This week we're reading three of Anton Chekhov's most beloved short stories: The Man in the Case, Gooseberries, and About Love (The Little Trilogy, 1898).

We get a minor assist from George Saunders and his fantastic book A Swim in the Pond in the Rain but have no shortage of stuff to discuss.

Talking big 5 personality traits, the degree to which people oppress themselves, why Rich fell out of love with the early retirement movement, whether it's OK to be happy in a world full of suffering, and if having to settle in romantic relationships is antithetical to true love. Also: Cam takes a controversial and brave stance against home-wreckers.

CHAPTERS

• (00:00:00) intro
• (00:01:54) ’The Man in the Case’ synopsis
• 00:07:12) Are some personality types just better than others?
• (00:12:52) Belyakov fumbles the bag with Varenka
• (00:24:07) Is everybody trapped in a case of their own making
• (00:34:58) Mavra and the tranquil village
• (00:40:15) Gooseberries synopsis
• (00:42:30) The pitfalls of the ’early retirement’ movement
• (00:52:55) theorising on happiness
• (01:01:57) Ivan the big fat hypocrite
• (01:07:23) ’About Love’ synopsis
• (01:11:44) Did Alyohin make the right decision?
• (01:22:10) Can love by analysed rationally
• (01:33:49) our favourite story of the trilogy
• (01:37:59) accessibility of chekhov

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS:

We wanna start reading listener feedback out on the pod, so send us a note at douevenlit@gmail.com to correct our bad takes or share your own or just say hi.

NEXT ON THE READING LIST:

My Struggle, volume 1 - Karl Ove Knausgaard

Hemingway's 1929 semi-autobiographical classic tackles two big timeless themes: love and war.

Two out of three of us can relate to the first one, but war feels pretty alien to us. How would the boys do if they were conscripted? What made WWI so uniquely dispiriting? What is it about this novel that so faithfully captures the experience of war?

We also talk quite a bit about Hemingway's laconic characters and terse writing style. How representative is this of his broader work? What do we think of the 'iceberg method'? Why did he go with the most depressing possible ending?

and MORE

CHAPTERS

• (00:00:00) first reactions and synopsis
• (00:06:02) Hemingway’s understated style and the ’Iceberg method’
• (00:19:10) What made WWI a uniquely dispiriting war?
• (00:28:35) Catherine and Henry are the same person
• (00:38:44) downer ending
• (00:46:45) A catalogue of arbitrary and meaningless death
• (00:57:34) Final thoughts and next book

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS:

We wanna start reading listener feedback out on the pod, so send us a note at douevenlit@gmail.com to correct our bad takes or share your own.

NEXT ON THE READING LIST:

My Struggle, volume 1 - Karl Ove Knausgaard

Not too much plot to cover in parts 5 and 6; mostly we're hashing out our final thoughts on the book and Dostoevsky's legacy.

First up is the controversial epilogue. The boys are not sure how believable Rodya's redemption is. It feels kinda cheap? Dostoevsky is not very good at character development but maybe it doesn't matter. Sonya is a perfectly implausible character who exists only as a sort of a prop for Rodya. How on earth does Dosto have a reputation for writing realistic characters? Again, it prob doesn't matter.

Svidrigailov sneaks up on us as perhaps the most interesting (or at least the most underrated) character in the book. We talk about the three incredible scenes that bring his journey to an end: kidnapping Donya, the feverish hotel dream, and the dramatic exit.

Finally quite a bit of discussion about whether Dostoevsky is actually any good as a thinker. Rich is not sold: the critique of utilitarianism is unfair, blind deference to tradition leaves no room for progress, and God has been pretty neatly replaced by secular humanism. Benny pushes back and adds some nuance to the problem Dosto was trying to describe, and Cam talks about how he still feels the tension between nihilism and common-sense morality.

Don't miss the surprise guest appearance from Cam's manager. Is this the week he gets busted? will he live to skive off another day?? Tune in now to find out.

CHAPTERS

• (00:00:00) intriguing and important discussion on different translations (do NOT skip)
• (00:13:15) Epilogue: Raskolnikov speedruns character development
• (00:36:03) Sonya character analysis
• (00:42:21) how realistic are dostoevsky’s characters?
• (00:49:24) Svidrigailov meets his twisted end
• (01:06:46) Are dostoevsky’s philosophical ideas actually any good
• (01:17:26) Commonsense morality, nihilism and metaethics

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS:

We wanna start reading listener feedback out on the pod, so send us a note at douevenlit@gmail.com to correct our bad takes or share your own.

NEXT ON THE READING LIST:

Candide — Voltaire

A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway