Video And Podcast Episodes on Fyodor Dostoevsky's Works

sixteen lectures on Notes From Underground and The Brothers Karamazov

One class I teach fairly regularly is Existentialist Philosophy and Literature, and you can’t do an even decent job teaching the thinkers, texts, and topics encompassed in that messy movement without addressing at least a bit of the work of one of the great 19th century Existentialist authors, the Russian novelist and short story writer Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Not only do his works raise and work through a number of key Existentialist themes, often embodied not only in the thoughts and discourses of his characters, but in their relationships, decisions, and ways of life. He’s also centrally important as an influence, even an interlocutor, for a number of later Existentialist figures, most notably Lev Shestov, Nikolai Berdyaev, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre. His contemporary Friedrich Nietzsche was made aware of Dostoevsky through the recommendation of Georg Brandes.

I haven’t yet produced video or podcast resources on my absolute favorite of Dostoevsky’s novels, The Demons (also known as The Possessed), but I have produced some on two other works of his, portions of which I assign to my undergraduate students.

One of these is the first part of Notes From Underground, a long engaging monologue by the man who is a mouse, beset by too much reflection, arguing for the most advantageous advantage of following unrealistic whim, and kicking against many of the progressive attitudes of his era. The other work is one of Dostoevsky’s longest, his final novel, which many feel to be his best (I obviously don’t share that verdict!), The Brothers Karamazov. I have my students read two chapters of that work from book 5, “Rebellion” and “The Grand Inquisitor”.

Quite possibly, I’ll get around to creating additional resources on Dostoevsky’s other works. As I noted above, my favorite is The Demons, and that could use an entire series of videos and corresponding podcast episodes. For the moment, however, what I’ve got to offer are just these:

Notes From Underground, part 1

• The Intellectual, Inertia, And Negativity | watch video | listen to podcast

• Pleasure, Perversity, And Suffering | watch video | listen to podcast

• Revenge, Anger, And Justice | watch video | listen to podcast

• Self-Interest And the Advantageous | watch video | listen to podcast

• The Most Advantageous Advantage | watch video | listen to podcast

• Desire And Reason - Sadler's Lectures | watch video | listen to podcast

• Enlightenment, Laws of Nature, And The Will | watch video | listen to podcast

The Brothers Karamazov, book 5

• Children, Cruelty, And Suffering | watch video | listen to podcast

• Richard's Abuse, Conversion, And Execution | watch video | listen to podcast

• Cosmic Justice And Ivan's Rebellion | watch video | listen to podcast

• Christ's Coming And The Grand Inquisitor | watch video | listen to podcast

• Food And Freedom | watch video | listen to podcast

• Miracles, Signs, And Freedom | watch video | listen to podcast

• Unity, Rule, And Freedom | watch video | listen to podcast

• Freeing People Of Freedom | watch video | listen to podcast

• Correcting God’s Work | watch video | listen to podcast

So there they are, 16 lectures you can watch, listen to, and (for the podcasts) download at your leisure. I hope, if you’re struggling with Dostoevsky’s admittedly challenging works, you find them useful!