Update: Faith reading challenge – Brothers Karamazov
In March, I challenged readers to consider reading Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and to read it from a faith perspective.
In March, I stated: “I attended a state university and we read The Brothers Karamazov as secular literature. While we read the book as secular literature, I do remember our instructor posing a question about a particular point for one of the books’ characters. I found myself responding as seeing the character as analagous to a friend of mine who was serving as a spiritual guide for me at the time. My instructor and classmates found this odd and laughed as such. It was an awkward moment…….Since then, I have periodically heard reference to “The Brothers K” as being a book – in part – about faith. Goodreads (an online book portal) says of the book, ‘Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the whole of Russian life, is social and spiritual striving, in what was both the golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture.’ Put May 1 on your calendar as the date to start reading The Brothers Karamazov through the lens of faith. I will post dates to begin discussing the book.”
We are now into the month of May. I did start to try reading “The Brothers K” again. In addition, a reader of this blog indicated that she accepted the challenge to read the book and has started reading – that’s great.
When I got a few pages into “The Brothers K” this time, I discovered that – indeed – the book includes more faith insights than I noticed the first time around. From the beginning, the book talks about faith being about love! Love is the root of what Christianity is about! When I first read the book for a secular literature class in college, I didn’t fully appreciate how infused the book is with faith concepts. Now, I see it.
Unfortunately, I am discovering that this very long Russian novel is a “bigger read” than I have an attention span for at this time. I am putting the book back on my bookshelf – with a fuller appreciation of what Dostoevsky put into the book.
For readers of this blog who open the pages of “The Brothers K,” I applaud your decision to read it!
Kim Burkhardt blogs at A Parish Catechist and The Books of the Ages (and a member of the Association of Catholic Publishers). If you are a new visitor, it would be great to have you follow this blog (thank you!). If you know someone who would like this blog, please share it with them (thank you!). You can also support this blog by clicking here when you are going to shop on Amazon (that lands A Parish Catechist a commission on Amazon sales).
