Note: I haven't read anyone else's posts yet, so I apologize if I am repeating things that someone already said.
Leaving the profound theological and philosophical themes aside for the moment, I would like briefly to call our attention to the character of the Narrator. Rather than simply narrating the story with an author's "objective" voice (Matt can probably remind me of the technical term I am looking for), Dostoyevsky chooses to place the character of the Narrator into the story. Indeed, in the very first sentence the Narrator refers to himself in the first person, and then frequently interjects his own theological and psychological reflections into the narrative. Are we to take these reflections to be representative of Dostoyevsky's own opinions? I suspect not, for D. would not have gone to the trouble of creating this character if he simply wanted to narrate the story in his own voice. While further reading will confirm or refute my suspicion, let me now reflect on what the implications may be if I am correct that the Narrator is not simply the voice of the author.
First, the Narrator has a perspective all his own and opinions that shape the way he interprets events and portrays characters. In other words, we cannot consider the characters apart from the Narrator, since the Narrator's perspective is not necessarily objective, but rather shaped by his own beliefs and opinions. Second, as a corollary to my first point, we have to ask whether the Narrator can always be trusted. I can't be bothered to give parenthetical citations at the moment, but you will all recall that the Narrator occasionally says that he may not have his facts right or what he knows he learned through hearsay. Can we be sure that he always accurately presents the facts that he does know with certainty? Finally, does the Narrator himself have any personality flaws? It is too early to know just yet, but I think it is a question worth asking. None of the characters -- not even Alyosha -- appear to be perfect at the moment. Could this observation extend to the Narrator as well?
This is very helpful, Joe. Thanks for drawing our attention to it. I will be more attentive to the narrator's perspective in the future. I get the sense--tell me if I'm wrong--that the narrator is a monk who lives at the monastery. This may give us some idea of who he is...but not too much. By the second book it is clear that there are all kinds of personalities at the monastery. As you say, he is not necessarily knowledgeable or to be trusted in every respect.
ReplyDeleteThanks again.
Joe, I do wonder how we're supposed to read such statements as: "Whether they had really been healed or were simply better in the natural course of the disease was a question which did not exist for Alyosha, for he fully believed in the spiritual power of his teacher..." (Book I, Ch. V, p.29). That this question does exist for the Narrator makes me wonder if we are to be skeptical of Alyosha for having blind faith in Zossima, if the Narrator is trying to show his own skepticism concerning Alyosha, or if the Narrator respects this quality in Alyosha.
ReplyDeleteRead my longer response here.