😂 I got my next negative review from a friend today, disappointed the book wasn't *really* space opera - which I take to mean, because it's not all epic battles - despite involving aliens, a murdered world, a mutiny, a spaceship, and an intrigue that will unravel a whole society.
But I find it amusing that all my reminders that this is Dostoevsky in space didn't sink in. I think folks don't expect me to write challenging work - but I cannot fathom why anyone thinks I write nice, simple fiction.
All these years later I still have resort to Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot.”
@LSWellesley I feel like a reread is in order myself. :) Dostoevsky had his usual oscillating madness in response to The Idiot - it's the work he was fondest of, while still considering it a failure in execution. I love his openness about his work and its weaknesses. Truly something I wish I saw more of from more writers today.
Dostoevsky‘s self-reflection is unusual in any writer, let alone in any human being. The book was perhaps his own autobiographical exploration of an imitatio Christi, a passion- bearing, if you will. Something to be not only written out, but acted out.The redemptive activity of a living christ walking the fields of greed, anger, and delusion, the Gabriel voice in him moving to the ear of humanity.
His openness in discussion of his own work reminds somewhat of Nabokov.
Just don't tell Nabokov that, because Nabokov HATED Dostoevsky/Dostoevsky's writing. :)
Yes. I am aware.
Both men were highly opinionated.
Nowhere was that pridefulness on display more than in the emigre community of which Nabokov was a part.
Do you know Konstantin Mochulsky’s biography of Dostoevsky?
🤗 Oh, you're very kind, but I will reiterate what I said to my friend *before* he started reading: if it's not your cuppa, no worries, and may other works in your list reward instead.
It is *psychological fiction*, deep in analysis of behaviour and philosophy, just like its source material - but with AI, spaceships, and aliens. :) Which I still think Dostoevsky would have had fun with, if he were writing today.
Just as Stanisław Lem, did.
:) You are the second person this week to compare my work to Stanislaw Lem! (The other one is halfway through the novel and that was her first thought.) ❤️ You have made this writer very happy with that association!
@MLClark to heck with them you write what you want
I should be clear: the person in question said that the book was compellingly written. It just wasn't the space opera they were thinking it would be, despite my express caution about its voice.
And that is OKAY. This is all a good reminder to keep fine-tuning how I present the work to others, going forward.
All feedback can be useful!