The Brothers Karamazov

March 27th 2008
"The Brothers Karamazov"
"Братья Карамазовы"

So, at long last, I have finished and drawn my picture of the Karamazov Brothers. I was partly motivated to draw it because, firstly, I loved the book, and second because I was disappointed when I saw how little art there was of the Brothers Karamazov on dA.

So, these three characters are from Fyodor Dostoevsky's last novel, "The Brothers Karamazov" (or in Russian: "Братья Карамазовы" I suppose, but then again, I don't know Russian. )

(From left to right)

Ivan Fyodorvich Karamzov, the atheist

Alexei (Alyosha) Fyodorvich Karamazov, the saint

Dmitri Fyodorvich Karamazov, the passionate sensualist

Dmitri is the oldest at 27, then Ivan at 24, then Alyosha is the youngest at 20. (He's 19 at the beginning but I believe he celebrates a birthday over the course of the novel). Alyosha is my all-time favorite! Actually, throughout all of the books I have read thus far, he's my favorite male charcater! Dostoevsky has serious talent with character development. I was so sad when the book ended, I loved these charcaters to death!

At first i didn't really like Ivan, because at the beginning of the book he was really arrogant and irritating, but after he told Alyosha his "Grand Inquisiter" story I began to grow fond of him.

Dmitri was okay, but I didn't really like him because he was far too passionate, what I mean was that he was too emotional: when he was angry, he would fly into huge fits of rage and would probably kill anyone around him if he was able. When he's sad, he's suicidal, etc. He's just completely taken over with his emotions, he has absolutely no control over them at all. Rather interesting compared to Ivan's cool, calculating, not-really-emotional-at-all kind of bearing. And Alyosha is the perfect balance between them.

I'll write more about them (with some quotes and descriptions) later once I get a hold of the book, but as for now, I'm going to go to bed, Guten Nacht!