Setting the Stage

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the Virtual Book Club, The Idiot edition :)

As I was discussing the idea of a virtual book club with friends, more than one person said that it would pale in comparison to a real-life meeting and discussion. In order to address this concern, I would like to explain why I am curious to try out this format.

I have always found that writing down my thoughts helps me to formulate them better. In writing, I can take time to express every aspect of my idea, I can go back and re-read (and edit) my thoughts, and I can refer to them later (essential for someone with a poor memory like mine).

Of course, there is the danger that posting online responses to reading will turn into something like a mandatory Blackboard discussion for literature class, and those are rarely very fun. (Ahem. Sorry, dear Professors :) But that's a risk I'm willing to take. Everyone joined this group voluntarily, which hopefully means that you are eager to read, think, and write. And there is no obligation to post every day, or respond to every question.

Which brings me to the general set up of things.

1. I propose that we start with the book and nothing else, so no critical articles for now. For example, I glanced at some articles and found out that Dostoyevsky apparently had several versions of the main hero in his drafts, with very different character traits from the final Prince Myshkin. This is fascinating, but... the final book is its own universe. I think it would be better to enter it and live in it for a while without distractions. Let's judge the characters based on textual evidence, let's get to know them personally. Let's see what we pick up and what themes we develop before going out to look for critical articles. But, at some point, I would love to bring in the critical articles. Maybe when we are over half-way through the reading?

2. No spoilers. Not everyone has read this book yet, and I want to discuss the plot and characters as they develop. Some of you may want to read ahead, maybe even finish the whole book, and then return to the paced discussion. This is what I will be doing, since I just finished the book. It is probably even more fascinating to do it this way, because you can really devote your attention to things that caught your eye at first reading, but which you didn't have the patience to analyze because you wanted to see what happens next. Still, do not spoil the experience for those who are reading for the first time.

3. Logistics:

a) Entries. I think what I will do is make everyone in the core group an author of the blog, so we can all add entries. You have the option of writing an entry of your own, or commenting on someone else's entry. I will try to post entries with discussion questions too. (Also, I just realized how easy it is to edit an entry. Let's agree that each person edits only his/her own entries).

b) Members. Membership will be flexible. We will start out with a core group and see how it goes. If someone wants to join later, he/she can either participate through comments, or request to be made an author. If someone decides he/she no longer wants to/is able to participate, that is fine too. There is no requirement to discuss every chapter, or to write a certain number of entries.

c) Reading schedule. I will post an entry with a tentative reading schedule, and we could discuss it.

d) Language. Let's read in whatever language you prefer, but discuss in English. For quotes... we could use both, but clearly identify where the quote comes from and what it refers to, so an English speaker could find the relevant passage too.

e) Meetings. If things go well and there is interest, we could have some real meet ups too. We could even watch the movie at the end. Why not? :)

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I think I will end here for now. I hope to see plenty of long posts in this discussion, but I don't want to completely overwhelm you with the first one ;-)