The Brothers Karamazov

Recommended Translation

Constance Garnett is the best translator for English speakers who encounter the novel for the first time, however you may read any translation you prefer. Click here to purchase our recommended translation.

Audiobook Option

Afraid you won't have time to read?
https://librivox.org/the-brothers-karamazov-by-fyodor-dostoyevsky/

Listen for free on librivox. This is the time-honored Garnett translation we are using in our study.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit"

Why read The Brothers Karamazov? Why is it considered the greatest novel of all time? Why should we read it today?

Fyodor Dostoevsky had many of the same concerns we have today.
A murder mystery, but not just any murder mystery
It is about the loss of fatherhood and family
Remove all authority- we are all our own masters
The rise of Socialism and Communism as a false answer to our suffering
The three brothers are aspects of ourselves-each of them lives in all of us
Alyosha represents the East and her love for Christ
Dmitri represents the flesh and its need for purification
And Ivan represents the West and its refusal to allow mystery and cling to Science, data and rationalism as an answer for everything
Each brother has a descent and an ascent
Must we deserve love in order to receive it?
Dostoevsky’s answer? Preserving sacred memory is the best way to educate and save civilization.