quantumwizard

[quantumwizard]

[quantumwizard]

[quantumwizard]

Quiet phenomenon of Dostoyevsky

Like many people that grew up in Poland, my first encounter with Dostoyevsky was in high school. The book that I had to read for class was 'Crime and Punishment' and I instantly fell in love with it. I was absolutely captivated by the writing style and the atmosphere of the novel. Every word felt heavy and dirty, because that was the main character's reality. That realism deeply resonated with me. My classmates felt the same. We had long discussions in class about the psychology of each character, how deprived and unlikable some of them were or how noble and lovable others were. What I learned later is that it was part of Dostoyevsky's style - making each character very distinct, theatrical even, to convey certain philosophies and thoughts. That experience in high school left a significant impression on me and encouraged me to read more Dostoyevsky in the future.

One more significant experience that I recall from high school was the day of Russia's invasion on Ukraine. It was like a fever dream. Everybody was scared of what was going to happen. I remember my teacher on that day quoting Dostoyevsky's 'The House of the Dead' that 'Russia has always been the house of the dead', as an attempt to cope with the news about the war.

I love reading and with such impactful moments in my life regarding Dostoyevsky's work, I began strolling bookstores in an attempt to find his books. It turned out to be a very easy task which was unusual for my taste in books. Not only did I find a lot of his works in various bookstores - there were usually multiple editions of the same novel by different publishing agencies.

The more I go to Polish bookstores over the span of many years, the more Dostoyevsky I see - even more different editions of his famous novels, new publications of his lesser-known works. And I see people buying them, reading them, including myself.

That is when I realized that there is a large amount of Dostoyevsky's 'fanbase' in Poland. Yes, sure, he is considered a famous classic and many people read him but I have been to many bookstores in many countries and none of them, except Poland, had four different editions of 'Another Man's Wife'.

I feel like Polish people have a great appreciation for Dostoyevsky's work. Almost everyone I know has read at least one book by him. What I think might be contributing to this, is the fact that Poland is a post-soviet country and a lot of people find closure in literature that was created under a certain regime and that was quietly opposing to it. I feel like, at least in my family, there was a trend of reading this type of literature - that was created in a time and place when censorship was a common practice. Because no matter how enslaved people are, no matter how much propaganda there is, people are always free in their own minds. Well, maybe there are exceptions to that. So let me rephrase - people that created this sort of literature, stayed free in their minds, no matter the circumstances.

As one can probably tell, that is very common for Russian literature, as 'Russia has always been the house of the dead'. That is why I think alongside Dostoyevsky, other great Russian authors are very popular in Poland, like Turgenev, Chekhov, Bulgakov, Gogol etc. But for some reason, Dostoyevsky remains the most popular one, at least that is my impression after many visits to various bookstores.

My mother would always say that no matter how many wars there are, no matter what type of propaganda is out there - there are always going to be timeless classic authors like Dostoyevsky.

[quantumwizard]

I know that I'm not fat but for years I was called fat by a mother that had abs without trying so now it's hard to stop seeing myself as fat