Dr. Greg Schneider spoke at the Levan Center at Bakersfield College on March 25 about Fyodor Dostoevsky’s book, “The Brother’s Karamazov.”

Schneider talked about “The Brother’s Karamazov” and how it involves hardships, which force the characters to make difficult decisions and contemplate their morality.

“This book explores questions of faith and doubt, freedoms and responsibilities; questions humans frequently have,” said Schneider.

Schneider explains the book is about four brothers and their neglectful father. All of the Karamazov brothers have a different understanding of morality, and this is exemplified by their actions and reactions in the scenarios that unfold. Schneider claims that Dostoevsky’s telling of human gestures is poetic and compelling. “Dostoevsky’s characters intentions, like our own, emerge moment by moment,” said Schneider.

Schneider says that despite the brothers’ differences, they find themselves connected. “The emphasis of the connection between two people emerges over and over again in the novel,” said Schneider.

Also, Schneider discussed the theme of regeneration and transformation of the characters that appears throughout the book. An example he used involves the most intellectual of the brothers, Ivan. Ivan argues against religion and morality in favor of intellect. By the end of the novel, Ivan dies for a crime he did not commit and, in Schneider’s words, “Emerges as the crucible.”

Schneider says the novel is not biased toward one moral viewpoint.

“It celebrates intellect and wrestles with the mystery of Christianity,” he said. “It skews both the thoughtless believer and the intellectual.”

Schneider is a faculty member at St. Johns in Santa Fe, New Mexico.