While studying philosophy in college in Mumbai, I read several books by Albert Camus. I stumbled upon Fyodor Dostoyevsky through The Possessed, Camus play based on Dostoevsky’s The Demons. Some of the characters were similar to those I came across in student politics. So, after eagerly reading the play, I went on to read The Demons, though in the faulty translation by Constance Garnett. (In 2019, I re-read the book in a translation by Richard Pevear.)
I found answers to several of my philosophical questions in this book – and other books - by Dostoyevsky. The Demons, the most important book I have read, offers insights into one of the most valuable skills – trying to figure out people.
There are three major characters: Stepan, the tutor, who claims to have the answers for Russia’s major political and social problems. He wants people to respect him as a professor and leading intellectual whose radical ideas are feared by the Tsarist state. But he is a spineless and selfish man, who talks nonsense, laced with French phrases, especially after his nightly bottle of vodka.
Nikolai is a handsome and physically strong man, with a temper. He is wealthy, from the inheritance of a large estate, and ignores convention and social hierarchy. Several women are crazy about him and he uses his wealth and physical appeal to abuse other women. He is given to debauchery and enjoys watching the suffering of men he assaults and women he abuses.
Peter is consumed by ideas of seizing power from the Tsar through a popular revolt. Abandoned by his father when he was a baby, he has no compassion for others and tries to use everyone as a means to achieving his goals. He leads a group of followers, whom he views as fools, into killing an innocent former member. He expects the killing will unite the group and make the members always follow his orders.
Between them, these three characters cover much of the worst elements in human nature. It is unlikely you will meet a person who displays the extreme traits of any of these characters. But each day you run into folks with some of these traits, often in diluted forms.
At best I succeed in only one out of five attempts in applying Dostoyevsky’s insights towards understanding people. Even so it has helped a great deal: in college in Mumbai, I avoided getting pulled in by charismatic student and political leaders seeking recruits for their selfish causes, cloaked in noble ideals; I stayed clear of a renowned professor, who could make your career but would manipulate colleagues and students to achieve his goals; and finding jobs with bosses I liked.
Dostoyevsky’s insights on people can be described simply: make friends and work with good, generous people, though they are few in number. And stay far away from bad folks, though they are often far smarter and more charismatic than most people you meet.
What is the quick and best way to know if a person is good or bad? Watch how they smile, Dostoyevsky said. Most evil folks, like dictators and hardened criminals, rarely try to even fake a smile.
If they have a genuine, open and warm smile, and they smile often, they are good.
Dostoyevsky’s book is 768 pages, with numerous characters and plots, and so a long read. Good if you can find the time to finish it.
Luckily Albert Camus’ play based on The Demons is only 182 pages and covers the key characters and main parts of the story.
(Adapted from my book, “Six Degrees of Education – From Teaching in Mumbai to Investment Research in New York” , Bryant Park Publishers. 2018)
By Ignatius Chithelen
Publisher, Global Indian Times, New York
Notes & References
The Demons
By Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The best translation is by Richard Pevear; in link below. (Do NOT read the translation by Constance Garnett.)
Albert Camus’ The Possessed
Albert Camus on Dostoyevesky’s The Possessed:
Albert Camus (French: [albɛʁ kamy]; 7 November 1913 - 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, and journalist. His views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. He wrote in his essay The Rebel that his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy of nihilism while still delving deeply into individual freedom. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. Camus did not consider himself to be an existentialist despite usually being classified as one, even in his lifetime. In a 1945 interview, Camus rejected any ideological associations: ""No, I am not an existentialist. Sartre and I are always surprised to see our names linked..."". Camus was born in Algeria to a Pied-Noir family, and studied at the University of Algiers from which he graduated in 1936. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons to ""denounce two ideologies found in both the USSR and the USA"".From Wikipedia.
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