Beyond the Words. Review of: Apollonio, C. Dostoevsky’s Secrets. Reading Against the Grain

Abstract

Going “against the grain”, Carol Apollonio notices unusual and unexpected relations between characters, and by underlining the realism in Dostoevsky’s works, she relates them to real life. There is no work of Dostoevsky that could be able to stand up to criticism founded on strictly logical schemes, general rules, and writers’ “models”. Dostoevsky does everything wrong, differently from all the others. Carol Apollonio’s book marks the beginning of a new phase in research on Dostoevsky. She is like a small university whose main lesson is to teach its students systemic thinking and how to approach self-instruction systematically and without stereotypes. Carol Apollonio’s book shows once again how Dostoevsky, maybe more than any other writer in the world, does not tolerate fixed opinions nor research methods approved once and for all.

Keywords

• unusual relations
• change of approach
• authorial intents
• strange actions
• high bar
• dostoevsky’s creative thinking
• intertwining mysteries