A Karamazov Companion: Commentary on the Genesis, Language, and Style of Dostoevsky's Novel by Victor Terras (review)

Comedy-was called "sublime" in Cannes. On March 24, 1984, Lewis was awarded the Légion d'Honneur by the French government. Although not every reader of Gordon's study may agree that Lewis, whose comic style is often regarded in his own country as embarrassingly over the top, was worthy ofsuch a lofty honor from the French government, this book is a fascinating read. Students of 19lh- or 20lh-century French literature and history will also find that this book offers an interesting and heretofore little explored dimension to their connaissance ofthe French character and personality ofthe period. ^ VictorTerras. A Karamazov Companion: Commentary on the Genesis, Language, andStyle ofDostoevskys Novel. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1981, 2002. 482p. Elena Baraban University of Victoria When it first came out in 1981, A Karamazov Companion by Victor Terras was rightly praised for its outstanding academic quality, scope, and thoroughness. The Companion is keyed to the pagination of the Russian Academy edition of The Brothers Karamazov (F.M. Dostoevskii, Polnoe sobrante sochinenii ? tridtsati tomakh, Leningrad: Nauka, 1976; Vols. 14 & 15) and to the WW Norton 1976 version of Constance Garnett's translation edited by Ralph E. Madaw. In the twenty years that have elapsed since the first printing ofTerras' work, Dostoevsky scholarship has grown both in Russia and in the West. VictorTerras is well aware of the new developments in Dostoevsky studies, for he starts his "Preface" to the 2002 reprint edition ofA Karamazov Companion with explaining why his work has not lost its value today. Indeed, while a new Russian edition of Dostoevsky's CollectedWorks is being prepared, itwill take years for a volumewith The Brothers Karamazov to appear in print. Consequently, the 1976 Academy edition ofthe novel, towhich Terras' Companion corresponds, will remain canonic for a number of years. The authority of the Garnett-Madaw translation of the novel, however, was challenged in 1990, when Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky completed a new translation of The Brothers Karamazov. According to Terras, the translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky is more accurate but "Garnett's somewhat old-fashioned English has great charm and is close to the ethos of Dostoevsky's Victorian narrator" (ix-x). Terras adds that for that reason alone, Garnett's version may have greater appeal to "the general reader" than the newer translation (ix-x). Terras is certainly right in saying that readers of either 76 * ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW + FALL 2003 Reviews translation, as well as those who read Dostoevsky's novel in die original, would benefit from A Karamazov Companion (x). In the introduction, which comprises one third of the book, Terras describes the genesis ofthe novel, its ideas, and Dostoevsky's narrative techniques. Each of the three parts ofthe introduction consists ofsections that help the reader to find quickly information on issues such as Dostoevsky's life, the novel's sources, and prototypes ofits characters; allegorical, social, and Christian interpretations of The Brothers Karamazov; the novel's narrative structures and its language. Based on meticulous research, A Karamazov Companion compresses an enormous array of facts about Dostoevsky's life, social, historical, and political developments in Russia , religious and philosophic thought. In addition, Terras presents the gist ofthe main critical discussions of the novel's themes, ideas, characters, and language. Diverse interpretations of The Brothers Karamazov reflect the novel's complexity, its significance for the discussion of the Orthodox Church's position in Russian society, the moral effects of nihilism, the Slavophile versus Westemizers debate, and many other issues. Rather than providing ready-made conclusions about the meaning of The Brothers Karamazov, Terras' book illuminates intricacies and contradictions in Dostoevsky's last novel and helps die reader appreciate Dostoevsky's art more fully. In the commentary, organized according to the twelve books and die epilogue ofthe novel, Terras authoritatively explains Dostoevsky's use ofliterary and biblical quotations and allusions, irony, puns, symbols, imagery, leitmotifs, and other stylistic devices. He clarifies and explicates the meanings ofpassages that are difficult to interpret or those whose meaning is lost in the translation. In writing his commentary, Terras relied, among odier things, on the detailed Russian commentary to the novel (Vol. 1 5 ofthe Academy edition). Thanks to Terras, die wealdi ofthe...