The Brothers Karamazov is generally considered the greatest novel by
Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky and the culmination of his life's
work. It has been acclaimed all over the world, from authors as
diverse as Sigmund Freud, Andrew R. MacAndrew, and Konstantin
Mochulsky, as a masterpiece of literature and one of the greatest
novels ever written. The basic structure of the book is arranged in
two arcs. On the surface the book relates the story of a patricide in
which all of the murdered man's sons share varying degrees of
complicity. But on a deeper level this is a spiritual drama
chronicling the moral struggles between faith, doubt, reason, and free
will. The novel was composed primarily in Staraya Russa, which also
served as the main setting for the book. Dostoevsky spent the better
part of two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published
in serial form in The Russian Messenger, and completed in November of
1880. The author died less than four months after publication.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1099:
Crusaders of the First Crusade reached Jerusalem and began a five-week
siege of the city.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_%281099%29)
1905:
Norway dissolved the union with Sweden.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_between_Sweden_and_Norway)
1940:
King Haakon VII of Norway, Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian
government left Tromsø and went into exile in London.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haakon_VII_of_Norway)
1948:
Edvard Beneš resigned as President of Czechoslovakia rather than sign
a Constitution making his nation a Communist state
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edvard_Benes)
1981:
The Israeli Air Force attacked and destroyed Iraq's Osiraq nuclear
reactor.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiraq)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Truth-tellers are not always palatable. There is a preference for
candy bars." -- Gwendolyn Brooks
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Brooks)