First Take-home Exam
World Literature 118
Great Short Works of Dostoevsky
Please
answer TWO questions from among the following.
Please DO NOT write about the same ideasor works in BOTH essays.
If you choose, you may
pose your own question and proceed to answer it.
(If you decide upon this option, be sure you actually write out
the question and clear it with me before
you proceed. Failure to
run through this simple process can result in my refusal to accept
your question and answer.) Be sure that your essays are
analytical. There
should be NO narration of plots. Please be sure to indicate
which questions you are answering.
All
exams must be typed (printed) DOUBLE-SPACED and turned in on
time. Late exams without approved extensions may be docked one
letter grade
for each class meeting that the exam is late. (If you have
a serious exam in another course that interferes with this assignment,
please see me in advance
for an extension.)
1
According to Edward Wasioiek, Dostoevsky's Underground Man is a
"...vain, nasty, tyrannical, vicious, cowardly morbidly sensitive
self-contradictory. .." individual. On the basis of these adjectives,
discuss the underground man archetype as we see him in Notes
from Underground .
2.
The Notes from Underground is based on a unique narrative
format which uses Cervantes method of outlining the events of the
chapters in chapter subheadings. Discuss this unique narrative
presentation.
3.
As an artist, Dostoevsky's rejection of the scientific/mathematical
world of "two times two equals four" is very consuming. Discuss the
meaning free will in this work. What is its function? Why does
the
author feel the way he does?
4
The world view in Dream of a Ridiculous Man is a shortened,
simplified version of Dostoevsky's metaphysical dialectic. What
is the author's world view as expressed in this work? Is his
outlook ultimately pessimistic or optimistic? And why does the
ridiculous man choose to shoot himself in the heart rather than in the
head?
3.
How does isolation play a role in Dream of a Ridiculous Man?
4.
Define and discuss duality in one of the three works we have read.
How does the concept of duality allow Dostoevsky to clearly transmit
his ideas?
5.
Narration and the narrator play important roles in all of Dostoevsky's
works. Choose one, two or three works from what we have read to
elucidate the role/s of narration and the narrator.
6.
The ridiculous man plays the parts of creator, corrupter and redeemer
of the "sinless" people in his dream. Discuss this premise.
7.
In his Memoirs from the House of the Dead, Dostoevsky
delineates three categories of prisoners. Discuss the categories and
how the
characters that fit into each help to shape the work.
8.
In his Memoirs from the House of the Dead, Dostoevsky sees in
each man NOT the golden heart, but rather the executioner. The narrator
states "In almost every man today there may be seen the executioner in
embryo." «Свойства палача в зародыше находятся
в почти каждом современном человеке» Discuss the citation. Agree
or disagree and discuss your stance.
9.
Memoirs from the House of the Dead is loaded with interesting,
biographical information. Pick several specific items or events that
interest
you and discuss them in an essay.
10.
There is a keen relationship between the events of parts I and П
in Notes from Underground. Discuss this relationship in an
essay.
11.
According to E. H. Carr, "The figures of Makar and Varvara (Poor
Folk) have not the reality of everyday life, nor are they merely
lay
figures of convention; they have the peculiar exalted vitality of
beings set in the world, but not of it, which Dostoevsky imparts
to all his
greatest characters." Discuss this premise.
12.
Poor Folk is Dostoevsky's first recognized work. This
epistolary
novel contains numerous themes. Pick several of those that fascinate
you and discuss their significance.
13.
In Notes from Underground, Dostoevsky presents a strong
dialectic of thesis (reason) versus antithesis (free will). Is
there a synthesis to
this dialectic in the works of Dostoevsky that we
have read so far? If so, describe it with reference to
the literature. Make sure you discuss
the dialectic itself.
14. Dostoevsky
integrates philosophical concepts into his work. These concepts
provide the reader varying interpretations of Dostoevsky's
characters
and their actions. Relate one of these philosophies to Dream
of a Ridiculous Man and examine whether the text supports or
refutes
the argument set forth by that philosophy (John James).
Second Take-home Exam
World Literature 118
Great Short Works of Dostoevsky
Please answer TWO questions from
among the following. Please DO NOT write about the same
ideas or works in BOTH essays. If you choose, you may pose
your own question and proceed to answer it. (If you decide upon this
option, be sure you actually write out the question and clear it with
me before you proceed.
