# Dumas vs. Dostoevsky **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505 "2015-08-22T03:34:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thanatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@thanatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thanatic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/1 "2015-08-22T03:34:50Z")
who do you think is the better writer between the two? France’s greatest writer of all time vs. Russia’s greatest writer of all time ---
**Author:** ![thanatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@thanatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thanatic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/2 "2015-08-22T03:45:26Z")
anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/3 "2015-08-22T03:54:37Z")
> [@thanatic](#): > > who do you think is the better writer between the two? France’s greatest writer of all time vs. Russia’s greatest writer of all time well… of the two, I’ve only read Dostoevsky, but I think he is the greatest writer I’ve ever read ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/4 "2015-08-22T04:12:40Z")
I was forced to read Dostoyevsky in school. And Tolstoy (shudder). And Checkhov. Triple shudder. But Dumas (translated into Russian) I read voluntarily. Lots of Dumas. And enjoyed it. Maybe I should try rereading the Russian classics. Probably would appreciate them better now that I am not 15. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/5 "2015-08-22T04:25:22Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > I was forced to read Dostoyevsky in school. And Tolstoy (shudder). And Checkhov. Triple shudder. > > But Dumas (translated into Russian) I read voluntarily. Lots of Dumas. And enjoyed it. > > Maybe I should try rereading the Russian classics. Probably would appreciate them better now that I am not 15. Is Dumas considered intellectual writing? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/6 "2015-08-22T04:28:39Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > Is Dumas considered intellectual writing? Not really. More like bestseller - thriller. Which is definitely what a 15-year-old would prefer over Dostoyevsky. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/7 "2015-08-22T04:30:22Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Not really. More like bestseller - thriller. Which is definitely what a 15-year-old would prefer over Dostoyevsky. ah, when I was 15 I preferred Vonnegut I think. and stephen king. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/8 "2015-08-22T04:40:11Z")
Dumas books were turned into Classic Comics. What Doestoevsky book was ever turned into a Classic Comic? Hmm? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/9 "2015-08-22T06:59:41Z")
> [@thanatic](#): > > … France’s greatest writer of all time … Alexandre Dumas? I thought Victor Hugo would’ve ranked higher. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/10 "2015-08-22T07:25:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Russia’s greatest writer of all time Dostoevsky? I thought Nabokov would’ve ranked higher. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/11 "2015-08-22T07:37:37Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Alexandre Dumas? I thought Victor Hugo would’ve ranked higher. Compared to Hugo, Dumas barely ranks. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/12 "2015-08-22T15:20:02Z")
I’ve read both. Dostoevsky wins, as he deals more in depth with social and psychological issues. Dumas is a more fun read, though. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/13 "2015-08-22T16:00:36Z")
I’ve read some of both (even some Dumas in French) and it’s a silly comparison. They’re two different writers – Dumas wrote entertainment and adventure; Dostoevsky dealt with deeper matters. Both are among the greatest ever and it all depends on what you value. > [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Dostoevsky? I thought Nabokov would’ve ranked higher. Tolstoy. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/14 "2015-08-22T16:12:24Z")
I think that comparisons of writers between languages are inherently problematic, since the reader must either be reading at least one in translation, or reading at least one in the reader’s non-native tongue. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/15 "2015-08-22T18:59:10Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Alexandre Dumas? I thought Victor Hugo would’ve ranked higher. Absolutely. They are not remotely in the same league. My answer to the OP: **Dostoevsky** But **Hugo** vs **Dostoevsky**? **Hugo** easily. Epic stories and a wonderful style that manages to be both larger than life as well as smoothly flowing. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/16 "2015-08-22T19:38:54Z")
