Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of the Originator of Modernist Literature
“Dostoevsky Novella Classic of Psychological Novels” First Release
November 11, 2021 is the bicentennial of the birth of Dostoevsky, the originator of modernist literature. Almost every work of Dostoyevsky provides the World Literature Gallery with a distinctive and thought-provoking classic image. Readers are often not only immersed, but also “live” in the world of the protagonist, and then find familiar people, close people, and even themselves in the characters’ speech, behavior, and inner activities. In Dostoevsky’s novels, each person has a mission-to reveal the incredible and arduous truth of life, and the core of this truth is about the mystery of human nature. Dostoyevsky famously said: “The devil fights with God, and the battlefield is in the hearts of the people.” Recently, People’s Literature Publishing House launched the latest series of “Dostoyevsky Novella Classics of Psychological Novels”, featuring “The Poor” and “Double Personality”. “The Basement Notes” and “The Gambler” show four “human heart battlefields” that you may not be unfamiliar with.
In recent years, the People’s Literature Publishing House has adapted to the fragmented reading trend, launching a small series of a Russian classic writer every year, selecting representative works with unique ideas, and infiltrating more literary common sense and literary concepts into the compilation of the series. , In an effort to enable readers to enrich their knowledge of the writer and his works as much as possible in a relatively short period of time. Talking about this set of “Dostoevsky Novella Classics of Psychological Novels”, the editor of the Humanities Society introduced to a reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily that the four works we met with readers this time adopted authoritative translations in China. Each set of small series invites senior experts in related fields to write a preface to help readers have a deeper understanding of the basic creation face of a great writer in a short period of time. Professor Zhao Guilian, who wrote the preface for the “Dostoevsky Novella Classic of Psychological Novels” this time, is from Peking University and has studied Dostoevsky for decades. In addition, the small series of Russian classic writers launched in recent years all adopt hardcover in the form of binding, which not only conforms to the positioning of classic works, but also increases the sense of ritual of reading.
Introduction
Four personalities entangled in four works
The series of “Dostoevsky Novella Classics of Psychological Novels” launched this time are all famous works by Dostoyevsky. “The Poor” is not only Dostoevsky’s debut, but also his famous work. With this novel written “with enthusiasm, almost with tears”, he shines in the Russian literary world and won ” “New Gogol” praise. In this epistle novel, Dostoyevsky portrays a person who is extremely poor on the material level, but he did not lose his self-awareness because of this, and he did not lose his desire to love and his ability to act. “The Gambler”, which set Dostoevsky’s fastest creation speed, has more autobiographical elements no matter in the description of love or the details of gambling. The fanaticism of gambling once controlled Dostoyevsky for a long time, and after writing “The Gambler”, he thoroughly washed his hands and left a novel full of the evil flowers of gambling. “Notes on the Basement” is recognized as Dostoyevsky’s road sign work. This Russian version of “Hamlet” directly influenced the French existentialist master Camus’ creation of “The Fall” with its anti-hero and anti-reason. The protagonist of “Double Personality” is more decent, transformed into another person who was born exactly like him in his own imagination. Not only did this man behave quite differently from him, he had “heaven” in his heart, but he also had a “hell”. This morbid psychology made him schizophrenic…
In Dostoevsky’s writings, the inner struggles of the poor, the duo, the gamblers, and the basement people, it is not difficult for readers to find Dostoevsky’s understanding of life. As he said in his letter to his brother: “Life is a gift, and life is happiness. Every minute can become a century of happiness. Now, if you change your life, you will be reborn in a new form. “
Text/Reporter Zhang Zhiyi
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责编：宫辞 ]
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