Failure to run through this simple process
can result in my refusal to accept your question and answer.) Be sure that your essays are
analytical. There should
be NO narration of plots. Please
be sure to indicate which questions you are answering.
All exams must
be typed (printed) DOUBLE-SPACED and turned in on time. Late
exams without approved extensions may be docked one letter grade for
each class meeting that the exam is late. (If you have a serious exam
in another course that interferes with this
assignment,
please see me in advance for an
extension.)
1. Although the first person narrative voice is common to few of
Dostoevsky's works, it IS common to
Notes
from Undergroand.
Why is the first-person voice so suited to this work?
2.
Children, as seen in Brothers
Karamazov, were very important to Dostoevsky. In
A Christmas Tree and
a Wedding, describe
the role of the children.
3.
Despite the brevity of the text to A
Christmas Tree and
a Wedding, Dostoevsky outlines the temperament of Julian
Mastokovich with a few, simple brush strokes. Discuss this
personage.
4.
Although little is directly said about
them, the heiress's parents are a critical element to what Dostoevsky
transmits
to the reader in
A Christmas Tree and a
Wedding. Discuss.
5.
Discuss A
Christmas Tree and a Wedding as “social
commentary.” What does Dostoevsky tell the reader about the
state of the
aristocracy in Russia?
6.
What does the experience with Marei teach Dostoevsky
about Salvation and Beauty and about Humanity? (Devin Foxall)
7.
Dostoevsky never seemed to enjoy success handling money. The Gambler is autobiographical and
discusses Dostoevsky's own
attraction to the gaming tables. Discuss the major
themes in this work.
8.
Dostoevsky not only discusses the pathology of the gambler in his work
by that name; he also characterizes different nationalities,
including
Russians. Discuss his characterizations.
9.
Rarely included in complete publications of Dostoevsky's works and
never published separately in the USSR, The Crocodile is a
scathing satire
which ridicules the "new men." What is the thrust of what
the author
is saying?
10.
In The Christmas
Tree and a Wedding Julian Mastokovich is described as "a man of
consequence." Compare him and the
symbolism of what he represents to the
peasant Marei in The Peasant Marei.
11. In The honest Thief, Dostoevsky
narrates
what might be understood as a “parable.” Discuss this idea.
12. Compare
the theme
of love in White Nights to
love as
seen in Poor Folk.
13. White Nights contains considerable
information about humankind and the ways we relate to one another and
to life.
Discuss what you find most poignant in the
narrative.
14.
The Peasant Marei is an amazing look
into the soul of the Russian peasant. Discuss
the importance of what we learn from this story.
15.
The Russian proverb states that: “When
you meet a man, you judge him by his clothes; when you leave, you judge
him by
his heart.”
Interpret the meaning of the probverb as it relates
to Julian Mastokovitch in A
Christmas Tree and a Wedding and to Marei in
The Peasant Marei (Jacqueline
Thode).
Final
Take-home Exam
World Literature 118
Great Short Works of Dostoevsky
Please answer TWO questions from among the following.
Please DO NOT write about the same ideas or works in BOTH essays.
If you choose, you may
pose your own question and proceed to
answer it. (If you decide upon this option, be sure you actually
write out the question and clear it with me before
you proceed.
Failure to run through this simple process can result in my refusal
to accept your question and answer.) Be sure that your essays are
analytical. There should be NO narration of plots.
Please
be sure to indicate which questions you are answering. Answer one qeustion from each category..
All exams must
be typed (printed) DOUBLE-SPACED and turned in on time. Late
exams without approved extensions may be docked one letter grade
for
each class meeting that the exam is late. (If you have a serious exam
in another course that interferes with
this assignment, please see me in advance
for an
extension.)
FROM
THE LAST EXAM TO THE
END OF THE COURSE
1. The brevity of
A Gentle Creature belies the
importance of this work. Dostoevsky's analysis of humankind's relation
to chosen mates
is central. What can be gleamed from the relationship
between the pawnbroker and the gentle creature?
2. . The title, A Gentle Creature, might lead some
to erroneously believe that the pawnbroker's wife is nothing more than
a doormat.
Describe the personality of this woman and analyze the
symbolism of her suicide.
3. Discuss: A Gentle Creature is the story "...
of a man tormenting the woman, who is at his mercy."
