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Palgrave MacMillan, New York, 2008, 238pp.
Character is destiny. Surely, that belief embedded in every psychoanalyst's heart cannot apply to the major characters of Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky's characters above all others of the world's great literature are regarded as compelled to action by ideas, philosophical theories, or spiritual conviction.
Bernard J. Paris believes otherwise. Proceeding from a psychoanalytic base, he shares the view that character is destiny. As in his prior studies of Shakespeare, Conrad, George Eliot, and others, character is foundational. Whereas other authors create characters with points of view, Dostoevsky seems especially to employ his characters to represent conceptions of life. Their personalities and relationships seem somehow in the service of their philosophical postures. Often his characters exhibit considerable struggle, but their iconic representations remain firm. Paris argues against this more usual interpretation. Rather than regarding Dostoevsky's characters as structured through belief systems, he sees matters reversed: the beliefs of Dostoevsky's characters proceed from character structure, not the other...