just a strange synchronicity
This is by no means exciting (I repeat, by no means exciting) but I thought it was an interesting coincidence:
Ok, so one of my new years resolutions was to read 2 books a month. I've stayed with it so far and am about 1/5 through the way of my second book for March, Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. This book is about 430 pages of small print and I would have chosen something lighter for the last part of March but it was the "most appealing" of those books that have sat on my shelf for years but I have never gotten around to reading. This was one of those books in high school I was supposed to have read but didn't for one reason or another.
So far I am am really loving this book. I really didn't think I would enjoy it at all. I have forced myself through several reads this year and this just seemed like it was going to be one of them, especially because I was only choosing it because it was on my shelf, not because I had ever particularly cared to read it.
ANYWAY.
Today at lunch I was plugging away at it, and there is a vivid scene where Raskolnikov, the main character, lies down drunk in a ditch and has a nightmare. He dreams he is a boy walking with his (now-deceased) father and they witness a throng of peasants brutally whipping an old mare who is trying to pull the cart they are all riding on. The boy sees this in horror and finally rushes to help the mare but is hit with the whips. After the horse is killed, the boy runs up and puts his arms around the horse's head and kisses it repeatedly until he is pulled away by his father. The scene is described in great detail and I actually felt sick upon reading it.
A few hours ago I decided to watch Cape Fear on instant netflix. I got to the scene where De Niro's character has lured Juliette Lewis's character into the school auditorium. He mentioned something about Nietzsche and I was like.. you know... I really don't know much about this guy, why don't I check him out on wiki real quick (I do this ALL THE TIME when I watch movies at home and it usually takes me hours to finish anything. It's really annoying and I frequently read the plot summaries of the movies and ruin them for myself ahead of time). So I'm reading about Nietzsche and his various illnesses and whatnot and come to a tidbit that says Nietzsche happened across Dostoyevsky's works and felt a kinship with him. I was like, oh well that makes sense I suppose; interesting blah blah.
And then I keep reading and it turns out that Nietzsche has a "mental collapse" after being apprehended by police for a public disturbance. The rumor is that Nietzsche was in the streets of Turin and witnessed the whipping of a horse, and rushed to the horse and wrapped his hands around its neck to protect it.
This occurred in 1889 while Crime and Punishment was written in 1866.
And.... that's all! HAha. I just thought it was weird that I read that exact scene today, that the movie I was watching mentioned Nietzsche, who I decided to look up, who turned out to be a contemporary of Dostoyevsky, and who suffered a mental collapse that is nearly identical to a vivid scene written 30 years prior by this very same contemporary.
:crickets:
Ok, so one of my new years resolutions was to read 2 books a month. I've stayed with it so far and am about 1/5 through the way of my second book for March, Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. This book is about 430 pages of small print and I would have chosen something lighter for the last part of March but it was the "most appealing" of those books that have sat on my shelf for years but I have never gotten around to reading. This was one of those books in high school I was supposed to have read but didn't for one reason or another.
So far I am am really loving this book. I really didn't think I would enjoy it at all. I have forced myself through several reads this year and this just seemed like it was going to be one of them, especially because I was only choosing it because it was on my shelf, not because I had ever particularly cared to read it.
ANYWAY.
Today at lunch I was plugging away at it, and there is a vivid scene where Raskolnikov, the main character, lies down drunk in a ditch and has a nightmare. He dreams he is a boy walking with his (now-deceased) father and they witness a throng of peasants brutally whipping an old mare who is trying to pull the cart they are all riding on. The boy sees this in horror and finally rushes to help the mare but is hit with the whips. After the horse is killed, the boy runs up and puts his arms around the horse's head and kisses it repeatedly until he is pulled away by his father. The scene is described in great detail and I actually felt sick upon reading it.
A few hours ago I decided to watch Cape Fear on instant netflix. I got to the scene where De Niro's character has lured Juliette Lewis's character into the school auditorium. He mentioned something about Nietzsche and I was like.. you know... I really don't know much about this guy, why don't I check him out on wiki real quick (I do this ALL THE TIME when I watch movies at home and it usually takes me hours to finish anything. It's really annoying and I frequently read the plot summaries of the movies and ruin them for myself ahead of time). So I'm reading about Nietzsche and his various illnesses and whatnot and come to a tidbit that says Nietzsche happened across Dostoyevsky's works and felt a kinship with him. I was like, oh well that makes sense I suppose; interesting blah blah.
And then I keep reading and it turns out that Nietzsche has a "mental collapse" after being apprehended by police for a public disturbance. The rumor is that Nietzsche was in the streets of Turin and witnessed the whipping of a horse, and rushed to the horse and wrapped his hands around its neck to protect it.
This occurred in 1889 while Crime and Punishment was written in 1866.
And.... that's all! HAha. I just thought it was weird that I read that exact scene today, that the movie I was watching mentioned Nietzsche, who I decided to look up, who turned out to be a contemporary of Dostoyevsky, and who suffered a mental collapse that is nearly identical to a vivid scene written 30 years prior by this very same contemporary.
:crickets: