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Nikolaï Bogdanov-Belsky
(1868-1945), Boy on a lawn
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Alexey
(Alyosha) Karamazov is a “radiant” figure, among the best known
of Dostoevsky's fictional universe. The freedom he shows facing
difficult and even dark situations is quite amazing. The family drama
described in the very last and brilliant novel of the great Fyodor
does not leave Alyosha indifferent, but it makes him grow up and
mature. His eyes are able to discern precious stones in the middle of
the mud. His kindness radiates and awakens, in those who meet him,
feelings of trust and bursts of faith.
Having
sketched the
portrait of the elder son, Dmitri (Mitya), who possesses a passionate and excessive
temperament, and then Ivan’s, a dark, restless, tortured person,
the novelist describes the third son Karamazov, Alyosha: “First
of all, I must explain that this young man, Alyosha, was not a
fanatic, and, in my opinion at least, was not even a mystic (...) He
was simply an early lover of humanity, and that he adopted the
monastic life was simply because at that time it struck him, so to
say, as the ideal escape for his soul struggling from the darkness of
worldly wickedness to the light of love”
(I, I, IV)(1).
Indeed,
at the beginning of the story, Alyosha is a novice in a monastery,
where the elder Zossima is his spiritual father.
Sofya
Ivanovna, Alyosha’s mother, who died when he was not yet
four years old, left deeply impressed memories in his soul. “He
remembered one still summer evening, an open window, the slanting
rays of the setting sun (that he recalled most vividly of all); in a
corner of the room the holy image(2),
before it a lighted lamp, and on her knees before the image his
mother, sobbing hysterically with cries and moans, snatching him up
in both arms, squeezing him close till it hurt, and praying for him
to the Mother of God, holding him out in both arms to
the
image as though to put him under the Mother’s protection...”
(I, I, IV).
Because
of his
simplicity and his purity of heart, the young man shows a surprising
freedom which opens every door for him: “Here
is perhaps the one man in the world whom you might leave alone
without a penny, in the center of an unknown town of a million
inhabitants, and he would not come to harm, he would not die of cold
and hunger, for he would be fed and sheltered at once; and if he were
not, he would find a shelter for himself, and it would cost him no
effort or humiliation. And to shelter him would be no burden, but, on
the contrary, would probably be looked on as a pleasure.”
(I, I, IV).
Throughout
the story,
we see Alyosha trying and rescue his two elder brothers. So it is that he tries to applie the recommendation – a kind of prophecy – made to him by
the elder Zossima: “Christ
is with you. Do not abandon Him and He will not abandon you. You will
see great sorrow, and in that sorrow you will be happy (...) Go, and
make haste. Be near your brothers. And not near one only, but near
both.”
(I,
II, VII). He
is very close to Dmitri, whose excess and extravagance do not hide
for him a heightened sensitivity and a deep generosity. And even if
his relationship with Ivan is more difficult, Alyosha feels for him
an equally deep love. He understands what his anguished search means.
In a dialogue with a libertine seminarian, who is convinced that all
the Karamazov are debauched and miserly, Alyosha asserts: “It
is not money, it’s not comfort Ivan is seeking. Perhaps it’s
suffering he is seeking (…) he has a stormy spirit. His mind is in
bondage. He is haunted by a great, unsolved doubt. He is one of those
who don’t want millions, but an answer to their questions” (I,
II, VII). The
famous chapter called the "Grand Inquisitor" (Part II, Book
V) illustrates this thinking of Ivan, for whom the suffering of an
innocent child is incompatible with faith in a good God. The
implacable demonstration of the "Grand Inquisitor" leaves
Alyosha disarmed. Ultimately, his only answer is a kiss on the lips
of his brother. And Ivan, deeply shaken, says to him: “It’s
enough for me that you are somewhere here, and I shan’t lose my
desire for life yet”
(II, V, V).
To
look at the others with a merciful gaze and without any judgment is
the typical behaviour of the deified man. And that is the way Alyosha
is perceived, especially by his brother Dmitri:
“You
are an angel on earth. You will hear and judge and forgive. And
that’s what I need, that someone above me should forgive”
(I, III, III).
The
old patriarch himself, Fyodor Pavlovich, in his ignominy, was able to
perceive something of the goodness that dwells in the heart of his
younger son “Alyosha
‘pierced his heart’ by ‘living with him, seeing everything and
blaming nothing.’ Moreover, Alyosha brought with him something his
father had never known before: a complete absence of contempt for him
and an invariable kindness, a perfectly natural unaffected devotion
to the old man who deserved it so little”
(I, III, I). Moreover,
Alyosha will say to his father: “I
know your thoughts. Your heart is better than your head”
(I, III, VIII).
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Nikolaï Bogdanov-Belsky
(1868-1945), Future monk
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Alyosha
is deeply affected by the death of his beloved elder Zossima. It is
for him a terrible test. But, after a painful inner struggle, it results in a new birth. The young man leaves his cell: “His
soul, overflowing with rapture, yearned for freedom, space, openness.
The vault of heaven, full of soft, shining stars, stretched vast and
fathomless above him (…) Alyosha stood, gazed, and suddenly threw
himself down on the earth. He did not know why he embraced it. ‘Water
the earth with the tears of your joy and love those tears,’ echoed
in his soul. What was he weeping over? (…) He longed to forgive
every one and for everything, and to beg forgiveness. Oh, not for
himself, but for all men, for all and for everything (…) But with
every instant he felt clearly and, as it were, tangibly, that
something firm and unshakable as that vault of heaven had entered
into his soul (…) He had fallen on the earth a weak boy, but he
rose up a resolute champion, and he knew and felt it suddenly at the
very moment of his ecstasy. And never, never, all his life long,
could Alyosha forget that minute. ‘Some one visited my soul in that
hour’, he used to say afterwards, with implicit faith in his words”
(III, VII, IV). What
an amazing experience of birth given by a spiritual father !
Further
in the novel, beautiful pages describe Alyosha’s relationships,
full of tenderness and respect, with kids (see Book X: “The Boys”),
in particular with Kolya Krassotkin and Ilusha Snegiryov. About these
episodes, I refer the reader to three texts (unfortunately, not yet
translated into English) published in the French version of my blog:
“N’ayez
pas peur de la vie”,
“Ilioucha
– ‘Si je t’oublie, Jérusalem…’”
and “Éternellement,
main dans la main”.
Dostoevsky's
“five elephants”(3)
– not only The
Brothers Karamazov
– are an inexhaustible mine. But one day I shall have to stop
digging there. In the meantime, I felt obliged at least to call to mind the elder Zossima. More to come!
Fiodor
(the other one)
(1)
All
the quotations (Part, Book, Chapter) are from The
Brothers Karamazov,
translated into English by Constance Garnett,
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28054/28054-0.txt
(2)
In the main room of the Russian houses, one or several icons occupied
a corner - Krasnoie
ugol
or "beautiful place" - where they could be seen and
worshiped by the inhabitants and visitors.
(3) That
is the name given by Svetlana Geier, who translated Dostoevsky into
German, to the five great novels of the writer's maturity
http://un-idiot-attentif.blogspot.be/2011/02/la-femme-aux-cinq-elephants.html
