TMoP: Chapter 5 pgs 36- 42

[Bekah]

Oh, indeed.  I think it surprised D. that Pavel wrote at all.   The  
story itself is disturbing but I don't think D. even notices that  
really.   To him, at this point,  Pavel has  become an innocent.

Bekah

On Oct 3, 2008, at 7:51 AM, Richard Ryan wrote:

> Another evocative aspect of this scene is D's tenderness toward  
> Pavel's writing, which he appears to regard as amateurish but  
> touching, and his counterpoised hostility toward Maximov, who he  
> accuses of not knowing how to read (i.e, reading without an  
> understanding that the imagination is never an uncomplicated  
> reflection of reality....)
>
> In the writer-reader dichotomy, Coetzee's Dostoevsky would seem to  
> be clearly sided with writer.
>
>
>
> --- On Fri, 10/3/08, Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> From: Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>
> Subject: TMoP: Chapter 5 pgs 36- 42
> To: "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Friday, October 3, 2008, 8:19 AM
>
> TMoP: Chapter 5 pgs 36- 48
>
> [from the book page 36 : Maximov: "I would not have thought
> you a martinet for principles"]
>
> *a martinet is someone who insists on strict adherence to the rules
> - Is Maximov referring to, insulting with irony, Dostoevsky's
> gambling addiction and the contradiction with his Russian Orthodox
> views?
>
> [page 36: The list Dostoevsky is shown contains the names of people
> who are to be assassinated, according to Maximov. Dostoevsky
> recognizes some names. ]
>
> * "People's Vengeance" was the Russian branch of the nihilist
> organization Nechaev (and Bakunin) and were trying to set up.
>
> ***********
> [page 37: Maximov says Pavel took his own life - D. denies this...]
>
> * but the alternative is that Pavel was murdered - perhaps an
> accident, though.
>
> ***********
>
> [pages 38-39: what is the nature of "private papers"? Is a
> short story written by a dead man who has no stated heirs private
> material? ]
>
> * interesting question -
>
> ***********
> [ page 40: D. adamantly agrees a short story is private until
> published. The story in question is summarized and concerns the
> brutal murder of a lascivious landlord - ]
>
> * it's not really like the death of Dostoevsky's father. The name
> of the victim is "Karamazin," which although it sounds like
> "Karamazov," but is actually the name of a 19th century Russian
> nationalist/slavophile historian. The name of the young murderer is
> "Sergei" - as in Nechaev (and others I'm sure - could be purely
> fiction).
>
> ***********
>
> [page 41 - [from the book: in Pavel's story, Sergei takes the
> hatchet when he and the woman escape - "What for?" " '
> Because it
> is the weapon of the Russian people, our means of defense and our
> means of refuge." ]
>
> * I think this story is kind of important to Coetzee's work as Pavel
> is showing the old greedy Russia being killed but the murderer
> picking up the axe for use in future struggles - People's
> Vengeance. The hatchet or axe was used as the seal on documents
> from the "People's Vengeance Party"
> "Anarchist Portraits" by Paul Avrich - see Google Books
> http://tinyurl.com/5crjoa (pg 41)
>
> ***********
> [page 42 Maximov sees the story with Sergei's taking the axe with
> him, as evidence of Pavel's association with the revolutionaries.
> D. is outraged that a work of fiction should be used to determine an
> author's ideas, identity, possibly guilt. ]
>
> * This is pure Coetzee - Dostoevsky's works were almost direct
> reflections of his own ideas and beliefs, doubts or confusions.
> Coetzee has, otoh, long disputed a reader's authority to make this
> connection. As a result of "Disgrace," Coetzee was branded a
> racist and imo, this led to his decision to leave South Africa
> although it wasn't the sole reason for his emigration to Australia.
>
> [page 42: D. speaks : "What you call Nechaevism has always existed
> in Russia, though under other names. Nechaevism is as Russian as
> brigandage."
>
> * Dostoevsky's view of the underside to Russian-ness.
>
>