Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Author, Hero, Philosopher

When I was in my early-teens my reading habits began change; I began moving away from the science-fiction and fantasy literature that had occupied my imagination and furnished the many mansions of my dreams. Just when I was beginning to lift my face from the acid-washed pages of my comic-book-worlds, I looked past the American authors that were being taught in school…Lewis, Fitzgerald and Steinbeck, I looked past Kerouac, Salinger, Vonnegut and Bratigan and found Dostoyevsky resting on the shelf…through his work a whole new dimension of literature opened up for me.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky lived and wrote at the crossroads where literature becomes philosophy; he exposed the human condition at that juncture, he depicted our raw nature, its powers and its frailties, he demonstrated their features to us in both those possessed by guilt, and in the pure hearted idiots who are able to survive the cruelties of the world only because they are loved.

Dostoyevsky was a novelist, and through him I came to understand the power of narrative to convey certain truths that touch all human beings; there are no authors more adept at this function than the Russians, with Dostoyevsky being the foremost practitioner among them…his influence on me was profound.

From Crime and Punishment and Notes from the Underground, to The Idiot and the Brothers Karamozov, I spent years reading the body of his work, from my mid-teens through my twenties and into my thirties. I tracked down his cannon until all that was left were translations of his notebooks…which I also read.

I purchased the notebook for A Raw Youth at a bookstore in Minneapolis (Majors and Quinn); I was in the Navy, but home on leave; my friend Lucy was with me at the time. In those pages I could see the way Dostoyevsky constructed the arc of his narrative, how he developed his characters from ego to id, from false-self to true-self, from privilege to despair and back again...as if he were describing the movements of the soul. The book was used and I was delighted to find an imperial ruble tucked into its pages, like an overlooked bookmark left to me by whoever was last to read it.

I discovered in Dostoyevsky the founder of existentialist philosophy, and through him I learned to admire Charles Dickens, whom Dostoyevsky considered to be the greatest author of all time.

It has been one hundred and forty-five years since Dostoyevsky went into the dirt; his influence has not waned…I think, because human beings have not changed, and his insight into the dilemma of existence remains sound…and well-suited to the digital age.

 

On This Day - February 9th

On this day in the year 1555 of the common era (CE) John Hooper, the Bishop of Gloucester, England is burned at the stake for heresy in an egregious act of human sacrifice.

On this day in the year 1775 CE the British Parliament declares its Massachusetts colony to be in rebellion.

On this day in 1861 CE the Confederate Provisional Congress declares that all laws under the United States Constitution are consistent with Constitution of Confederate States; later on the same day, Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens are elected president and vice president of the Confederate States of America, both men were traitors but allowed to continue serving in public life until their natural death even after they lost the war against America which they championed.

In 1870 US CE, United States president Ulysses S. Grant signs law resulting in U.S. Army Signal Service’s establishment of its "Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce", later known as the National Weather Service.

In 1904 CE a Japanese torpedo boats launch a surprise attack on Russian ships at the Port Arthur naval base in Manchuria, beginning the Russo-Japanese War. Japanese troops also land at Chemulpo (Incheon), near Seoul, Korea; in three weeks, they advance to the Yalu River on the border of Manchuria.

In 1909 CE the first federal legislation in the United States is passed into law prohibiting the  importation, possession and use of narcotics, smoking opium is banned nationwide; seventeen years later in a clear violation of the separation of church and state, evolutionary biology is forbidden as a field of learning in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 1961 CE the Beatles play their first gig at Liverpool's Cavern Club; they would play there nearly 300 times over the next two years; three years later they make their first appearance The Ed Sullivan Show live from New York; the broadcast draws 73.7 million television viewers.

In 1962 CE the United States performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site; four years later the Dow Jones Industrial Average hits a record 995 points (today in 2026, the Dow Jones opened at 50,047.79); twenty five years later the New York Stock Exchange for the very first time installs a ladies’ restroom in the Exchange Luncheon Club.

In 1971 CE Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to be elected to Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 1979 CE Walter Hill's film The Warriors, based on Sol Yurick's 1965 novel, is released in the United States, sparking gang violence at many theaters and a halt to the film's marketing campaign.

In 1997 CE the Fox cartoon series The Simpsons, airs its 167th episode, making it the longest-running animated series in cartoon history; twenty-nine years later the show is still in production having aired a total of 803 original episodes through the year 2025.