GajimaruClassics.
The Brothers KaramazovOn the coverChrist in the Wilderness, Ivan Kramskoy, 1872
The Brothers Karamazov
Three very different brothers, sensual Dmitri, brilliant atheist Ivan, gentle novice Alyosha, circle their cruel, buffoonish father, in a story that becomes a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and the deepest argument about God, freedom, and guilt in all fiction.
Character notes and context for the chapter you’ve read.
A murder mystery that doubles as the deepest argument ever staged about God, freedom, and why we suffer, and it grips like a thriller. The summit of Dostoevsky, and maybe of the novel itself.
A Russia torn between old Orthodox faith and a rising tide of atheism and radical politics, the monastery and the tavern arguing over the soul of a country that sensed upheaval coming.
On screen & beyond
- Ivan Pyryev’s Soviet film (1969)
- Richard Brooks’ Hollywood film (1958)
- Russian television series (2009)