The Deeper I Delve Into The Secret History, The More I Encounter Ideas Similar To Those Dostoevsky Explored

The deeper I delve into The Secret History, the more I encounter ideas similar to those Dostoevsky explored in his works.

For example:

"And it’s a temptation for any intelligent person, and especially for perfectionists such as the ancients and ourselves, to try to murder the primitive, emotive, appetitive self. But that is a mistake."

It seems to me that this is exactly what Raskolnikov faced after committing his crime. After all, according to his theory, he wanted to prove that he could act rationally, without being troubled by his conscience. He wanted to show that by allowing himself to commit a crime, he could also master his conscience and emotions. But of course, this was a mistake, as Dostoevsky intended to demonstrate: people cannot always dominate their emotions, no matter how dedicated they are to logical reasoning.

Plus, this excerpt:

"Because it is dangerous to ignore the existence of the irrational. The more cultivated a person is, the more intelligent, the more repressed, then the more he needs some method of channeling the primitive impulses he’s worked so hard to subdue. Otherwise those powerful old forces will mass and strengthen until they are violent enough to break free, more violent for the delay, often strong enough to sweep the will away entirely."

Dostoevsky opens people's eyes to the limits of rationalism and logical reasoning. This is especially evident in Notes from Underground, where a character who ostensibly follows rational thoughts sounds absolutely unhinged to us.

Well, I must admit the idea of limited rationalism sounds legit, don't you think? 🤔

tsh meme spam from Pinterest

(feel this one works for richard too.)

(do it for the plot, richard.)

22 notes View Post

elixir-chai

5 months ago

too many movies have been ruined by not casting ugly people

56K notes View Post

elixir-chai

6 months ago

I kinda hope The Secret History never gets a movie adaptation because being forced to read the book is a test you have to pass to get into this fandom.

Tags

books dark study aesthetic english literature dark academia literature fall autumn college university academia chaotic academia classic academia light academia dark academism the secret history donna tartt academics aesthetics academia aesthetic academic henry winter dark academia quotes dark academic aesthetic uni dark academic elixir-chai-text

24 notes View Post