GENIUS IN LOVE
THREE LOVES OF DOSTOEVSKY, 28 Marc Slovin; Alvin Redman Ltd., price 16/-. F this had been simply a story (of Dostoevsky’s three major love affairs it could have been boring; but it is much more than a study of erotic experience. The three women are here, and are brought convincingly to life: Maria, the consumptive widow who became Dostoevsky’s first wife; Apollinaria, the feline creature who tormented him through an unsatisfactory affair; and Anna, the young girl who married him when he was 46. and finally brought him happiness. These women move in and out of Dostoevsky’s own life story, and are revealed through their influence on his work as well as in their relationships with the man. The author has made a close study of Dostoevsky, both as a writer and as a complex personality: he seems also to have unusual insight into creative processes; and in ‘his treatment of the morbid side’ of Dostoevsky’s character, especially his masochistic approach to sex, there is much unobtrusive psychology. He is able,to show how closely the author’s heroines resemble two of the (continued on next page)
women in his life-not in single and tounded portraits, but in certain aspects of character which constantly reappear. Significantly, it is Apollinaria, the woman who fought and rejected him, whose profile is seen most frequently in his novels. And Anna, who made him happy,.does not appear at all, though he wrote his greatest work-The Brothers Karamazoy-after she became
mis wile.
H.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 947, 4 October 1957, Page 16
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249GENIUS IN LOVE New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 947, 4 October 1957, Page 16
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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