THE INVISIBLE COLLEGE: Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (1)

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Welcome back to The Invisible College, my series of literature courses for paid subscribers. The introduction to and schedule for the 2026 season is here. The 2024 and 2025 archives are here. This episode, of which the first 20 minutes are free, is the first in a three-part sequence on The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. We discuss the novel’s themes of self-sacrifice, the corruption of innocence, contradictions and dialectics, sensuality vs. intellectualism vs. spirituality, domination and sadism, the roles of religious elders and holy fools, and more, plus some remarks on translation and aesthetics, and a startling poetic appearance of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Please like, share, comment, and subscribe! The slideshow corresponding to the episode can be downloaded behind the paywall: