First Reading Response, Yelena

I too was surprised that Rogozhin is short. Probably because “бодливой корове Бог рог не дает” [A curst cow has short horns] He certainly comes across as an explosive, impulsive individual, who would be prone to picking fights, doing crazy things, falling in love madly, going into a drinking binge, etc. This was very well noticed by Myshkin – his comment “if he marries her, he would probably kill her in a week” reflects this observation. Yet, Rogozhin seems sincere, straightforward (a bit too much, to the point of being non-delicate, “бесцеремонный” [unceremonious], and “небрежный” [careless]. Did I like him? So far – NO. The idea of giving a gift to a woman by virtue of stealing money from his father does not appeal to me, although this seemed appropriate and almost “admirable” in the eyes of NF (!?)

Prince Myshkin is very different from everybody so far described. He is an “open soul” and “pure charm.” He presents himself as a very sweet and honest person, to the point that he is perceived as “such a simpleton, who lacks ambition” by the kamerdiener at General Epanchin’s house. I see the effort which Dostoyevsky puts into portraying Myshkin as a “лучик света в темном царстве” [a ray of light in a kingdom of darkness] but personally I am alarmed just a bit that he has that “простота, которая хуже воровства” [simplicity that is worse than theft] which goes along the lines of the joke “may I have a glass of water because I am so hungry that I have nowhere to live.” To explain my train of thought: he adamantly denies any “корысть” in his visit, stating that he is too proud to ask for anything; however, he leaves the General’s house with 25 rubles in the pocket, place to move into and prospects for work. Good job, real skilful manipulation of the situation, so insidious that the giver would not even realize that they gave.

Anya, to your comment of knowing so many scripts – this actually fascinated me very much. Great description of typology, character of each script. I loved that part. FYI – it is a known fact that epileptics are very capable of doing a very tedious and monotonous work very scrupulously. Goes along well with his illness.

NF is so far a mystery. No comments. She has not said a word yet. All information about her is nebulous through stories told by other people or the author. Will wait! (I expect that she will show her “teeth” again).

Epanchin Girls – I agree with Anya that description of their beauty seriously deviates from “classical” feminine frame. It would probably fit the description of a contemporary emancipated healthy working female who goes to the gym three times a week for 1.5 hour workout J Except for sleeping late, oops…. I liked their artistic traits and reading. Funny, after having read about their parents, I wonder – who did they take after?!

The General, so far seems to me as a positive, hard working old man. Too bad that poor thing seems to be getting himself in trouble by falling for NF> We will see!

Can’t wait to read more! To my shame I have never read IDIOT before. But remember form my childhood that the IDIOT was referred to as a book which was “impossible” to read.