Grand Inquisitor

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, H.P. Blavatsky

Description

This excerpt from the Russian literary masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov is a parable set against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition, which Dostoyevsky uses to explore questions about God's existence and human freedom. This bite-size text is a great way for beginners to acquaint themselves with Dostoyevsky's style.

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781775416890
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE GRAND INQUISITOR
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FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY
Translated by
H.P. BLAVATSKY
 
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The Grand Inquisitor First published in 1881.
ISBN 978-1-775416-89-0
© 2009 THE FLOATING PRESS.
While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike.
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Contents
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Preface The Grand Inquisitor Endnotes
Preface
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Dedicated by the Translator to those sceptics who clamour soloudly, both in print and private letters—"Show us the wonder-working 'Brothers,' let them come out publicly—and we willbelieve in them!"
The following is an extract from M. Dostoevsky's celebratednovel, The Brothers Karamazof, the last publication from the penof the great Russian novelist, who died a few months ago, just asthe concluding chapters appeared in print. Dostoevsky isbeginning to be recognized as one of the ablest and profoundestamong Russian writers. His characters are invariably typicalportraits drawn from various classes of Russian society,strikingly life-like and realistic to the highest degree. Thefollowing extract is a cutting satire on modern theologygenerally and the Roman Catholic religion in particular. The ideais that Christ revisits earth, coming to Spain at the period ofthe Inquisition, and is at once arrested as a heretic by theGrand Inquisitor. One of the three brothers of the story, Ivan, arank materialist and an atheist of the new school, is supposed tothrow this conception into the form of a poem, which he describesto Alyosha—the youngest of the brothers, a young Christianmystic brought up by a "saint" in a monastery—as follows.
—Ed. Theosophist, Nov., 1881
The Grand Inquisitor
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"Quite impossible, as you see, to start without an introduction,"laughed Ivan. "Well, then, I mean to place the event described inthe poem in the sixteenth century, an age—as you must have beentold at school—when it was the great fashion among poets tomake the denizens and powers of higher worlds descend on earthand mix freely with mortals... In France all the notaries'clerks, and the monks in the cloisters as well, used to givegrand performances, dramatic plays in which long scenes wereenacted by the Madonna, the angels, the saints, Christ, and evenby God Himself. In those days, everything was very artless andprimitive. An instance of it may be found in Victor Hugo's drama,Notre Dame de Paris, where, at the Municipal Hall, a play calledLe Bon Jugement de la Tres-sainte et Graceuse Vierge Marie, isenacted in honour of Louis XI, in which the Virgin appearspersonally to pronounce her 'good judgment.' In Moscow, duringthe prepetrean period, performances of nearly the same character,chosen especially from the Old Testament, were also in greatfavour. Apart from such plays, the world was overflooded withmystical writings, 'verses'—the heroes of which were alwaysselected from the ranks of angels, saints and other heavenlycitizens answering to the devotional purposes of the age. Therecluses of our monasteries, like the Roman Catholic monks,passed their time in translating, copying, and even producingoriginal compositions upon such subjects, and that, remember,during the Tarter period!... In this connection, I am reminded ofa poem compiled in a convent—a translation from the Greek, ofcourse—called, 'The Travels of the Mother of God among theDamned,' with fitting illustrations and a boldness of conceptioninferior nowise to that of Dante. The 'Mother of God' visitshell, in company with the archangel Michael as her cicerone toguide her through the legions of the 'damned.' She sees them all,and is witness to their multifarious tortures. Among the manyother exceedingly remarkably varieties of torments—everycategory of sinners having its own—there is one especiallyworthy of notice, namely a class of the 'damned' sentenced togradually sink in a burning lake of brimstone and fire. Thosewhose sins cause them to sink so low that they no longer can riseto the surface are for ever forgotten by God, i.e., they fade outfrom the omniscient memory, says the poem—an expression, by theway, of an extraordinary profundity of thought, when closelyanalysed. The Virgin is terribly shocked, and falling down uponher knees in tears before the throne of God, begs that all shehas seen in hell—all, all without exception, should have theirsentences remitted to them. Her dialogue with God is colossallyinteresting.