound to be much more decisive than the breach between the society of to-day and to-morrow, which the Socialists prophesy. For if one wants to go to the people and remain with the people, one must first of all learn not to scorn the people;* and this it is well-nigh impossible for our upper class to do. In the second place, one must believe in God, which is impossible for Russian Europeans (though the genuine Europeans of Europe do believe in God); they hate and despise its ideals, and offer it remedies which it cannot but regard as senseless and crazy.
Abridged
From ‘Letters of Fyodor Michailovitch Dostoevsky to his Family and Friends’ (?1914), by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), edited and translated by Alexander Eliasberg (1878-1924) and Ethel Colburn Mayne (?-1941).
* “Instead of living the life of the people,” Dostoevsky had written earlier in this letter, “these young men, who understand the people in no wise, and profoundly scorn its every fundamental principle — for example, its religion — go to the people not to learn to know it, but condescendingly to instruct and patronize it: a thoroughly aristocratic game!”
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Précis
He trusted in the students’ sincerity, Dostoevsky said, but they had to recognise that the gap between the older and younger generations was always much smaller than that between the elite and the general public. Mutual understanding would require Westernised intellectuals to respect the people and share their Christian convictions, and he simply could not see that would ever happen. (60 / 60 words)
He trusted in the students’ sincerity, Dostoevsky said, but they had to recognise that the gap between the older and younger generations was always much smaller than that between the elite and the general public. Mutual understanding would require Westernised intellectuals to respect the people and share their Christian convictions, and he simply could not see that would ever happen.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, despite, if, just, or, otherwise, ought, whether.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Although. But. Sentimentalist.
2 Bound. Find. Itself.
3 Recognize. Steadfast. Trying.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
x
0
Add
Your Words ()
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