Name: The Brothers Karamazov
Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky

How you explore The Brothers Karamazov on Literah

The cast, the places, the objects, the plot, and the author’s own words — each one a card in a feed you scroll on your phone. One at a time, at your pace, in any order you like.

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A feed, not a wall of text. 46 characters, 29 places, 28 objects and 8 plot beats, each its own card with its own illustration.
The author’s own words. 78 passages of The Brothers Karamazov sit in the feed verbatim, exactly as Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote them, each with a short reading of what it is doing. The map is ours; the prose is always the book’s.
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The Cast

Alyosha Karamazov

Main · Karamazov family / monastery

A young novice in a black cassock moves through scandal without turning away from anyone’s wound.

Locations

The Monastery

monastery

Families bring their quarrels to a holy man and wait to see if he can settle them.

Passage

How does a shameless parasite become rich while remaining utterly contemptible?

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The Author’s Pen

A Senseless Man of Means

For the present I will only say that this “landowner”—for so we used to call him, although he hardly spent a day of his life on his own estate—was a strange type, yet one pretty frequently to be met with, a type abject and vicious and at the same time senseless. But he was one of those senseless persons who are very well capable of looking after their worldly affairs, and, apparently, after nothing else. Fyodor Pavlovitch, for instance, began with next to nothing; his estate was of the smallest; he ran to dine at other men’s tables, and fastened on them as a toady, yet at his death it appeared that he had a hundred thousand roubles in hard cash.

Reading

Dostoevsky wants us to hold two things about Fyodor Pavlovitch that seem not to fit: he is a fool, but a fool who somehow always knows where the money is. The narrator, easing us into a family history, catches him in the act of the contradiction. He starts with almost nothing, begs meals off richer men and flatters them shamelessly, and yet the hundred thousand roubles at his death prove the flattery was never aimless. His only competence is greed, and greed turns out to be enough.

World Index

The Plot

The Family and the MonasteryDmitri, Grushenka, and the MoneyThe Grand InquisitorZossima's Death and Alyosha's CrisisThe Night of the MurderThe Children and IlushaIvan, Smerdyakov, and the TruthThe Trial

The Cast

Alyosha KaramazovDmitri KaramazovIvan KaramazovFyodor Pavlovitch KaramazovPavel SmerdyakovFather ZossimaGrushenkaKaterina Ivanovna VerkhovtsevaIlusha SnegiryovCaptain Nikolay SnegiryovKolya KrassotkinLise HohlakovMadame HohlakovRakitinGrigory VasilievitchMarfa IgnatyevnaLizaveta SmerdyashchayaFather FerapontFather PaïssyPyotr Alexandrovitch MiüsovPyotr Ilyitch PerhotinIppolit KirillovitchNikolay ParfenovitchFetyukovitchFenyaKuzma SamsonovTrifon BorissovitchKalganovMaximovMussyalovitchThe schoolboysThe devil figureThe courtroom judges and juryMadame KrassotkinSmurovMarya KondratyevnaLyagavyMrs. SnegiryovNina SnegiryovVarvara SnegiryovFather IosifHerzenstubeAdelaïda Ivanovna MiüsovSofya IvanovnaYefim Petrovitch PolenovThe general’s widow

Locations

Father Ferapont’s CellFather Zossima’s CellFyodor Pavlovitch’s HouseGrigory’s CottageGrushenka’s LodgingIlusha’s SickroomIlusha’s StoneIvan’s RoomKaterina Ivanovna’s Drawing RoomLake Street / Schoolboy StreetLise’s RoomLyagavy’s Village / Merchant LodgingMadame Hohlakov’s HouseMokroye InnMokroye Investigation RoomMonastery Dining Room / RefectoryOpen Air Outside Snegiryov CottagePerhotin’s LodgingRoad to MokroyeSamsonov’s HouseSmerdyakov’s RoomSnegiryov CottageThe CemeteryThe CourtroomThe Garden and Window at Fyodor’s HouseThe MonasteryThe Servants’ QuartersThe Tavern / RestaurantTown Shops / Stables

Objects of Note

Alyosha’s holy image and lampBrandy and glasses at Fyodor’s tableCards at MokroyeDmitri’s blood-stained clothesDmitri’s escape planDmitri’s pistolsFyodor’s sealed envelopeGrushenka’s white handkerchiefIlusha’s little bootsIlusha’s stoneIvan’s article on ecclesiastical courtsKaterina’s letterKaterina’s money packet to Captain SnegiryovMokroye feast provisionsMonastic cassockSmerdyakov’s guitarSmerdyakov’s money notes / stolen money bundleStones thrown by the schoolboysThe brass pestleThe courtroom evidence tableThe door signals / knocksThe Gospel reading at CanaThe hidden fifteen hundred roubles / sewn moneyThe onionThe three thousand roublesThe verdictZhutchka / PerezvonZossima’s coffin

Core Concepts

Active love after crisisChildren as the measure of the adult worldFreedom versus securityGod, doubt, and innocent sufferingIdeas as moral actionMercy in small gesturesPatricide and broken fatherhoodShared responsibility versus legal guiltSpectacle, humiliation, and truth

The Author's Pen

The One Woman UnwantedA Child ForgottenDmitri Comes to Settle AccountsAptitude and CharityThe Unexpected ConclusionHis Mother’s PrayerWithout CondemnationFreedom Through SubmissionArrival After Late MassThe Inharmonious Family GatheringA Vow To Keep QuietA Blessing for LizavetaActive Love of NeighborThe Unanswered QuestionDmitri’s Contradictory FaceFather Zossima Bows to DmitriDevotion After the BurialLizaveta the WandererSmerdyakov's Cruel ChildhoodThe Ideal of SodomVile Yet Thy SonA Bow to the FloorScoundrel But Not ThiefDo You Think Me BuffoonShe’s HereAlyosha Foresees Dmitri's RuinI Won’t Kiss YoursIlusha Begs for MercyI Do Not Know WhyBefore Saying Good ByA Clever Nation ConquersReturning the TicketChrist Comes to SevilleThe Burden of FreedomA Soft KissSpeaking To A Clever ManLife Is ParadiseLife Is HeavenLove In ActionResponsible for All MenLove Children EspeciallyThe Smell of DecompositionOnly One Little OnionA Loving HeartSojourn In The WorldHe Rose a ChampionDriven Into a CornerA Light DawnsThe Thought of HerOver the Garden FenceFenya Tells EverythingGrushenka Flies to a New LifeLove and Deserved SufferingNot Guilty Of That BloodScoundrel Not ThiefThe Poor BabeKolya and His MotherA Socialist at ThirteenPerezvon CalledAlyosha Brings the BoysChoose One and Love HimSpeaking To A Clever ManLeft Him To His FateYou Are Not The MurdererThe Roll of PaperNightmare Or NotAll Things Are LawfulWho Does Not Desire ItThe Trial BeginsDespised From the FirstThe Broad Karamazov CharacterSmerdyakov Foresees a FitPsychology Cuts Both WaysThe Unseen Three ThousandThe VerdictDid You Believe ItAt Ilusha’s Stone

Plot point 01

The Family and the Monastery

Three sons of a vicious, buffoonish father gather at a monastery, where the holy elder Zossima bows before the raging Dmitri.

Objects of Note

The three thousand roubles

A disputed sum of money becomes the weight every accusation against Dmitri must carry.

The Cast

Dmitri Karamazov

Main · Karamazov family

A passionate eldest son rushes toward love, disgrace, and judgment with blood on his clothes and honor in his mouth.

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The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 128 classics in the Literah library

The Brothers Karamazov feed, as it appears in your mobile

The plot of The Brothers Karamazov

The story beat by beat, as Literah maps it.

The Family and the Monastery
Dmitri, Grushenka, and the Money
The Grand Inquisitor
Zossima's Death and Alyosha's Crisis
The Night of the Murder
The Children and Ilusha
Ivan, Smerdyakov, and the Truth
The Trial

The author's pen in The Brothers Karamazov

The passages themselves, Fyodor Dostoyevsky's own words, as Literah maps it.

A Senseless Man of Meansch. 1
The One Woman Unwantedch. 1
A Child Forgottench. 1
Dmitri Comes to Settle Accountsch. 1
Aptitude and Charitych. 1
The Unexpected Conclusionch. 1
His Mother’s Prayerch. 1
Without Condemnationch. 1
Freedom Through Submissionch. 1
Arrival After Late Massch. 1
The Inharmonious Family Gatheringch. 1
A Vow To Keep Quietch. 1
A Blessing for Lizavetach. 1
Active Love of Neighborch. 1
The Unanswered Questionch. 1
Dmitri’s Contradictory Facech. 1
Father Zossima Bows to Dmitrich. 1
Devotion After the Burialch. 1
Lizaveta the Wandererch. 1
Smerdyakov's Cruel Childhoodch. 1

The characters of The Brothers Karamazov

Who is who, as Literah maps it.

Alyosha Karamazovmajor
Dmitri Karamazovmajor
Ivan Karamazovmajor
Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazovmajor
Pavel Smerdyakovmajor
Father Zossimamajor
Grushenkamajor
Katerina Ivanovna Verkhovtsevamajor
Ilusha Snegiryovmajor
Captain Nikolay Snegiryovsupporting
Kolya Krassotkinsupporting
Lise Hohlakovsupporting
Madame Hohlakovsupporting
Rakitinsupporting
Grigory Vasilievitchsupporting
Marfa Ignatyevnasupporting

The locations in The Brothers Karamazov

Where it happens, as Literah maps it.

The Monasterymonastery
Father Zossima’s Cellmonastic cell
Monastery Dining Room / Refectorydining room
Father Ferapont’s Cellmonastic cell
Fyodor Pavlovitch’s Househouse
The Garden and Window at Fyodor’s Housegarden
The Servants’ Quartersservants quarters
Grigory’s Cottagecottage
Madame Hohlakov’s Househouse
Katerina Ivanovna’s Drawing Roomdrawing room
Lise’s Roombedroom
Grushenka’s Lodginglodging
The Tavern / Restauranttavern
Snegiryov Cottagecottage

The core concepts in The Brothers Karamazov

What the book keeps returning to, as Literah maps it.

God, doubt, and innocent suffering
Freedom versus security
Shared responsibility versus legal guilt
Patricide and broken fatherhood
Spectacle, humiliation, and truth
Mercy in small gestures
Children as the measure of the adult world
Ideas as moral action
Active love after crisis

The objects of note in The Brothers Karamazov

The things that carry meaning, as Literah maps it.

The three thousand roubles
The hidden fifteen hundred roubles / sewn money
Fyodor’s sealed envelope
The brass pestle
Dmitri’s blood-stained clothes
Dmitri’s pistols
Katerina’s letter
Ivan’s article on ecclesiastical courts
Smerdyakov’s guitar
Brandy and glasses at Fyodor’s table
Zossima’s coffin
The Gospel reading at Cana
Alyosha’s holy image and lamp
The onion

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How you explore The Brothers Karamazov on Literah

The plot of The Brothers Karamazov

The author's pen in The Brothers Karamazov

The characters of The Brothers Karamazov

The locations in The Brothers Karamazov

The core concepts in The Brothers Karamazov

The objects of note in The Brothers Karamazov

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