Dostoevsky's The Idiot 08/09/23
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There's a little thrift shop not far from my house, and every once in
a while I stop by. This weekend, they had a few shopping carts full of
books just inside the door, ten for a dollar. I rummaged through and
selected a few for myself and my family members, then texted a friend
about the Warhammer and military books that were sitting in there.
For myself, I chose:
- Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
- Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky, Edited by Peter
Mitchell and John Schoeffel
- The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I read Starship Troopers on Saturday. I thought I'd start with it,
since it is one of the favorite books of a friend of mine... to a
different friend I wrote this in a personal message, on Sunday:
"I re-read Starship Troopers yesterday. It was bizarre because when I
picked it up, I thought: 'I don't know if I've ever read this...', but
then as I went I realized that I had, and I recognized what was going
on. However, I wasn't able to recall any memory of what was coming
next. Usually I recall stories, movies, etc. It felt strange to know I
had read it, but not be able to recall anything from it as I went,
until I actual read the parts and the memory was there."
The book isn't long, and it doesn't have a plot per-se; It's a
narrative outlining a military career and some philosophy. What is
fascinating about it, to me, is its connection with my friend. He's a
man who is old enough to be my father, or just about, who had his own
career in the military, and who told me that he had longed to be in
the military ever since he was a very young boy. He still longs to be
there, I believe. The book was relatively new when he was a boy, and
it struck him as amazing. Reading it helps me to understand him
better.
Over the last few days I read The Idiot, which was considerably longer
but not a lot thicker in the plot department. Coming down from one of
the gods of classic literature, there's hardly a need for me to
summarize the book for you. It is not his most favored work by most, I
believe, nor should it be. I've never read it before, and thought it
might be interesting. I'd say that for me, it was compelling and
frustrating, if I had to choose a couple words for it. I suppose it
was interesting as well. It felt like a book full of insane
characters, all haranguing one sane character who wasn't socially apt
enough to know to defend himself. Re-imagined, it might be interesting
to write the main character as a child heir or heiress, being taken
advantage of by everyone in their life; it would perturb the reader
even more, and perhaps make some of the same points. Perhaps not.
The last book I haven't touched yet, and I don't know when or if I
will. I'm not a Chomsky sycophant, but he's interesting to me in the
same way Starship Troopers is interesting to me: I know people who
have been shaped by his writing. I want to read him, to understand
them.
I'll say this for the two novels I did read: it was really refreshing
to pick them up and just enjoy them. I haven't been reading as much
lately, and it was nice to get back to it.
