The Grand Inquisitor

By Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Grand Inquisitor is a passage taken from Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel, The Brothers Karamazov. The story is a parable told by one brother, Ivan, to the other, Alyosha. Ivan is exploring the possibility that there is a personal benevolent God, and Aloysha, a monk is questioning his brothers thoughts on this.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wilder Publications, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781627552233

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Fyodor Dostoyevsky was born in Moscow in 1821. He died in 1881 having written some of the most celebrated works in the history of literature, including Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov.

Reviews for The Grand Inquisitor

[joshrothman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Obviously an astonishingly good, if extremely hard, book. Along with Anna Karenina, I want to re-read it immediately.

[dominiquemarie-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Back to the Classics Reading Challenge 2017
Category: Russian Classic

This book took me a little while to get into, but once I got through the first few chapters, I was hooked! This is a long, philosophically dense book, but do not let that deter you. It is anything, but boring, and it will make you think. The main conflict in the novel is Faith vs Doubt. The characters are so dynamic that I believed they were real people. Definitely take your time reading this one. I read it in two months, and there is so much to it that I want to read it again. I think I will read a different translation every time. I actually regret that I can't read it in Russian. I would love to experience this novel in it's original glory.

[mattearls · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I confess this would probably get a higher rating if I'd ever finished it.

[jakebornheimer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It took me a year or so to finish this- but I'm so glad I did. Though I took a long time to understand and warm up to the characters, they are brilliantly vivid and alive. All through the book I tried to place myself among the Karamazov brothers but found a piece of each in me. Ivan the intellectual, Alyosha the monk, and Mitya the hedonist; the brothers are magnificently crafted archetypes. The book made me think a lot and I believe I'll be pondering over it for a long time after.

[danielstj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an amazing, transcending book. Although I preferred the first third of it to the last, I completely recognize the scope and intensity of the prose. The characters are vivid and vital. I was very pleased reading it.

[meditationesmartini · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Shit. Fuck. Oh, wow. Maybe it was just finishing it on the 9/11, but this book disturbed me so much it gave me the night sweats, not to mention the no sleep fits and starts and later the "dreaming you're having tea with Smerdyakov and he's still got the noose on and he's telling you how he did it for the lulz"es.Sorry, Princess Alexandra Kropotkin. You were great for Tolstoy with his slow-moving muddy-river certainty about all that doesn't really matter. Not that that's Tolstoy's tragedy or anything - it's his strength: the more you believe in the mundane human cultural secular awesome world, the less you have to come down to the Fear - but when it comes, it's worse, and it drove Leo kinda batty from what I hear. Dostoyevsky is ALL FEAR. I mean, okay, that's untrue, but it was such a shock after the smooth certainties of the princess, who no doubt grew up parling the francais, to switch versions to Constance Garnett's. Yikes! Questionable editing choices in the Kropotkin aside, even, this is chalk and cheese. People think what's scary is the a dog with eight legs or Yog-Sothoth in your closet, but that's crap - dark fantasy just means anything can happen, whereas no fantasy means no magic egress on the back of a hippogriff but still the Holocaust.And (if I may briefly wax philosophical, thereby showing I've learned nothing from the esteemed Prosecutor) maybe that's Fyodor's hangup? Maybe when you're staring death down and the magic egress that will never come but still might comes and is revealed as so whimsical, arbitrary, the "little father" playing with your life to teach you a lesson, WELL . . . does something break inside you? No wonder he was determined to beat through the horror of the real.No wonder Ivan, "the most like his father,"" is also the most like his author.No wonder Alyosha is so real, like no holy man ever has been in literature. I bet he becomes a socialist, breaking his creator's sad tired heart as well as perhaps his own. Viva Karamazov!No wonder we get no egress, no closure. I think that's why I had the sleep troubles. I don't even know what I want for Dmitri. It's easy to cling to "justice," transcendent rather than earthly, because it gives you a pretext for making up your mind, saying "oh yeah, Smerdy totally did it, Mitya must go free!"But will he just split some other drunk's head in the bar? Will he strangle Grushenka in a fit of jealousy? Will he just drink himself to death at fifty like yer bog-standard Russian male? Will any of those things detract from his human worth?That's three I dunnos and a Never!, for those of you keeping score. But just as this book, for all its open-endedness, inexorably forces you to renounce all the options but love and grace, so it cruelly forces you to accept the uncertainty and fear and pain that go along with accepting love and grace - no ill-defined divine panacea here. And maybe it would have turned out that way if the planned trilogy had been written - Dostoyevsky has a lot in common with Sartre, it occurs, and this book with The Age of Reason - but it would still have been a prayer, (it may be too much to say) for his dead son. It would have wrapped us up in arbitrarily "ultimate" safety, whereas this book on its own is more akin to a night of recrimination and stock-taking, tears for all the hurt we deal our dear and hated ones, and then stumbling out of bed, getting ready for the struggle, smoking a cigarette and tightening up our gut.

[ibreak4books · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you read for escape,this isn't your book. But if you don't mind tickling the noodle, pick it up and think about the nature of man.

[awhayouseh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dostoevsky at his best. Each character is a case study of what it means to be human.

[rybeewoods · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book! Don't ask me to sumarize it, because I couldn't. It's the story of three brothers who all took different paths to deal with their dead beat dad.

[sabreader · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I hadn't read this novel in years, but I loved it once again. The chapter on the "Grand Inquisitor" has particular resonance in these days where so-called "Christians" are claiming to act in the name of their god...

[margaretfield · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I found it tougher to get through than his other works. But the scene where Jesus comes back to visit the church officials was amazing.

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

After seeing the stellar reviews for this book, I definitely feel like I missed many of the lessons and themes of this weighty novel. Like many other critics of this book, I found it hard to like any of the characters. The 'good' characters - Alexei, Father Zosima, etc. - were just too perfect for me, almost in a saccharine way. I liked some of the flawed characters - Dimitri, Ivan, Grushenka - but the long lessons about faith and God almost made me stop reading this book. And in hindsight, I should have put the book down and picked it up again when I was in a more receptive mood. Right now, I'm too preoccupied by this horrible Trump administration -- the lack of integrity, and the destruction of environmental protections, race relations ... I could go on forever, but I'm off track about this classic. The takeaway for me is to not rush and 'check off' a book just to have it appear in my finished pile, especially when there are so many lessons to be learned. Will I ever pick this up and read it again, unlikely, but possible.

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant and enthralling examination of the brothers with a thoroughly Russian feel.

[kerns222 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Philosophical, theosophical, word-drunk, symbolic, high-emoting Russian telenovela in longbook form. One that whaps you in the head and knocks your socks off.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the few books of Dostojevski that still are readable. And what a feast! This book is as "grand" as much of the other great work of D. but, at least here you can find a story that you can follow till the end. And what a beautifull story, thrilling till the end, and touching the very escence of being human.Is eigenlijk een van de weinige boeken van Dostojevski die nog echt overeind blijft, maar dan wel ineens een topper (en een klepper). Het is even breedvoerig (zoniet nog meer) dan de anderen, maar er steekt een verhaallijn in die tot op het eind wordt gevolgd. Stilistisch bovendien prachtig breeduit vertellend. De figuren worden bijna allemaal goed uitgewerkt. Aljosja is duidelijk de hoofdfiguur. En natuurlijk is het verhaal van de Groot-Inquisiteur een klassieker, zij het dat de slavofiele inslag ons westerlingen erg bevreemd.Eerste keer gelezen toen ik 17 jaar was; ik was onmiddellijk gegrepen.

[jculkin-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

At times difficult and quite tedious... but after 200 pages there are some great events and better discussions. A confused but decidedly confused opinion about belief and faith. The 3 brothers are great characters.

[stef7sa-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I just don't get it. The characters are weird, I cannot understand their motives, I am not interested in their theories or philosophies. Different universe. Reminds me of the Lars von Triermovie Breaking the Waves, full of people and emotions alien to me.

[longhorndaniel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well it took me long enough but I finally finished; I did like the writing and the story was well thought out but was sometimes just tooooooooo drawn out for me. My favorite part was actually the characterizations.

[natek_23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Welcome to crazy town.

[neurodrew · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Everyone has of course heard that this is a great book, and a classic. I was not aware that it was a crime and judicial procedural novel as well. Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov had three sons, the eldest, Dmitry (also Mitya) by his first wife, and Ivan and Alexey by his second. Fyodor is described as muddle-headed, but cunning. Dmitry, hot-headed and impulsive, thrown out by his father at a young age and raised as an army officer, returns to claim his inheritance, which has been spent, and thus sets the plot going. Ivan is the second oldest, and in the course of the book seems to have less of a role, although he is the author of the "Grand Inquisitor" story, a famous speculation on what the inquisition would have done if Christ himself had appeared in their jurisdiction. Ivan is a free thinker, but refuses to do his father's bidding on a commercial matter, and returns in the course of Dmitry's trial. Alexey is the saintly one, initially a novice at a monastery in the region, and throughout the novel a kind soul, achieving a redemption among poor children at the end. The father, Fyodor, is murdered, suspicion immediately rests on Dmitry, and he is convicted, although we learn that a puffed up servant was the killer. Each of the brothers, their lovers, the servants and monks, the lawyers at the trial, and the townspeople are exquisitely described, and I felt like I was living in the village with the Karamazov family. Dostoyesvsky is also a philosopher, and keen to comment on politics, so there are extensive asides, but the story of the murder and the trial are always driving the plot. I enjoyed about 2 weeks of steady reading, taking advantage of long airplane flights, to finish the book.

[donnamariemerritt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"But what is there to wonder at, what is there so peculiarly horrifying in it for us? We are so accustomed to such crimes! That's what's so horrible, that such dark deeds have ceased to horrify us. What ought to horrify us is that we are so accustomed to it . . ."A recent speech by President Obama? No. This is from Dostoyevsky's THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, published in 1880. I don't know why I never got around to reading it, but I'm glad I finally did. There are some absolutely brilliant passages in it. Read it carefully and it will make you think more deeply about philosophy, religion, motives, and human nature.

[trusmis · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This novel is full of:

- Repetition. For some reason everyone in that village thinks that others are deaf. And they should repeat any important sentences twice. It would be cool if only one character did it, but it seems it does not matter how well or bad educated you are. Repeating sentences is cool.

- Sick people. Main reason of sickness is being worried. No less than three characters would get fever and bed rest for weeks after worrying too much. There are also other source of sickness to the point of wondering if the water around there is drinkable at all.

- Unrealistic dialogues. Monologue is the main way of conversing, it seems. Always about God, ethics or any other abstract topic, of course.

- More repetition. I hope not to reveal much saying there will be a trial in the novel. Witnesses will repeat everything which had happened in the novel till that point. Then the public prosecutor will summarize it again and then the defense lawyer will repeat it for the fourth time. Each with a slight different angle and explaining about the Russian soul. This part is so dry that even people giving 5 stars to the novel complains about it.

- Exaggeration. This is the pattern used by half of the characters around 40 or 50 times in the novel:
I will unless . Serious guys, you are way too dramatic.

- Lack of speech. Often, way too often something happens and some character is speechless. Which is cool because some other will start its 10pages monologue so someone has to give room.

- Lack of resolution. Sure Dostoyevsky wanted to make a second and third part of this, but could have rounded up this one a little bit more. Like, what happened with Liza, she disappears 300pages before the end and there is no hint of what's going on with that.



I could continue. I've seen the rest of the reviews. Lots of 5 stars. I've read them, I can't buy the arguments.
For instance: "It has friendship, family, doubt, self-sacrifice. Everything what's being human"
Sure, but so does other many many books. Damn, Hyperion, a sci-fy book, read it, the consul story only got all that. And that's one of 7 pilgrims.

Other argument "Very realistic" . Come on, the conversations there were ridiculous as well as most of the characters. They are extreme characters to represent ideas "the passion" "the rationale" "the faith" etc. It was everything but realistic.

I've also seen reviews of people saying things like "slow, boring, took me forever" and give it 5 stars...


If anything I can buy it made you think. Nice. I like that, extra star for it.

But Dostoyevsky totally blew up this one. He needed more sun there and going out for a walk instead of so many hours writing, would he have finish this book at a 200 pages mark, it would have been good. Delete monologues and repetitions, that's 400pages off at least.

[maxernst11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the few books of Dostojevski that still are readable. And what a feast! This book is as "grand" as much of the other great work of D. but, at least here you can find a story that you can follow till the end. And what a beautifull story, thrilling till the end, and touching the very escence of being human.Is eigenlijk een van de weinige boeken van Dostojevski die nog echt overeind blijft, maar dan wel ineens een topper (en een klepper). Het is even breedvoerig (zoniet nog meer) dan de anderen, maar er steekt een verhaallijn in die tot op het eind wordt gevolgd. Stilistisch bovendien prachtig breeduit vertellend. De figuren worden bijna allemaal goed uitgewerkt. Aljosja is duidelijk de hoofdfiguur. En natuurlijk is het verhaal van de Groot-Inquisiteur een klassieker, zij het dat de slavofiele inslag ons westerlingen erg bevreemd.Eerste keer gelezen toen ik 17 jaar was; ik was onmiddellijk gegrepen.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Story of faith and doubt. It also is a story of Russia and the Russian peasant. There is a lot of contrasts in the book. Ivan and Alyosha are opposites. One a man of faith and the other a man of doubts. Dimitri the first born son is a wild, reactive man who is loud in his abusive threats but really in the middle between his two brothers. It is a story of Russia, a story of a dysfunctional family and a story of faith and doubt. I rate it 5 stars because it is very good. I liked Crime and Punishment a bit more but the author considers this his best book. It deserves a reread someday.

[slmr4242 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There's just something gorgeous about the language in Dostoyevsky. Even when the characters are insane and unpredictable, and you can never quite be sure what they are going to do next.

[wealhtheowwylfing · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this while in high school, with no real context for it (beyond the other Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, etc that I was also reading), so I'm sure I missed huge swathes of it. Nevertheless, I really liked it. I wish he'd edited a bit, though--40 pages for one monologue seems a bit much, particularly when it's then answered by ANOTHER 40 pages by his companion.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I admit I did not finish this book. But I did read about 2/3 of the book (and all of the Cliff's Notes). I appreciate Dostoyevsky's work but he spends so much time telling us what he is going to tell us, it just drove me crazy. Still, he is a master of the psychological novel. I highly recommend [Crime and Punishment] instead.

[dreesie-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Aye yi yi.

I didn't love it. It took me 2 months and 3 days to read this puppy.

Am I glad I finished? Yes

Will I re-read it some day? No way

The best parts of this book are when characters are doing actual things, and when Dostoyevsky describes Russia and Russian things and "the Russian way". Sometimes he has his characters do this, sometime the narrator. I feel like I learned a lot about Russia after the serfs were emancipated (and about how that emancipation affected everyone). I was shocked to read that trials were by jury. (Actually, I think I might just look that up, because I just can't believe it was true.)

The worst parts are the long-winded philosophical/religious discussions/arguments that go on amongst the characters. Soooo tiring. I know nothing about the Russian Orthodox church (let alone about that church in the 19th century), so it all just left me tired and bored.

Also, the women. The women are ridiculous. The scream, they cry, they beg, they fight, they are helpless, etc etc etc. With the exception of Katya, they also seem unable to make any decision on their own. There are so many types of men in this book, but the women are all slight variations of the same.

[clara53_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I doubt I can shed any new light on the masterpiece such as this book, so - just a few points that impressed me.... First: the fact is, I don't know of any author who can depict human agony to such an excruciatingly vivid extent as Dostoyevsky. He did it in "Crime and Punishment" and he did it here, in "The Brothers Karamazov". Secondly, we often talk of the so-called "developed" or "not developed enough" characters in literature. Here too, Dostoyevsky is on top: his characters are so shockingly realistic and "known" to him as if inside out, that one cannot help but come away in awe. And how about the little tale-turned-philosophy of "giving an onion"!!!... Having re-read this book in English translation just now, I must say that Princess Alexandra Kropotkin did a very good job as a translator, and except for the book's drawings (which were rather awful) I love this 1949 red-and-gold edition of "The Brothers Karamazov" that I unearthed at a used bookstore.

[ehines_20 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A well-done Russian soap opera with philosophy and religion.