Tuesday, August 18, 2009

James Joyce reviews the Brothers Karamazov

I was on Amazon looking at The Brothers Karamazov. I have been debating reading it because I feel like an uncultured Philistine for not having read it yet. Anyway, this review by Irish author James Joyce (1882-1941) caught my eye:

"[Leo] Tolstoy admired him but he thought that he had little artistic
accomplishment or mind. Yet, as he said, 'he admired his heart', a criticism
which contains a great deal of truth, for though his characters do act
extravagantly, madly, almost, still their basis is firm enough underneath... The
Brothers Karamazov... made a deep impression on me... he created some
unforgettable scenes [detail]... Madness you may call it, but therein may be the
secret of his genius... I prefer the word exaltation, exaltation which can merge
into madness, perhaps. In fact all great men have had that vein in them; it was
the source of their greatness; the reasonable man achieves nothing." -- James
Joyce

Then I saw this:

"This text refers to the Kindle Edition of this book."

WHAT? HOW DID THEY GET JAMES JOYCE A KINDLE EDITION OF THIS BOOK TO REVIEW? That's amazing. He's been dead for almost 70 years and now he's reviewing books on his Kindle. Neat. Maybe he'll give an endorsement for my book! I'll have to ask Amazon about that....


5 comments:

  1. Did you happen to see this new movie out? http://bit.ly/2x5phY

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  2. You haven't read the brothers K? It's James joyce's stream of consciousness that can cross the fabric of time and medium.

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  3. I've read it. Interesting. Didn't keep it though

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  4. You really SHOULD read it, Matt.... but I have told you that before!

    Congrats on the new Mikalatos!

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  5. Oh, I am planning to read it. I read "The Idiot" and really liked it, but never got around to this one. But it's been on my mind lately. Cheryl-- do you think it's better in english or russian?

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