Reading The Brothers Karamazov: Smerdyakov – Part One
[ Rooms in the novel. ] [ Humor in the novel. ] The narrator's apology comes early. Dostoevsky introduces Smerdyakov's birth, traces the rough facts of his origins, and then writes this: "I ought to say a little more about him in particular, but I am ashamed to distract my reader's attention for such a long time to such ordinary lackeys, and therefore I shall go back to my narrative, hoping that with regard to Smerdyakov things will somehow work themselves out in the further course of the story." (Pevear and Volokhonsky, page 168) This is not modesty. Dostoevsky is not actually ashamed. He is announcing his technique while performing it. The narrator steps in, performs exactly the dismissiveness that every character in the novel displays toward Smerdyakov, and then walks away. The reader, cued by the narrator's own embarrassment about the digression, follows. Attention moves elsewhere. Smerdyakov is left standing in the servants' cottage, waiting. What...
