Dostoevsky - A Writer in His Time (Joseph Frank, 2010)

At this point I'm pretty sure I find Dostoevsky more compelling than Tolstoy - which is saying a lot.

The author spent the better part of three decades putting together a 2500 page biography of Dostoevsky; his work later was condensed to the 900-page version described here.  I thought it was quite wonderful, quite compelling throughout.

Dostoevsky could hardly be a more interesting character.  His temperament or personality was of the type that deeply soaked up his life experiences - so deeply that I would think this contributed to some of his ongoing health issues.  And this temperament was fed with a succession of life experiences that provided endless fuel for his novels.

There's also the time-and-place in which he lived - Russia in the throes of continuing social and political ferment during second half of 19th century - Dostoevsky deeply interested, and playing a meaningful role for several decades.

The life experiences are just amazing:  adored mother dies while he is very young; domineering if well meaning father continually imposing will, though dies when Dostoevsky is only in late teens; unhappy experiences in military engineering school attended per father's diktat; continual shortage of funds; some early success among highest literary circles in Russia but it doesn't stick; gets caught up in the political turmoil of the day, including materials not appreciated by a repressive state; arrested, questioned, spent some time in prison; sentenced to death and taken to prison courtyard to be executed, only to have sentence commuted to exile in Siberia (authorities planned commutation all along but Dostoevsky didn't have an inkling - the near-death experience was entirely real to him); shipped to Siberia; in jail in exile with population consisting primarily of serfs (his first exposure of this nature, and he drew some dubious conclusions about the depth of character of these folks); unhappily married to a woman met in Siberia (she dies); eventually had his civil rights restored and resumes writing; constant money problems; severe gambling problem; had the good fortune to meet a second wife who probably can be said to have saved him; loss of infant child; dealing with severe epilepsy throughout his adult life; deadline pressure when writing for monthly publications; financial pressure never really solved; Crime and Punishment a break-through event; develops and sticks to a deep belief, from Siberian days, in Christ - but a Russian version; staunch supporter of the tsar (notwithstanding earlier views - this is linked to the serf-Russo-Christian belief set however that's described); embarrassingly anti-Semitic; monthly publication Diary of a Writer dominates Russian political discussion for a couple years; young people somehow relate to an aging and now-conservative voice; famous and revered in later days; unthinkable evolution from convicted exile to tutor to members of tsar's family; the public reading at the Pushkin memorial that moves those in attendance so deeply.

The life story is just too amazing if not surreal.

This book also goes into a lot of detail about Dostoevsky's novels, and links them to events in his life and in Russian society, culture and politics.  The right sequence here is to read the biography after reading the novels - this made for a fascinating re-visitation of the books.  And pretty much demands a complete re-read.  Applies to all of the major novels, but especially to The Brothers Karamazov - the background provided here makes the book far more astonishing than I could have imagined.  I liked the book but definitely didn't "get it" in terms of most of what Dostoevsky was doing.

Do any modern authors attempt anything remotely like what Dostoevsky sought to do in The Brothers Karamazov?  (Even just the portion involving the legend of the Grand Inquisitor?)

Those who follow today's political debates - including the blandishments of the progressive wing - would benefit a great deal from reading the 19th century version of the discussions.  There's so little that's new.

There is an incredible amount of useful, interesting material here.  Not sure how to process all of it.  Highly valuable book.

Cousin Pons (Honore de Balzac, 1847)

Another novel in The Human Comedy grouping.  Which is a wonderful title and a strong concept; Balzac understandably successful and widely lauded for these novels.  A bit more background about the author in summaries of the other two Balzac novels I've read:  here, and here.  

This one is quite late in his list of works. A gentle old faded bachelor musician (Pons) - with some connections among the aristocrats and wealthy - falls out of favor.  No longer invited for opulent dinners - his passion.  Has a staunch German musician-friend, but nevertheless experiences depression over his declining circumstances.  Pons was a quiet connoisseur of fine arts throughout his life and had amassed a collection that those around him belatedly recognize as quite valuable.  Machinations of lawyer, landlady, relatives, etc. as Pons's health fails comprise much of the story line. 

I think it's too cynical.  Not one of my favorites.

2666 (Roberto Bolano, 2004)

Well.

I just don't read things like this very often . . . modern fiction . . . not even sure how to identify worthy items in this category.  (When it comes to fiction, I typically stick with works that have stood the test of time - I'll never work through that list anyway, and the hit rate for quality is very high.  But this was a referral, and a good one.)

The author - who died before this project was entirely finished - wrote five separate novels, and probably intended to issue them as such.  Some overlapping elements across the five; more not-overlapping elements.  Differing styles across the five novels.  His executors decided to publish it all together in one 900-page book.

If there's a center to the book, it is the fictional city of Santa Teresa in Sonora (Mexico) - across the Arizona border; a growing, changing maquiladora town from the 1990s (if that term is still used).  Industry, narcos, unsophisticated workers drawn from villages.  Modeled on Ciudad Juarez (though that's across the border from El Paso).  Anyway, literally hundreds of women were killed in Ciudad Juarez in largely unsolved crimes in those years, and fictional Santa Teresa is going through the same trauma.

Book 1:  four professors who made a career out of literary criticism of the works of a long-unseen, aged (if still alive), obscure (until these four raised his profile) German novelist named Archimboldi (odd pseudonym) decide to track him down.  The trail leads to Santa Teresa; they are hosted around town by Amalfitano, who teaches at the local university.

Book 2:  Amalfitano is having a hard time in Santa Teresa; back story about his emigration from Spain and his wife leaving him (she also doesn't have it easy); Amalfitano is raising their daughter, experiencing great tension in the city especially with a growing-up daughter; losing it mentally.  A book hangs on his clothesline.

Book 3:  Fate; an African-American journalist doing a story in Detroit; ends up in Santa Teresa to cover a boxing match because the sportswriter for his publication died; he learns of the killings, meets up with Amalfitano and his daughter; encounters creepy characters; I got really nervous wondering how this would play out.

Book 4:  the crimes - the author goes into details about the murders (taking place in 1990s into early 2000s) - I just dealt with this in a manner similar to how I deal with too-violent movies - though skipping graphs instead of covering my eyes.  Law enforcement struggles; corrupt or incompetent or whatever; the atmosphere in maquiladora towns in those days; a very tall 40-something American citizen (emigrated to the U.S. from Germany) ends up in prison accused of murders, but the killing doesn't even pause while he is in jail.

Book 5:  Archimboldi's story; he grows (very tall) up in interwar Germany and loves being in the sea; various odd jobs as washes out of school; a series of searing experiences in the 1930s continuing as he works his way through WWII in the German army - mostly eastern front (Romania); encounters a baroness who he had met at one of his first jobs; falls in love with a mentally ill girl; living in bombed-out Cologne in post-war years; does some writing and after quite a bit of struggle is identified by a respectable publishing house; eventually a bit of a link to some elements from other stories.

The several plot threads are one thing, and plenty fascinating in their own right (and leave one mulling, just on that level).  But there's much more.  The reader encounters various asides and detours of gorgeous writing and imagination - for example just out of book 5 - Ansky's notes or the typewriter renter's ideas about writing.  I need to go back through some of those riffs and try to understand why the author included them, how they fit into the plot lines, etc.  Plus they're just fun to read.

The graphic and poetic intermingle somehow, if that communicates anything.

Threads are not tied together, no resolution to much of anything, characters show up and are skillfully developed to where I'm interested in them, then they disappear.  The reader is left to do a lot of mulling, which is what I like.

Glad I own the book, will go back through and flip, and think, or wonder, or something.