Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy?

Answer 1

hmm... a tough one. For pure great reading
I'd pick Dostoyevsky. The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment are two books that I count in my top ten fave books of all time. Both great writers though.

Answer 2

I fall into the Dostoevsky camp - I find Dostoevsky fun to read, and I don't have the same amount of fun reading Tolstoy. I don't know what the deal is, I guess I prefer my 19th-century Russian novels to have antihero characters, black comedy etc. (Dostoevsky, Gogol). An interesting criticism comes from Vladimir Nabokov, who didn't like Dostoevsky at all and liked Tolstoy a lot: Nabokov preferred writers who are good with painterly physical description, including Turgenev, and he did not like the fact that Dostoevsky is not one of those writers. He claimed Dostoevsky ought to have been a playwright because the voices and the interaction of the characters are everything, and he thought Dostoevsky never should have been a novelist at all. That's from Vladimir Nabokov's "Lectures on Russian Literature." Probably my recollection of Nabokov's argument is all oversimplified, though, and I expect Nabokov would think I'm a hopeless vulgarian for oversimplifying or whatever...but that is my recollection of his point, which I always thought was a very interesting criticism.

Answer 3

Dostoyevsky, He is sometimes considered to be a founder of existentialism, most frequently for Notes from Underground, which has been described by Walter Kaufmann as "the best overture for existentialism ever

Tolstoy is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all novelists, particularly noted for his masterpieces War and Peace and Anna Karenina; in their scope, breadth and realistic depiction of Russian life, the two books stand at the peak of realistic fiction. As a moral philosopher he was notable for his ideas on nonviolent resistance through his work The Kingdom of God is Within You, which in turn influenced such twentieth-century figures as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr..

Tolstoy by a last second field goal.

Answer 4

I think... for pure, magnificent novels that simply sweep you up and along for the ride I have to say Tolstoy. Anna Karenina is the epitome of a great novel. I kinda want to marry Kostya Levin. I'm a dork.

Answer 5

Tolstoy rules!

Answer 6

I find Dostoyevsky's storylines more interesting.

Answer 7

"conflict and Peace" is between the most outstanding books ever written. it will make you chortle and cry and be very relaxing. What made me cry became form of non-public, notwithstanding, so... "The Brothers Karamazov" is the great artwork Dostoevski wrote, and it ought to were the first e book of a trilogy, yet he died before the different 2 books may be written. The trilogy ought to were pronounced as "existence of a Sinner." it is between the saddest losses in literary history. that's a demanding determination to %. between them. in case you had stated "Crime and Punishment," as relaxing simply by the indisputable fact that's, "conflict and Peace" ought to have received by technique of a landslide. "The Brothers Karamazov," notwithstanding, is amazingly stunning...and in case you opt for that one, do not take Smerdyakov's note for something!

Answer 8

both are great writers...but personally i prefer Dostoevsky.....The Idiot is one of my favorite books. I love the way he gets into the Psyche of his characters and makes comments about society's ideas of right and wrong.

Answer 9

Definitely Dostoevsky. His stories are full of quirkiness.

Answer 10

how unfair........

they both were great!

but tolstoy reached higher planes....