Before I started reading the book I did some research on the author and the basic story line of the book. Everyone is always saying how difficult the book is to get through and how complex it is so I thought that if I taught myself a bit that it might be easier. So after some extra reading I began the book and it turned out that it didn’t help that much, it is a very complex book to get through but I did notice something interesting. The main character Raskolnikov shares many of the same characteristics as the author Dostoevsky which is a method Dostoevsky purposely implemented and which raises some thoughts.
Raskolnikov is characterized as being afraid of people from having isolated himself for so long, broke and in debt, and has the habit of talking and babbling to himself. These are traits that Dostoevsky himself possessed. Dostoevsky while attending College of Engineers in St. Petersburg was constantly in debt from gambling and parties, and living an extravagant life he couldn’t afford to have, therefore constantly writing home for more money. This is like Raskolnikov who doesn’t necessarily gamble money away but he is in debt for sure. He was afraid to see his landlady because he owed her rent money not just for that month but many more. She even stopped providing services to him because he wasn’t paying for them but he refused to leave his “closet” regardless.
After writing his first few pieces of work Dostoevsky became completely ill, mentally and physically. His illness was unpredictable and the symptoms uncontrollable so he shut himself off from the rest of the world. This is much like Raskolnikov who as it says, “...had been in such an irritable and tense state, resembling hypochondria.” They both shut themselves off from the world and became immersed in themselves that eventually it was hard to get back out there and become part of the world once more. One of the problems of the illness was that he wasn’t very coherent in conversation and people would torture him by talking to him and it was said he would babble to himself, another characteristic of Raskolnikov.
Learning these things about the author has helped me a bit in looking at the story in a new light. In stead of looking at it as simply a work of fiction I realize that he used aspects of his life to create characters and possibly different events and circumstances. How much of Raskolnikov was really just Dostoevsky?
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I found your entry very informative! I did a little research myself about Dostoevsky but I didn't find out nearly as much as you did. The most I discovered was his own anti-social disorder. I found it very interesting that he was a gambler and frequent partier, only to eventually shut himself off from the world. I also want to point out that you made a great observation with all your comparisons of the character to the author and it has been very helpful for me when reading the book. More than once I have definitely gone back to your entry to see what you wrote to better understand a piece of the novel.
ReplyDeleteI find myself doing the same thing when it comes to grasping a piece of Literature. Researching the author definitely helps to gain a better understanding. I feel there are definitely similarities between Dostoevsky and Raskolnikov. Both of these people suffered mental as well as physical illnesses. They both were considered social outcasts. These similarities were clearly incorporated into the book.
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