Discuss the premise (Will Hurd).
4. In The
Christmas Tree and a
Wedding and The
Peasant Marei, Dostoevsky presents contrasting views of life and of
children. Discuss
some of these contrasts. Variation on the
basic question: Use The Christmas Tree and a Wedding and The
Peasant
Marei to discuss the
differing ways people relate to children.
5. In The Christmas Tree and a Wedding, Julian
Mastokovich is described as "a man of consequence." Compare him
and the symbolism
of what he represents to the peasant Marei in the
work by
that name.
6. What does the experience with Marei (Peasant Marei)
teach Dostoevsky about Salvation and Beauty and about Humanity?
(Devin
Foxall)
7. Dostoevsky never seemed to enjoy success handling money. The
Gambler is autobiographical and discusses Dostoevsky's own
attraction to the gaming tables. Discuss the major themes in this
work.
8. Dostoevsky not only discusses the pathology of the gambler
in his work by that name; he also characterizes different
nationalities,
including Russians. Discuss his characterizations.
9. Whose vision of society and
humanity should we
follow - the Underground Man's or the Ridiculous Man's?
(Devin
Foxall)
10. Unmask the main
themes and discuss the extreme desperation
in The Gambler.
11.
The Gambler and numerous other works of
Dostoevsky entail notions of xenophobia as characters embrace the
culture and
lifestyle of Western civilization. Discuss how Dostoevsky’s
writing exemplifies
this fear of Western thought
and reason (Andrew Boyd).
12. In The Double,
"...Golyadkin's hatred of his 'wrong' self has an important
correlative: his desperate desrie to be the 'right' self.
He has
an overwhelming need to be a Golyadkin who is admired, respected and
envied. (Edward Wasiolek, Dostoevsky,
The Major
Fiction, p. 9)." Discuss this point.
13. In The Double, "Golyadkin distorts
reality, reshapes it and remakes it to fit the needs that drive
him. ...He tries to create a world that
will answer to how he wants to see himself; he succeeds in
creating a world that mirrors his inner conflict (Waiolek, Dostoevsky, The
Major Fiction, p. 10). Discuss.
14. Compare Dostoevsky's view and portrayal of the children
in A Crhistmas Tree and a Wedding
(1846) versus what he ssays about them in the tiny narrative
titled The Little Orphan
(1887).
15. Both Poor Folk and
A Christmas Tree and a Wedding
are
written in 1846 (Poor Folk is
written earlier that year). This is an
almost remarkable phenomenon. Discuss this vis-a-vis what
Dostoevsky says in the two pieces.
16. What is the effect of the narrative
simplicity found in The Peasant Marey
and The Little Orphan (Sam
Sloane)?
OVERVIEW OF THE
COURSE
1. Discuss the following quotation form Mikhail Bakhtin's
Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics.
"As an artist Dostoevsky did not discuss his ideas in the same way that
philosophers and scholars create theirs - he created living images
of
the ideas which he found, detected or sometimes divined in reality
itself (73). Apply the quotation to one or more works we read
this
semester. Agree or disagree, as is your wish.
2. "Dostoevsky devoted his whole creative energy to one single
theme, man and man's destiny. He was anthropological and
anthropocentric
to an almost inexpressible degree: the problem of man
was his absorbing passion
[Dosteovsky by Nicholas Berdaev (39)]. Pick one or more
works
we have read and discuss the premise.
3. Dostoevsky and Gogol occupy themselves with the urban setting.
We often describe Gogol's work as representing the "grotesque"
(literary
distortion). Does the term "grotesque" apply to
Dostoevsky? Where?
4. Much of Dostoevsky's concern for humankind revolves around
characters representing either the empowered or the subservient.
Discuss
the premise and cite works in which these opposites occur.
5. Notes from the House of the
Dead contains full-blown many of the ideas connected to
Dostoevsky's metaphysical dialectic. Enumerate
which ideas contained in his dialectic are contained in Notes form the House of the Dead
and discuss the connections elsewhere in Dostoevsky work.
6. Many of
Dostoevsky’s characters may be described using the
German word realitetsfremd
(awkward, out of touch with
reality).
Included in these characters
are the hero of White Nights
and
Golyadkin of The Double, to
name but
two. Relate realitetsfremd
to
two or more characters and discuss their issues.