Thank you, Dostoevsky
We have a family tradition here, not long-standing but important. Since my husband and I discovered the "old" Perry Mason series episodes -- not the later ones (also with Raymond Burr) and certainly not the recent series in which Mason is turned into a private detective. Say it's not so! -- we've been watching most of the four hours on weekdays presented by Family TV. We discovered the whole thing by accident, but are fairly loyal.
Why am I telling you all this? Last Tuesday, the night of the presidential debate, I watched the 8 p.m. Perry Mason episode, all geared up to follow with the debate at 9. Only, after dinner, like 7 o'clock, I sat down to begin watching a movie I had discovered by accident on Amazon Prime. It was an eight-part film about the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. I had watched a few filmed versions of his books online, so it wasn't surprising Amazon had listed the biographical movie as an item of interest for me. In fact, the movie version of Dostoevsky's novel "Demons" was directed by the same person as the biographical one. "Demons" overall had been terrific, so I expected the same from "Dostoevsky."
And I was right. But what does all of this have to do with the debate? Well, after watching the movie for an hour before leading into Perry Mason, I turned on the debate and began watching it with my husband. After about 15 minutes, if that long, I couldn't take anymore. Since I almost never talk about politics online, I won't say much, except those who know me know which person aggravated me the much. I felt my normally low blood pressure rising, and my temper was doing the same. So I decided, if I was going to be depressed, it might as well be over the life of Dostoevsky, which was indeed pretty miserable. Just as a few examples: his father was tyrannical and might have been killed by his serfs; for involvement in a socialist group, he was sentenced to imprisonment in Siberia and a mock execution. For years he lived in horrible conditions, and his politics took a turn to the right and pro-Tsarism. When released, he married -- semi-unhappily -- but she died. His brother, the closest person to him, died soon after. He got involved with a highly neurotic woman who toyed with him. He was forever impoverished despite great talent as a writer, and that was all exacerbated by a gambling habit that gripped him for years. On top of all that he had epilepsy. When he finally met the right woman -- much younger but totally devoted to -- and they married, they lost two children. Some people hated him as a God-obsessed conservative, but his books have endured. So, since I love his works (though not his politics) -- he is one of the world's great psychologists and even, some say, a prophet about the Russian Revolution -- I was much happier watching a film about his depressing life than the debate.
So thank you, Dostoevsky!
Why am I telling you all this? Last Tuesday, the night of the presidential debate, I watched the 8 p.m. Perry Mason episode, all geared up to follow with the debate at 9. Only, after dinner, like 7 o'clock, I sat down to begin watching a movie I had discovered by accident on Amazon Prime. It was an eight-part film about the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. I had watched a few filmed versions of his books online, so it wasn't surprising Amazon had listed the biographical movie as an item of interest for me. In fact, the movie version of Dostoevsky's novel "Demons" was directed by the same person as the biographical one. "Demons" overall had been terrific, so I expected the same from "Dostoevsky."
And I was right. But what does all of this have to do with the debate? Well, after watching the movie for an hour before leading into Perry Mason, I turned on the debate and began watching it with my husband. After about 15 minutes, if that long, I couldn't take anymore. Since I almost never talk about politics online, I won't say much, except those who know me know which person aggravated me the much. I felt my normally low blood pressure rising, and my temper was doing the same. So I decided, if I was going to be depressed, it might as well be over the life of Dostoevsky, which was indeed pretty miserable. Just as a few examples: his father was tyrannical and might have been killed by his serfs; for involvement in a socialist group, he was sentenced to imprisonment in Siberia and a mock execution. For years he lived in horrible conditions, and his politics took a turn to the right and pro-Tsarism. When released, he married -- semi-unhappily -- but she died. His brother, the closest person to him, died soon after. He got involved with a highly neurotic woman who toyed with him. He was forever impoverished despite great talent as a writer, and that was all exacerbated by a gambling habit that gripped him for years. On top of all that he had epilepsy. When he finally met the right woman -- much younger but totally devoted to -- and they married, they lost two children. Some people hated him as a God-obsessed conservative, but his books have endured. So, since I love his works (though not his politics) -- he is one of the world's great psychologists and even, some say, a prophet about the Russian Revolution -- I was much happier watching a film about his depressing life than the debate.
So thank you, Dostoevsky!