The first time I read Dostoyevsky I was 16. I read _The Idiot_ mostly because the cover looked cool, and it was a Penguin classic, so it had to be good. Sonme parts were interesting, the rest just went over my head at the time. Since then I have read several other works by Dostoyevsky my favorite of which is Brothers Karamazov. I have read Bros K three times, at 20, 30, and 38. At 20, I got a little out of it - the characters were really interesting to me, but other than that I didn’t really get much out of it. At 30, alone and depressed, it was an amazing story that lifted me form the darkness of my existence and gave me hope that everyone had worth and redemption and respect was possible for even the lowliest of the low. I find this to be his real strength. When reading Bros. K I felt transported away from the mundanities of everyday life; the rat race (for lack of a better term). In his works, Dostoyevsky tends to juxtapose the genuine person, or the person with genuine feeling against the person with ulterior self centered motives and shows the person with base motives as an utterly inferior human even if that person is of rank, wealth etc. _Most importantly_ he just paints a picture. He does not rationalize, scold, eulogize, overanalyze - he just shows you the picture, a very vivd picture. Sometimes he shows the most pathetic, lowly characters and introduces them at one of their lowest moments. You think to yourself “Dear God, what a pathetic person with a hopeless pathetic life.” But the, Wham! you’ll see that same character in a different situation and you are in awe and admiration of them - for example you may have a generally rough uncaring character who shows himself to be completely honest when all this honesty could do is harm himself; yet a passion for the truth has come out for this character. And this passion for the truth - it is so beautiful, so liberating in a way. People can hide the truth from themselves, they fear it, obviscate, tell themselves they are things they are not - so his portrayal of a character abandoning himself to the truth about how awful a person he has been, to seeing the suffering he has caused is very moving. In realizing he is a low person and accepting it he also sees has genuine good, genuine caring for others and finds redemption. At 38, I thought Bros. K was a little long and melodramatic. At some point I started rolling my eyes and saying to myself, “Oh Lord, here we go again, another character doing some crazy ass shit for no apparent reason.” I never read any Dumas that I’m aware of. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/17 "2015-08-22T23:18:00Z")
I would have prefered a comp between Hugo and Dumas. I will then vote for Dumas. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2015, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/18 "2015-08-23T07:05:59Z")
Dumas. I’ll grant that Dostoevsky writes more meaningful works, but if you get an unabridged Dumas, his works aren’t just action-adventure (compared, for example, to Sabatini). His characters are well-developed, the writing is beautiful, and you do question the moral choices that the characters are making. So it’s not really all that far a fall as one might think initially. But more importantly, the reason that one writes a novel instead of an essay, is because you want to entertain your audience. There’s no law that you can’t discuss serious matters in the middle of a fun romp. As a storyteller, Dostoevsky simply isn’t very good. I started reading Crime & Punishment and within two sentences of the girl being introduced, I flipped to the back of the book to verify that she was the love interest. The whole book was presented as a series of essays, where we see the main character suffer through each of the seven stages of grief (seven stages of murder?). That’s crappy writing. Figure out how to turn that into a story. Adding a 5 page story and a 2 page epilogue, where the guy gets the girl, to a bunch of essays does not make a novel. So while I do like Dostoevsky and I like him only second to Nabokov, among the Russians, he’s a crap novelist. I read his works as essays not as literature. He’s disqualified from ranking in a list of fiction writers. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/19 "2015-08-23T23:23:48Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Dumas books were turned into Classic Comics. What Doestoevsky book was ever turned into a Classic Comic? Hmm? Crime and Punishment, for one. It was even shown in\* Major League\*. It was right up Charlie Sheen’s alley. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505/20 "2015-08-23T23:27:37Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I started reading Crime & Punishment and within two sentences of the girl being introduced, I flipped to the back of the book to verify that she was the love interest. The whole book was presented as a series of essays, where we see the main character suffer through each of the seven stages of grief (seven stages of murder?). That’s crappy writing. Figure out how to turn that into a story. Adding a 5 page story and a 2 page epilogue, where the guy gets the girl, to a bunch of essays does not make a novel. Oddly enough, as much as I like many of his other world, I just cannot get through _Crime and Punishment_. It’s like Dostoevsky lite. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumas-vs-dostoevsky/728505.md?page=2)