The Brothers Karamazov

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mism, or simply in fear of the censorship of the day. For
if the troika were drawn by his heroes, Sobakevitch, Noz-
dryov, Tchitchikov, it could reach no rational goal, whoever
might be driving it. And those were the heroes of an older
generation, ours are worse specimens still...’



  • Gogol.
    At this point Ippolit Kirillovitch’s speech was interrupt-
    ed by applause. The liberal significance of this simile was
    appreciated. The applause was, it’s true, of brief duration,
    so that the President did not think it necessary to caution
    the public, and only looked severely in the direction of the
    offenders. But Ippolit Kirillovitch was encouraged; he had
    never been applauded before! He had been all his life unable
    to get a hearing, and now he suddenly had an opportunity
    of securing the ear of all Russia.
    ‘What, after all, is this Karamazov family, which has
    gained such an unenviable notoriety throughout Russia?’ he
    continued. ‘Perhaps I am exaggerating, but it seems to me
    that certain fundamental features of the educated class of
    to-day are reflected in this family picture — only, of course,
    in miniature, ‘like the sun in a drop of water.’ Think of that
    unhappy, vicious, unbridled old man, who has met with
    such a melancholy end, the head of a family! Beginning life
    of noble birth, but in a poor dependent position, through an
    unexpected marriage he came into a small fortune. A petty
    knave, a toady and buffoon, of fairly good, though undevel-
    oped, intelligence, he was, above all, a moneylender, who
    grew bolder with growing prosperity. His abject and servile
    characteristics disappeared, his, malicious and sarcastic

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