April 17, 2007

Book Group: Helps for Understanding Demons

For those of you working to complete the first part of Demons before Friday, here are a few helps sent by Chantalle:

http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/courses/previous/ru351/novels/devils/devil.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Possessed_(novel)

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jim_forest/pevear.htm

Please be warned that the above links contain information that may spoil the plot.

Dostoevsky isn't easy to understand, partly because of the number and complexity of his characters. I have posted a list of characters below. I suggest printing it and using it as a bookmark.

I look forward to discussing Part 1 Friday.

A List of Characters from "Demons" by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Russian names are composed of first name, patronymic (from the father’s first name), and family name. Formal address requires the use of first name and patronymic; diminutives are commonly used among family and intimate friends; a shortened form of the patronymic (e.g. Yegorych instead of Yegorovich), used only in speech, also suggests a certain familiarity. Among the aristocracy, who spoke French at least as readily as Russian, the French forms of names were frequently used, such as Julie in place of Yulia.


  • Alexei Yegorovich, or Yegorych (no family name)
  • Drozdov, Mavriky Nikolaevich (Maurice) – a visiting gentleman and guest of Varvara Petrovna Stavrogin.
  • Drozdov, Praskovya Ivanovna (Drozdikha)
  • Erkel (no first name or patronymic)
  • Fyodor Fyodorovich, called “Fedka the Convict” (no family name) – a roaming criminal suspected of several thefts and murders in the novel.
  • Gaganov, Artemy Pavlovich
  • Gaganov, Pavel Pavlovich
  • G_____v, Anton Lavrentievich
  • Karmazinov, Semyon Yegorovich
  • Kirillov, Alexei Nilych – a Russian engineer who has been driven insane by the thoughts of God and life after death.
  • Lebyadkin, Ignat, called “Captain Lebyadkin” (patronymic “Timofeevich never used) – the drunken former officer whose sister is secretly married to Nicolas.
  • Lebyadkin, Marya Timofeevna, or Timofevna – Captain Lebyadkin's sister, rumored to have some connection to Nikolai Stavrogin's past.
  • Liputin, Sergei Yegorovich (or Vasilyich)
  • Lyamshin (no patronymic or family name)
  • Semyon Yakovlevich (no family name)
  • Shatov, Darya Pavlovna (Dasha)
  • Shatov, Ivan Pavlovich (Shatushka) – a son of former serf to the Stavrogin, former university student and another intellectual who has turned his back on his leftist ideas. This change of heart is what attractes Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky to plot Shatov's murder.
  • Verkhovensky, Marya Ignatievna (Marie)
  • Shigalyov (no first name or patronymic)
  • Stavrogin, Nikolai Vsevolodovich (Nicolas) – the main character of the novel, and a complex figure, he has several inhuman traits about him that resemble a vampire in literature.
  • Stavrogin, Varvara Petrovna – Nicolas’s mother, a rich lady who plays at being leftist.
  • Tikhon – a bishop who, in Dostoevsky's original drafts, Stavrogin visited for guidance, and revealed some of the disturbing events of his past. Their interview has little effect on Stavrogin, but provides the reader a better understanding of his background. This chapter was not accepted by the censors and Dostoevsky excised it from the original version, in which Bishop Tikhon is not mentioned. The Pevear and Volokhonsky translation includes this chapter, called "At Tikhon's" in an appendix.
  • Tolkachenko (no first name or patronymic)
  • Tushin, Lizaveta Nikolaevna (Liza, Lise)
  • Ulitin, Sofya Marveevna
  • Verkhovensky, Pyotor Stepanovich (Petrusha, Pierre) – the son of Stepan and the cause of much of the destruction. He plays at being a true believer revolutionary though his only goal is to have power.
  • Verkhovensky, Stepan Trofimovich – the philosopher and intellectual that is partly to blame for the revolutionary ideas that fuel the destruction that occurs in the book. He served as a father figure to Nicolas when Stavrogin was a child.
  • Virginsky (no first name or patronymic)
  • Virginsky, Arina Prokhorovna
  • von Blum, Andrei Antonovich
  • von Lembke, Andrei Antonovich (also called “Lembka”)
  • von Lembke, Yulia Mikhailovna (Julie)

April 14, 2007

Book Review: By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion by Terryl L. Givens

Grade: A

"Though argument does not create conviction, lack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish." -Austin Ferrer

In By the Hand of Mormon, Terryl Givens examines why the Book of Mormon "has been taken seriously--for very different reasons--by generations of devoted believers and confirmed skeptics." Although his aim is not apologetics, by examining what the Book of Mormon "has meant, and might conceivably yet come to mean, to its various readerships," Givens maintains a climate in which belief may flourish. His work is a masterpiece.

