The Idiot

Pages: 700
Classic
Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I’ve chosen my mother as my partner because she graduated Arabic language and literature, and she likes reading a lot. Even though she is very bussy, I knew that she would find some spare time, and that she would enjoy doing it with me. We had a long discussion about books, and what to read. I discovered that she enjoys poetry a lot, and some of her favorite poets are Baudelaire, Eluard, Edgar Allan Pooa… etc. Also, one of her favorite books is “The Dubliners”, written by a famous Irish writer, James Joyce. Since most of the books, that my mom likes, are tough to understand in my age, we have come to a conclusion that we would read a classic of Russian literature, a book called “The Idiot”, by Fyodor Dostojyevski. The main protagonist of the book is the young, gentle Prince Myshkin, whose life is thrown into love triangle with beautiful Nastasya Filipovna, and drawn into a web of blackmail, betrayal and murder.

An interesting thing that I found out is that all the work my mom does, her inspiration comes mostly from literature. Books and art have an important role in her life. "Letters to a young poet," by German writer Rainer Maria Rilke, is a book she read several times in her life, which was a landmark in many situations. “The book is useful not just for young people who want to devote themselves to the poetry; it explains lots of aspects in choosing a carrier in general.  There are also a lot of advices about love, relationship, marriage, loneliness, our inner life and sadness, and that someone who creates art will always be rich in his inner life.”

What my mom likes most about books is that they expand horizons, give answers to many questions, and discover new things. They accommodate all the beauty and variety of the world, of human knowledge, experience and imagination and for her, they are a source of inspiration and enjoyment. They have the power to lead us into another world.

She thinks that books and art in general have the power to affect us, our better understanding of the world around us, and human nature, to affect change in our attitudes and beliefs, develop imagination, enrich and ennoble. After reading some of them we are no longer the same. They let us open a new door and show us a new direction in life.