The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion
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The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoevsky Collection
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The Brothers Karamazov 2024 - Week 6
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Zosima, nearing death, continues to display his beautiful and saintly nature. His backstory is fascinating, in part because it reveals him as an imperfect human, but also because it shows his spiritual progress and reveals his philosophies which are very relevant to today's world (if largely ignored). It will be interesting to see the effect his death has on the various characters and plot lines.
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I did enjoy Zosima's backstory, it gave the character a lot of depth.
Indeed. Zosima makes me remember of the priest from Les Miserables. I can't recall his name. About the question asked in the first message. I'm not sure that the Chapter about Zosima equates the Great Inquisitor's one. The latter seems more honest. Zosima's one seems quite pushy, as Dostoievsky was forced to write it to shut the message made in the Great Inquisitor's one.
Week 6 - Part Two, Book VI
1) In Chapter 1, we see Zosima, though weak, still up and about talking to his close friends. When Alyosha comes into the room, Zosima reiterates that Alyosha should go find Dmitri and make haste.
Not only that, he also said again the bible verse John 12:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Why, do you think he said that? What's the relation of this verse to the issue with Dmitri?
Zosima also said that he bowed to Dmitri because of his great future suffering. What's this suffering that he alludes to, and why would he even bow because of it?
2) What are your feelings after reading about the life and teachings of Zosima? Is there anything that resonated with you?
3) Dostoevsky wrote the account of Father Zossima’s life and teachings as an answer to the Ivan's poem “The Grand Inquisitor.”
"Since the novel was serialized, the publication of Book 5 (including “The Grand Inquisitor”) led to a panic among readers, including religious figures, who wrote to Dostoevsky begging to know how he was going to disprove such a terrifying argument. He told them Book 6 is the response."
Did you recognize that this was an answer to the Grand Inquisitor? Was his response to the Grand Inquisitor effective? What did you think of his teachings? Are Zossima’s teachings relevant to today’s society? Why or why not?
4) Part of Zosima's life is the town official who had killed his former love and is wracked with guilt about it. What do you think of his actions and decisions? What would you have done in his place? What do you think of Zosima's advice to him? What do you think of the outcome?