Konstantin Mochulsky's critical biography is, in the words of George Gibian, the "best single work in any language about Dostoevsky's work as a whole." Joseph Frank has called it one of the "indispensable studies by Russian critics." An established classic, it is here available for the first time in paperback in English translation.
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An extensive study of the development of Dostoevsky's creative art and intellectual thought by an analysis in depth of the total corpus of his writings. (Ernest J. Simmons New York Times )
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4.8 out of 5 stars
4 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life's Too Short, but No Matter
5 Aug 2005
By Buce
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Face it, I will probably never get around to reading Joseph Frank's (allegedly) magisterial biography of Dostoevsky. List longa, vita brevis. And besides, I have at hand Konstantin Mochulsky's splendid "Dostoevsky: His Life and Work." Strictly speaking, I can't compare it to Frank which, as I say, I haven't read (although I've peeked). The point is just that Mochulsky is so comprehensive and so insightful that I feel no special need to push further.
Frank runs to five volumes. At 678 pages, Mochulsky is not exactly svelt. Still he succeeds in capturing at least two books in one. It is first a pretty good, straightforward, narrative of D's life, which is certainly a tale to tell on its own. Indeed it is hard to think of any artist except perphaps Caravaggio whose life can bear telling on its own.
But perhaps more imimportant, it is a marvellously shrewd appreciation of all the major (and some of the minor) works. I picked up a copy some years ago in a second-hand shop, when I hadn't read much of D. Since then, every time I've knocked off another monument, I've gone to D to tell me what I've read. He's been unfailingly helpful, always adding something to the mix (perhaps particularly with The Idiot which, I might as well admit, at first reading I simply did not get). I'm sure Frank has even more to offer but as I say, you have to set priorities. I have Mochulsky. And besides, there is a bit more of D to read...
Frank runs to five volumes. At 678 pages, Mochulsky is not exactly svelt. Still he succeeds in capturing at least two books in one. It is first a pretty good, straightforward, narrative of D's life, which is certainly a tale to tell on its own. Indeed it is hard to think of any artist except perphaps Caravaggio whose life can bear telling on its own.
But perhaps more imimportant, it is a marvellously shrewd appreciation of all the major (and some of the minor) works. I picked up a copy some years ago in a second-hand shop, when I hadn't read much of D. Since then, every time I've knocked off another monument, I've gone to D to tell me what I've read. He's been unfailingly helpful, always adding something to the mix (perhaps particularly with The Idiot which, I might as well admit, at first reading I simply did not get). I'm sure Frank has even more to offer but as I say, you have to set priorities. I have Mochulsky. And besides, there is a bit more of D to read...
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
excellent overview of Dostoevsky's life and works
13 Nov 2003
By Lanja Samsdottir
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
A professor of Russian literature recommended this biography to me, citing it as one of the most complete Dostoevsky biographies available. I was not disappointed. Mochulsky covers Dostoevsky's life and creative output, and gives rather detailed analysis of the major works (The Brothers K, The Idiot, and The Possessed among them) for such a relatively short book. The English translation is very readable. However, I am not sure that Mochulsky is particularly accessible to readers who do not know anything about Russia. The fact that he is Russian and writing about a great Russian author seems to me to be a major component of this book.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mochulvsky Rules
2 Aug 2009
By R.Todd
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was Russian Studies major for awhile, when I got out of the army in 1991, and I really enjoy the synthesizers of poets and writers that come from an undistracted era such as ours is so full of. I picked this up, because I read a review from someone who'd picked it up because a professor suggested it. Good call. I was also looking for something from a Russian on a Russian. If your going to study Russian Literature, or history, and Dostoevsky, this is an essential read for becoming an immediate autodidact and ethnograph ...also read, russophile, when venturing into the topics. Spiritually, Mochulsky's accomplishment gives us a labor of love, in a time when the Soviet Union and the Cold War were still being played out.
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4.8 out of 5 stars
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