Annotation to Dostoevsky, Shakespeare Adventures behind the stage By Georgi Velev

Annotation

to

Dostoevsky,  Shakespeare Adventures behind the stage

By Georgi Velev

            The book includes two essays on ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ by Dostoevsky, three essays on Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnets’ and one essay upon ‘Hamlet’ by the same author. The introduction entitled ‘Travelling on the wings of the white swallow and other birds’ tells about the appearance of the concept of this investigation, its realisation and the idea unifying all three works.

The book is a radically new reading of the celebrated works of Dostoevsky and Shakespeare based on the secret concept encoded therein. Both great writers have invested so many precious ideas into these works many of which cannot be directly revealed. The second layer there, tightly linked to familiar texts by means of many details, when analysed leads to the real concept of the authors.

The essays in the literary investigation are:

-         On the “mysterious” dramaturgy of ‘The Brothers Karamazov’;

-         The narrator in ‘The Brothers Karamazov’;

-         Dialogue and drama in Shakespeare’s ‘nativity sonnets’ (1–24);

-         The ‘divisive sonnets’ (25–49);

-         The ‘narcissistic sonnets’ (50–74);

-         The unmentioned in ‘Hamlet’.

On the “mysterious” dramaturgy of ‘The Brothers Karamazov’;

            By analysing the history of the goose a connection is made between the adventures of the children in Book Ten “Boys” and the most profound philosophical problems of the novel. This leads to a completely unexpected discovery that the episodes are interconnected theatrical scenes with one overall secret concept.

The essay examines a series of events (apparently annoying misunderstandings) which in this context acquire completely different meaning and importance from those which are normally accepted.

The narrator in ‘The Brothers Karamazov’;

            A number of apparent mistakes (incompatibilities) are compared in the narration of the novel. For example, Book Two “Unsuitable Gathering” begins like the beginning of a new novel, without taking into account what has gone before in Book One “History of a Family”. This reveals the existence of two narrators who seem to be writing independently one of another, following their own logic and aims. The essay examines in detail how Dostoevsky unites these incompatible points of view. It is revealed that the novel is narrated by the main character – Alyosha Karamazov, but from a distance of thirteen years. Alyosha intertwines narrative about current events with passages from his diaries as a young man. This explains the incomprehensible admission of Dostoevsky in the short introduction that the narration of the novel is divided into two parts given the “unity of the whole”.

Dialogue and drama in Shakespeare’s ‘nativity sonnets’ (1–24);

            The leading idea in the essay is that the ‘Sonnets’ are not dedicated to an unknown noble patron, but represent a dialogue between two embodiments of the Poet. Tormented by the un-resolvability of supreme creative questions and his solitude, the Poet discovers his double in the mirror. The Poet recognises Apollo the patron of the arts, with whom they began an intensive dialogue. The immortal one declares his desire to transform into a mortal, in return for which the Poet offers to take his place on Olympus. The Poet is confused by the strange nature of the situation, but Apollo proposes that they enter into a contract. (The essay shows how Shakespeare interprets the contract entered into between Mephistopheles and Faust – in Christopher Marlow’s “The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus”). After negotiating the details of the contract, they begin the implementation of the project. The poet imagines that he is pregnant and that, by giving birth to a god in a human image, he will receive the righteous live amongst the muses and the other mythological heroes on Olympus. The birth of Apollo and the re-birth of the Poet is studied in detail in the 24^th sonnet. The framework of the piece allows Shakespeare to examine and project the most complex questions of immortality, relations between god and man in the context of ancient Greek mythology, which is not just retold but played in terms of living reality.

The ‘divisive sonnets’ (25–49);

            After exchanging places, the Poet ascends Olympus, and Apollo is transformed into a mortal. The new worlds in which they find themselves, illuminate in a new way such fateful problems as: time, immortality, creation, beauty, sin–redemption. The dialogue between the two characters becomes more dramatic with the intensification of questions which cannot be resolved without mythology. The essay examines in detail how the Poet begins to experience the mythological subjects in the heaviness, and how Apollo experiences them as mortal events. The essay analyses the interpretation in the ‘Sonnets’ of the myths of Castor and Pollux, Apollo and Hyacinth, Apollo and Hermes, Apollo and Daphne. The dual optics of heaven and earth leads to diametrically opposed solutions for these fateful questions. Rivalry appears between the two with regards to the matter of who is entitled to dominion over the mythological shadows.

The conflicts intensify and finally reach a state of “civil war” – sonnet 35, between the two embodiments of the Poet, which ends with their complete division into two separate characters.

          The essay concludes with reference to the structure followed by Shakespeare of dividing the 154 sonnets into five groups – the number of acts in each of his plays. This reveals the concept of the great Poet – the ‘Sonnets’ are structured as a drama. It may be said that this Shakespearean play, as yet unperformed, may be his greatest masterpiece.

The ‘narcissistic sonnets’ (50–74);

            Soon after their creation, the two characters begin to feel the need for each other. They are reconciled at the festival of Adonis, their mythological symbol of transience in life. On the one hand, they want the limit of time, because without death there is no eternity, but on the other hand, they are clearly terrified of disappearing without trace. Merciless time destroys everything – the earth, the oceans, culture, human individuals and peoples. In Sonnet 56, outright war is declared on time. It is most terrible, since when people fight, some conquer and remain alive, while in the war with time, there is no survivor.

            The war is waged on all fronts – from the beginning of human history to the Judgement Day, and the heroes, thanks to the concept of the ‘Sonnets’, live in worlds with different temporal dimensions which expands their possibilities enormously. However, the most terrifying weapon of time is vanity and the narcissism of people. In sonnet 62, the image of Narcissus appears: ‘Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye’. Until the end of this group of sonnets, the leading theme is the struggle of the characters to overcome their own vanity, and time uses this possibility and is once again victorious.

           

...Unmentioned in ‘Hamlet’

            The essay on ‘Hamlet’ contains a good number of new elements which are radically different from current investigations:

- By comparing many facts, the essay proves in great detail that the Ghost in the play is not a mystical being from beyond the grave, but a very well prepared incident, conceived and implemented by King Claudius. This fact leads to a complete re-examination of the behaviour of the characters and explains their seeming strange behaviour and the false madness of Hamlet.

- It also reveals where and how the action in the play is interrupted for a number of years, and also resolves the shocking question of the age of Hamlet, who at the beginning of the tragedy is a youngster and at its end is revealed to be over the age of 30.

           

            Until the murderer of the father Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov is not revealed, there will be no peace and calm in his family or in the whole of Russia!

            Until the true reason for the death of old Hamlet is not revealed, there will be no peace and calm in Denmark!

            Until the mysterious messages of Shakespeare and Dostoevsky are decoded, there will be conflict and superficiality in the world of literature!