Under Western Eyes (Joseph Conrad, 1911)

Conrad remains one of my favorite authors; almost in the zone with Dostoevsky, Mann, Solzhenitsyn.

Had never heard of this book but recently saw a favorable review in WSJ.  Many overlaps with this book (published 39 years earlier, surprisingly enough - the themes endured in Russia).

Protagonist (Razumov) is a student in St. Petersburg unwittingly drawn into an assassination situation when the assassin (fellow student Haldin) shows up in Razumov's room shortly after the deed, seeking safety until he can make his escape.  Haldin ends up getting arrested and executed in pretty short order.

All this puts Razumov - getting attention from anarchists and police alike - in a very difficult situation; he seeks to cope throughout the story.

Razumov is the illegitimate son of Russian noble who has a small role in the tale; Razumov grew up without family and very much a loner; this plays into his handling of the situations he encounters.  Razumov had simply wanted to thrive in his schooling and get a decent job - this avenue was now completely closed.

Razumov is whisked out of Russia and into Switzerland shortly after the assassination.  Where he encounters the assassin's sister and mother - previously sent abroad by Haldin in anticipation of trouble for them should he succeed in the assassination.  These two quite naturally are most interested in what happened to Haldin (who was the shining star of the family).  Haldin's sister (Nathalie) is a strong character though inexperienced.  Razumov also encounters various Russian emigres, many involved in plotting against the government "back home" and anxious to employ both Razumov and Nathalie.

Conrad does a great job with this.  The story is told through the "Western eyes" of a middle-aged Englishman resident in Geneva who had come to know Haldin's sister (as her English teacher); he stays involved as things unfold and eventually has access to Razumov's diary.  The protagonist's struggles are really well done.

Conrad makes quite a lot of the inability of "Western eyes" to see/understand what was going on in Russia, and between Russians.  Not quite sure what to make of that.  Conrad was Polish - though moved to England and wrote in English - and had family experience with Tsarist-repression.  So there are several layers going on here.

Joseph and His Brothers (Thomas Mann; published in four volumes in 1933, 1934, 1936, 1943)

I'll repeat:  I'm a big fan of Thomas Mann.  So I knew I would take up this work - but was wondering - what's going on here?  1,500 pages to re-tell, or re-cast, Old Testament stories that Mann's reader-universe already knew intimately?

The introductory materials indicate that Mann saw this work as his magnus opus - but that clearly isn't anyone else's perception.  Too long for widespread readership.  Rocky start - he was already in exile before the first volume was published in his native (now-Nazi) Germany, making it unlikely that there would be any critical acclaim or wide distribution.  Etc.

Written over the course of 16 years - last volume written in "sunny California."

I love Mann's writing style - wordy, full of ideas, spinning out conversations and ideas in tremendous detail.  It works for me.

This book reminds me that Bible is full of foundation stories - marvelous, profound, human.

And it's pretty much common sense that Bible knowledge is useful if not indispensable in absorbing so many great works of Western culture (as discussed here).

Mann has a highly effective way of communicating how deep the past runs - how long folks have been living the foundation stories.  The opening sentences of the book:  "Deep is the well of the past.  Should we not call it bottomless?"

Interesting aspect - Mann describes Yahweh's covenant with Israel as a win-win - Abram (as he was then known) restlessly looking for an ur-God; on the other hand, God can't have a presence on earth without a people dedicated to Him.  Playing with the idea of a God with needs!

But the basic element here:  marvelous stories.  (And they're marvelous stories even before Mann expands them in his wonderful style.)  A sampling (not always in chronological order):