I read By the Hand of Mormon as part of a book group formed by my good friend James Olsen. I recommend this book and James Olsen's book group without reservation. I'm thankful to the book group for renewing my belief that things are better understood when discussed with others. I'm thankful for Terryl Givens for strengthening my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon through his careful, well-researched analysis.

This is an informative book. If your knowledge of the Book of Mormon is like mine--largely obtained by reading the Book itself and through a lifetime of Sunday school lessons, conference talks and discussion with members and non-members alike--then you will learn something by reading this book. Additionally, By the Hand of Mormon will increase your confidence that the Book is true. Given's careful examination of the facts reinforced my testimony and enhanced my ability to address my beliefs in academic terms.

Here is the description from the front flap: In By the Hand of Mormon "Givens examines the Book of Mormon's role as a divine testament of the Last Days and as a sacred sign of Joseph Smith's status as a modern-day prophet. He assesses its claim to be a history of the pre-Columbian peopling of the Western Hemisphere. . . . Givens explores how the Book of Mormon has been defined as a cultural product, the imaginative ravings of a rustic religion-maker more inspired by the winds of culture than the breath of God. He also investigates its status as a new American Bible . . . probes the Book's shifting relationship to Mormon doctrine and its changing reputation among theologians and scholars. Finally . . . Givens highlights the Book's role as the engine behind what may become the next world religion."

Here are a few nice excerpts on analyzing the Book of Mormon's theological merit: "Bruce R. McConkie gave canonical utterance to the logic of LDS testimony that continues to be a feature of member and missionary expression alike: "The Book of Mormon . . . stands as a witness to all the world that Joseph Smith was the Lord's anointed through whom the foundation was laid for the great latter-day work of restoration."

"As a result . . . the Book of Mormon was seldom presented --or received by the appreciative--in terms of its claims, arguments, or doctrine. Its a priori incarnation as sacred history inscribed in gold, together with the aura of supernatural origins always framed its mention, far overshadowed and even displaced whatever internal persuasiveness it might have had. And just as Joseph’s prophetic authority was guarantor of the text's sacred status, so the very presence of this voice speaking "out of the dust," predicted by scripture and verified by the voice of angels and human witnesses alike, was guarantor that Joseph was indeed a prophet of God."

Its status as authoritative text "polarizes the Book of Mormon's reception around the issue of authenticity rather than theological merit."

Givens borrows a framework for understanding this phenomenon from Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin, who "argues that there are two modes of language by which we are influenced: authoritative discourse and internally persuasive discourse. The latter category is any language that makes its claim upon us on the basis of its logic, rhetorical appeal, compelling argument, or emotional sway. 'The authoritative word,' on the other hand, 'demands that we acknowledge it, that we make it our own; it binds us, quite independent of any power it might have to persuade us internally; we encounter it with its authority already fused to it.' Some language, in other words, is so wedded to an authoritative source that we find it difficult or impossible to assess the content as content. We cannot analyze, negotiate, critique, or selectively assimilate it."

April 09, 2007

April 03, 2007

Katie Davis Wins Tournament Pick 'em, Dances Like Joakim Noah!

Congratulations to Katie Davis! She dazzled us with her basketball acumen by winning this year's Blakesleague NCAA Tournament Pick 'em. Not only did she beat the men, proving that time watching basketball does not an expert make, but reliable sources tell me that she celebrated her victory by dancing like Joakim Noah:

Katie & Lucas Pictured on Cover of Politico!

Lucas and Katie appeared on the front cover of today's Politico. Here is a photo, followed by links to the cover image and article on campaign fund raising: