
The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Introduction and Book I
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Join our Zoom group to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition. The Brothers Karamazov, telescopic and microscopic all at once, lays bare a wide swath of human experience for our consideration: familial, political, religious, economic, artistic, social, and intellectual.
In the words of scholar Malcolm Jones—who fought for Dostoevsky’s international reputation throughout The Cold War—"In Dostoevsky...the novel finds its true vocation."
In Spring 2026, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. It is in anticipation of this lecture that The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature.
Whether you're reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country.
Meetings will take place over Zoom every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to April 16, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point.