• Abram - the wanderer; the covenant.
• Abraham and Sarah - time in Egypt.  Ismael via slave girl.
• Isaak via Sarah - though she was too old.
• Abraham and Isaak; the sacrifice.
• Abraham's servant - Eliezer - sent on a long journey to find a wife for Isaak - but goes quickly, the earth leaps up to meet him!
• Isaak and Rebekah
• Esau (the hairy one) and Jacob
• Rebekah helps Jacob get Isaak's blessing
• Esau the unfavored older son - like Cain - echoes within Jacob's group of sons
• Jacob wrestles with the angel
• Rebekah sends Jacob far away to live with her brother Laban (so the tense situation with Esau might have a chance to settle down); she never sees her favorite again
• Jacob makes Laban wealthy, starting with finding a well for him; Laban distrustful and untrustworthy
• Laban sneaking in Leah (in place of Rachel) after Jacob works seven years to get Rachel
• Jacob and Rachel - after seven more years
• The 12 sons of Jacob; leading to the 12 tribes of Israel 
• Leah fertile; Rachel supplying only #11 (Joseph) and #12 (Benjamin) 
• Reuben - eldest; Simeon and Levi - warlike in this telling; Judah #4
• Four of the 12 sons born to Jacob by slave-girls (when nothing happening with Leah or Rachel)
• Jacob outwitting Laban the deceiver; starts the return to the homeland
• Rachel dying along the road after giving birth to Benjamin
• Jacob transferring favoritism from Rachel to Joseph (he had her eyes, after all); hard feelings among Joseph's bros
• Jacob the King of Flocks - the blessed one - everything he touches turns out well
• Jacob the trickster
• Jacob the mystic, the ascetic
• Jacob individually with the name "Israel"
• Joseph wheedles the coat of many colors out of Jacob (in this telling, it is a fantastic unisex gown of some sort that Laban had acquired for his daughter to wear at her wedding)
• Joseph in the pit; Joseph sold to passersby; bros telling Jacob that Joseph must have been killed by a wild beast
• Joseph sold into the house of Potiphar (powerful, wealthy courtier of Pharaoh) - quickly rises from bottom rung to chief steward
• Potiphar's wife finally notices Joseph, and how
• Potiphar's wife asks Potiphar to send Joseph away - this scene was brilliantly written; Potiphar demurs
• Joseph talks business with Potiphar's wife, too much
• Joseph - back to the pit; his "calm" jailer; Joseph correctly interprets dreams for two jailed members of Pharaoh's senior household staff
• Joseph called from prison to interpret Pharaoh's dreams (after the professional interpreters failed) - foresees seven years of plenty, seven years of famine
• Pharaoh appoints Joseph as his chief steward; preparations for famine
• Joseph's brothers (without Benjamin) come to Egypt - the only place with grain - but don't recognize Joseph.  
• The reveal - on return trip - to the 11 bros only.
• Perhaps my very favorite part of the story:  how Jacob learns, after all these years, that Joseph is alive and well.  The role of the songs of Serah in gently breaking the news to much-aged Jacob that Joseph lives - just delightful.
• The name "Israel" now also refers to Jacob's family - Israel moves to Egypt at Joseph's behest.
• Judah - the lion - foreshadowing lineage to come - receives Jacob's blessing.  Not Joseph.
• Tamar - believes Jacob's stories, foresees Judah as receiving the blessing, inserts herself into the key lineage (marries two of Judah's sons in succession (both die quickly); then seduces Judah himself)
• Jacob buried back in the land of his ancestors - not Egypt.

Trust me:  there's lots more over the course of 1500 pages.  Just delightful.

Notes from Underground (Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1864)

Decided to read this book while reading this most interesting biography of Dostoevsky.  Short; just a bit over 100 pages in this edition.

Notes from Underground was written at a turning point in Dostoevsky's career.  His initial successes had dimmed; he had lived as an exiled convict.  The protagonist is a disaffected government worker who has gone underground, i.e. stepped out of normal society.  Bitter, unhappy, etc.  A type Dostoevsky is observing as Russia changes, also resonant with parts of the exile community.

Notes starts with a statement of the protagonist's philosophy - said to reflect closely the author's own views at this time - the paramount importance of free will, even if irrational or harmful to the individual exercising it - rejecting "the Utopian socialism to which he once owed allegiance" - which I understood to hold that human behavior can be happily engineered via experts employing reason.  Protagonist is bitter, cynical, observant to a point.  "I am a sick man" - famous opening line.

Second part of Notes is referred to as the Story of the Falling Sleet.  One aspect is a sad scene where the protagonist is utterly incapable of connecting with his school pals (I read this was based somewhat on the author's unhappy experience in military engineering school - orchestrated/forced by his father.)  More centrally:  he then meets up with Liza - the fallen woman - severely painful interactions.  Liza perhaps somewhat foreshadows Sonya (Crime and Punishment).  These scenes are wonderfully written - yes, painful.

The impoverished protagonist doesn't have a very satisfying relationship with his valet.

After Notes - pretty much a direct path to Crime and Punishment and enduring fame for the author (along with continuing personal challenges:  bio is must-read).

Dostoevsky = hard to beat.

The Siege (Helen Dunmore, 2001)

Novel is set in the amazing, horrific siege of Leningrad in World War II.  Father, daughter and much younger son (mother died in childbirth so son effectively is being raised by the daughter) try to survive through the siege (with a focus on the awful first winter); as that winter grinds on, they are joined in their flat by an aging, out-of-favor actress and a young doctor.

The story of the siege is told in detail in The 900 Days, a very wonderful book that is discussed here.

I'd strongly recommend reading The 900 Days, and it would be OK to skip this little volume.

Not that it's awful - at worst, it's an accessible way to get a feeling for the situation.  A somewhat more personal interpretation of how it might have felt on starvation rations in those freezing Leningrad apartments.  But that aspect also comes through pretty clearly in The 900 Days, accompanied by a description of the wider context that makes the individual survival stories even more compelling.