Russian Life & People Digest
Question by denand2003: What genre does Dostoevsky actually belong to?
I’ve been reading “The Idiot”, and started asking myself the question: is Dostoevsky a realist (though he certainly doesn’t seem to be one) or a naturalist (I haven’t read any naturalist works, so I’m not sure), or is it something different altogether?
Answers and Views:
Answer by jessegwild
Many believ he was one of the first existentialists.
Read all the answers in the comments.
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Gary P says
Dosteovsky is one of the father s of existenstensialism(spelled right?). Anyway, a good book of his to read to gain insight to your question is–Notes From Underground.
Random says
Existentialist. Especially with The Brothers Kazamarov and Noted From Thee Underground.
zozo says
Genre doesn't correspond to your question as well as you might think. Genre usually distinguishes between types of writing (i.e. fictional novel, poetry, short story, non-fiction, etc.); think of the last time you were in the library or a bookstore–both sort their sections by genre.
Naturalists, Realists, Expressionists, The Lost Generation (you get the idea) are literary movements, normally denoted by different time periods. You might suspect that an author is/was influenced by a particular movement, but you also might consider that an author had an tremendous impact on a movement yet to come.
Dostoevsky lived and wrote at the turn of the 20th century. Some artists who lived during this period are hard to categorize, in terms of their movement, because they are considered highly influencial to the birth of Modernism– Dostoevsky is, without argument, such an artists. As a part of the movements happening around his lifetime, Naturalism and Realism don't seem to match. He was far to interested in the "psychological", and is thus considered a trail-blazer, advancing the path that came after his lifetime: Modernism.
BAD DOG ( no biscut says
I believe Dostoyevsky was a Fatalist , he believed that everything occuring in his life was pre-determined and there was little he could do to change his cicumstance so I believe the bulk of his work was an expression of his distaste for having to survive his own harsh reality. Just being Russian in the time that he lived his life was a minimal , and cruel existance .
kbc10 says
He's a great yarn-spinner; most of his novels were originally published in serial form in newspapers or magazines, so he had to keep the reader constantly interested and eager for the next installment. Who cares about the academic labels?! Dostoevsky was writing to entertain the reading public, and like Stephen King, did it well enough to be an artist, not just a potboiler-writer. Or you could think of him as a forerunner of somebody like Graham Greene or John Le Carre (a writer who writes to entertain the reader but also has a serious layer beyond the entertainment).