NP quick Dostoyevsky question

[bekah]

At 3:16 AM -0700 8/20/07, Lawrence Bryan wrote:
>Nope, but I can show you where his grave is. I suppose the flowers I 
>left there are long wilted though.
>
>There is an interesting short novel by Coetzee, The Master of St 
>Petersburg, if I recall correctly, that covers a short span of life. 
>Anyone else here a fan of Coetzee?


Oh yes.  I've read quite a lot of Coetzee's later work including The 
Master of St. Petersburg.    I've also read  Disgrace,  Elizabeth 
Costello and Slow Man.   I really want to read his earlier work 
particularly "Waiting For the Barbarians,"  " Life and Times of 
Michael K,"  and "Foe."  The first two are on a lengthy wish-list at 
Amazon.

Back to the thread:   Whether to read "The Master of St. Petersburg" 
(excellent book)  or a biography of Dostoevsky and his novel "The 
Possessed"  aka "The Demons"  first depends on your primary interest. 
Coetzee is a Dostoevsky scholar and in "Master..."   he took some 
liberties with D's life but,  as I understand it,  always stuck to 
D's themes  (not to say I "got" all of it).

"_Dostoevsky (Life & Times)_"  by Richard Freeborn (2005?)   is 
probably as close as you're going to get to a useful and readable 
"biography" as such.  It's not even 200 pages but Freeborn is a 
scholar of Russian literature, writing for more than a couple 
decades,  and I'd suspect he is able to hit the highlights. 

There's  also a five volume biography by Joseph Frank which is 
"definitive,"  was written over a couple decades (at least)   and has 
won several awards,   but it runs to a total of more than 2500 pages 
so I recommend it with reservations! (lol)   There are other "bios" 
which focus on aspects of his life and ideas but the ones I mentioned 
are more inclusive.   The choice would depend on the level of your 
interest.

Bekah