Join me at 7:00 pm on June 29 for a livestream in which we will discuss Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. Make sure to read before joining and come with questions to put in the chat.
If you have already read the book, we will also pull questions and comments from the comment section of this Substack post. To comment here, you must be a paid subscriber — see you on June 29!
For those who have not yet read the book, this article describes the various English translations that are available. A nice feature: it provides samples of the same opening passage so that reader's can make a decision about which they might prefer.
https://welovetranslations.com/2022/07/17/whats-the-best-translation-of-the-idiot/
I'm looking forward to Monday's discussion. As I read, I kept coming back to Chris' original question: "What if Christ was only a man?" For me, that has always been a distinct possibility, and still, as a lifelong Anglican, I've tried to live my life according to his teachings. However, the historical Jesus (as much as we know him about him in 2026) was neither an idiot nor naive. Prince Myshkin was definitely the latter; a kind of "innocent" who stands out in a society of people jockeying for advantage, money, power, influence and is eventually destroyed. Although there are similarities -- Myshkin is truly "good", choosing the welfare of others over himself time and time again; forgiving; interceding -- he's also a product of his childhood and what he's suffered through his disabilities, and a naive innocent because of his long removal from Russian society.
I'm not sure it was Jesus' "divinity" that made him different, but rather that his eyes were wide open to the reality of his time, and he was willing to risk everything to call it out, while also being keenly aware of the mystical divine spark that lives within all of us and wanting to share that awareness with as many as he could. It was his human life and the truth of his teachings that have lasted, in spite of society's attempt to destroy and eradicate him and his followers (although many would say it's only his promise of salvation and a life after death.) You don't have to believe Jesus was divine, or even that he was resurrected, to accept that he was an extraordinary man and teacher. So I think it's worth asking "What was *Dostoyevsky's* conception of Christ, and what was he trying to say in the novel?" Is it merely a cynical take on what happens to truly good people?