Startling, heartbreaking, and funny all at the same time
5 stars
I hate to say it, but there is no doubt Dostoevsky would not have been the Dostoevsky who wrote Crime and Punishment without his time in prison.
"I was in terrible solitude, and I finally came to love that solitude. Spiritually alone, I revisited all my past life, went through everything down to the smallest detail, pondered my past, judged myself alone strictly and implacably, and sometimes even blessed my fate for having sent me this solitude, without which neither that judgement of myself nor that strict review of my past life could have been." - The Escape
And yet this book is full of so many other heartbreaking impressions, of his fellow prisoners, of the animals in prison, of so much wasted strength. My edition also included a memory of a peasant's kindness to him that brought me to tears. It, and many of the impressions in …
I hate to say it, but there is no doubt Dostoevsky would not have been the Dostoevsky who wrote Crime and Punishment without his time in prison.
"I was in terrible solitude, and I finally came to love that solitude. Spiritually alone, I revisited all my past life, went through everything down to the smallest detail, pondered my past, judged myself alone strictly and implacably, and sometimes even blessed my fate for having sent me this solitude, without which neither that judgement of myself nor that strict review of my past life could have been." - The Escape
And yet this book is full of so many other heartbreaking impressions, of his fellow prisoners, of the animals in prison, of so much wasted strength. My edition also included a memory of a peasant's kindness to him that brought me to tears. It, and many of the impressions in this book, are examples of Dostoevsky gift for capturing the real stuff of memory and the soul which make up the human experience.