I am currently reading Fyodor Dostoevsky's "The Idiot", which takes a very good hearted character and places him in the company of Russian upper-crusts. I confess it is not my favorite book as it is tedious and there is too much innuendo for me to keep up with, but every once in a while a chapter comes along which contains excellent societal insight.
One such chapter deals with the frustrations of people that are "wealthy, of good family, nice-looking, fairly intelligent, and even good-natured, and yet have no talents, so special faculty, no peculiarity even, not one idea of one's own."
These types of people Fyodor splits into two groups, those that have limited intelligence, and others much cleverer. He says the first group is happier because, "Nothing is easier for "ordinary" people of limited intelligence than to imagine themselves exceptional and original and to revel in that delusion without the slightest misgiving."
In the course of the discussion Fyodor talks about "the impudence of simplicity, this unhesitating confidence of the stupid man in himself and his talents, which is superbly depicted by Gogol in the wonderful character of Lieutenant Pirogov."
"The Idiot" turned out to be quite popular in post-Soviet Russia due to a TV adaptation which ran in 2003. I suppose that is because at heart it is about the decay of society.
In this article by Gore Vidal, he compares modern American society to Rome near the time of it's fall (which by the way was run by Christians post-Constantine). He also has a few choice words to say about stupid people.
Reflections on 9/11
No comments:
Post a Comment