...2.1 Dostoyevsky's Works, 1859-1863 The first of Dostoyevsky's works to excite critical attention following his years of prison and exile was Notes from the House of the Dead (1860), an account of his experience in prison, told in the form of a collection of biographical and psychological sketches of his fellow inmates. The book was especially welcomed by liberal critics because of its sympathetic approach to the subject and its realistic portrayal of the sufferings of the convicts. In 1861, Dostoyevsky published his first long novel, The Insulted and the Injured, also to critical acclaim. It is the story of a young student of middle-class origins, a person of sensibility and talent, whose life is ruined by the ill will of a cynical aristocrat. The novel features a complicated plot with many separate lines and many characters. This book inspired the leftist critic N. A. Dobroliubov to epitomize Dostoyevsky's leading quality as his "pain for man, his impassioned defense of the moral and human worth of downtrodden people." In 1863 Dostoyevsky promptly disillusioned his supporters in the liberal camp with his next work, "Winter Notes on Summer Impressions," an essay concerning his tour of Europe. In this essay, he attacked the west European dream of the triumph of reason. He resisted the idea...
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...Gogol and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. While it may be debatable whether it was intended as means of reverence or ridicule, Nicolai Gogol’s Nevsky Avenue was redesigned and repurposed by Fyodor Dostoyevsky in his work Notes from Underground. Analogous plot structures and characters are developed by these authors to portray parallel observations and viewpoints regarding the corrupting influence of civilized conformity and the heartless, materialistic nature of society. Gogol’s...
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...interest that sees and embraces both sides of each issue…Superb, informal cultural anthropology—eye-opening, readable, utterly engaging.” —Carole Horn, The Washington Post Book World “This is a book that should be deeply disturbing to anyone who has given so much as a moment’s thought to the state of American medicine. But it is much more…People are presented as [Fadiman] saw them, in their humility and their frailty—and their nobility.” —Sherwin B. Nuland, The New Republic 3/462 “Anne Fadiman’s phenomenal first book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, brings to life the enduring power of parental love in an impoverished refugee family struggling to protect their seriously ill infant daughter and ancient spiritual traditions from the tyranny of welfare bureaucrats and intolerant medical technocrats.” —Al Santoli, The Washington Times “A unique anthropological study of American society.” —Louise Steinman, Los Angeles Times “Some writers…have done exceedingly well at taking in one or another human scene, then conveying it to others—James Agee, for instance…and George Orwell…It is in such company that Anne Fadiman’s writing belongs.” —Robert Coles, Commonweal...
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...Th e T yranny of Gui lt • Pa s c a l B ru c k n e r Translated from the French by s t ev e n r e n da l l The tyranny of Guilt An Essay on Western Masochism • P r i n c e t o n u n i v e r si t y P r e s s Princeton and Oxford english translation copyright © 2010 by Princeton university Press First published as La tyrannie de la pénitence: essai sur le masochisme occidental by Pascal Bruckner, copyright © 2006 by Grasset & Fasquelle Published by Princeton university Press, 41 William street, Princeton, new Jersey 08540 in the united kingdom: Princeton university Press, 6 oxford street, Woodstock, oxfordshire OX20 1TW press.princeton.edu all rights reserved library of congress cataloging-in-Publication data Bruckner, Pascal. [tyrannie de la pénitence. english] The tyranny of guilt: an essay on Western masochism / Pascal Bruckner; translated from the French by steven rendall. p. cm. includes index. isBn 978-0-691-14376-7 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. civilization, Western— 20th century. 2. civilization, Western—21st century. 3. international relations—Moral and ethical aspects. 4. Western countries—Foreign relations. 5. Western countries—intellectual life. 6. Guilt 7. self-hate (Psychology) 8. World politics. i. title. CB245.B7613 2010 909’.09821--dc22 2009032666 British library cataloging-in-Publication data is available cet ouvrage, publié dans le cadre d’un programme d’aide à la publication, bénéficie du soutien du Ministère des affaires étrangères et du service...
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