Julian W. Connolly Knihy

Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov is unquestionably one of the greatest works of world literature. With its dramatic portrayal of a Russian family in crisis and its intense investigation into the essential questions of human existence, the novel has had a major impact on writers and thinkers across a broad range of disciplines, from psychology to religious and political philosophy. This proposed reader's guide has two major goals: to help the reader understand the place of Dostoevsky's novel in Russian and world literature, and to illuminate the writer's compelling and complex artistic vision. The plot of the novel centers on the murder of the patriarch of the Karamazov family and the subsequent attempt to discover which of the brothers bears responsibility for the murder, but Dostoevsky's ultimate interests are far more thought-provoking. Haunted by the question of God's existence, Dostoevsky uses the character of Ivan Karamazov to ask what kind of God would create a world in which innocent children have to suffer, and he hoped that his entire novel would provide the answer. The design of Dostoevsky's work, in which one character poses questions that other characters must try to answer, provides a stimulating basis for reader engagement. Having taught university courses on Dostoevsky's work for over twenty years, Julian W. Connolly draws upon modern and traditional approaches to the novel to produce a reader's guide that stimulate the reader's interest and provides a springboard for further reflection and study

The Intimate Stranger provides the first detailed investigation of a distinctive literary a fascination with demons and devils in nineteenth-century Russian literature. Nearly all of the major authors of the period – Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy – used images of devils to explore issues of human temptation, sin, and guilt in a troubled world. Asking fundamental questions – where does evil come from? when does it appear in characters’ lives? – these writers created a remarkable array of demonic figures, ranging from grotesque demons to handsome nihilists. This book discusses the various literary, religious, and folkloric factors that influenced the representation of the demonic, and it investigates the profound, soul-shattering effects that a personal encounter with the demonic may have on an individual’s life.

Focusing on the development of Nabokov's prose fiction, this study examines his literary evolution from the 1920s through the late 1930s. It explores the stylistic and thematic transformations in his work during this formative period, highlighting key influences and innovations that shaped his narrative techniques and characterizations. The analysis provides insights into how Nabokov's experiences and artistic vision contributed to his distinctive voice in literature.