WEBVTT

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[ VO ] July. An annual festival in Saint
Petersburg dedicated to Dostoevsky.

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[ VO ] The great writer,
thinker and psychologist.

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[ VO ] People often turn to his work to ‘understand
Russia and Russians’, and perhaps even themselves.

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[ Dario Gambarin ] 'What
would I do if I didn't die now?

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[ Dario ] What if I returned to life again?

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[ Dario ] What an eternity of days'.

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[ VO ] Changing a reader,
transforming them

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as they read — that’s
Dostoevsky’s unique ability.

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[ Aaron Slutkin ] Dostoevsky wants
to tell us, “You can better yourself”

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[ VO ] He makes you face your true self.

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[ Damien J. Wallace ] Sick,
spiteful, a wicked man.

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[ VO ] Beyond conventions, rules and schemes.
Beyond boundaries and time. Dostoevsky

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is a global brand, whose classics, as
everyone knows, are never out of style.

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[ Actor ] Read Dostoevsky!

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UNIVERSAL DOSTOEVSKY

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[ VO ] Narrow streets, the bustling
Piazza Maggiore, countless arches,

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Fyodor Dostoevsky once walked
here, in the heart of Bologna.

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[ VO ] He visited Italy three times when
fleeing from lenders, and found inspiration.

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[ VO ] It was in Italy that he
finished his novel, ‘The Idiot’.

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[ Dario ] 'What should I do if I didn't
die now? What if I returned to life again?

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THE IDIOT NOVEL
PART 1

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[ Dario ] An eternity of days, and all mine!

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[ Dario ] I would have turned the
minutes into centuries, and lost nothing.

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I wouldn't have wasted a single moment'

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[ VO ] The Italian artist,
Dario Gambarin has often

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read These lines from
Prince Myshkin’s monologue.

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[ VO ] Dostoevsky’s ‘The
Idiot’ is his favourite.

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[ VO ] It inspired him to paint a
giant portrait of the author.

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[ Dario ] I'm a neo-impressionist (abstract
style), working in oil and acrylic.

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[ Dario ] My land art originated
because I am an artist.

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[ Dario ] I've been painting for 30 or 35 years.

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[ Dario ] I've exhibited all over the world

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in Los Angeles, Berlin, Monaco,
Naples, in Italy, and so on.

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[ VO ] Fyodor Dostoevsky’s likeness is 250 metres

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long and covers 25 thousand square metres.

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[ VO ] The canvas is a wheat field, and the

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brushstrokes applied by a tractor and plough.

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[ Dario Gambarin, Land Artist ] The beard is one of
the most challenging elements, not just in land art,

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but also in painting,

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because if you make even the slightest
error, or take it in the wrong direction,

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the beard will obviously look bad.

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[ Dario ] Drawing it on paper is easy:
you can spot a mistake and erase it.

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[ Dario ] The most difficult part was to recreate it on land,

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where it's impossible to erase
anything without ruining it all.

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[ VO ] Dario Gambarin says his art is ‘ephemeral’,
it doesn’t last long and disappears in a few days.

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[ VO ] Which can’t be said about the impact
that Dostoevsky himself has had on world culture.

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[ Dario ] Nietzsche said Dostoevsky
was the greatest psychologist.

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[ Dario ] Undoubtedly, he's a great man:

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a writer who had a huge impact on European culture.

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[ Dario ] To me, Dostoevsky is a man of strong character.

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[ Dario ] Despite all the difficulties,
he managed to start over.

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[ Dario ] He was able to get back to work,

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and, most definitely, give life a
deep meaning through his novels.

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[ Dario ] In my opinion, Russians have
that strength of character and determination,

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which allowed this man, after
everything he'd been through,

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to realise and create a great novel,

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which 200 years later we're still
reading avidly and learning from.

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[ Patrick Wise ] I don’t know if I’d call it a trophy.

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[ Patrick ] I think we all got them for
winning. I guess, it does make it a trophy.

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[ VO ] Patrick Wise is holding a figurine, a
prize he won at the annual Dostoevsky Games.

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[ VO ] A contest for students from
the leading universities in

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North Carolina, which is among the main
centres in the US for studying Dostoevsky.

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[ Patrick Wise, Former Student
at the University of North Carolina ] It was

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my last semester of college,
and I took a Dostoevsky class.

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[ Patrick ] And the idea was just to, you
know, read a few of Dostoevsky’s works.

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[ VO ] But, somehow, they got so carried
away by Dostoevsky that his novels were given

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new, modern interpretations: rap, allusions
and video — all inspired by his novels.

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[ VO ] ‘Crime and Punishment’ might be his most
popular, even ‘mainstream’ novel: murder, money

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lending, blood and redemption — they all
fit quite neatly into a modern music video.

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THE FRESH PRINCE OF "TO DARE"

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[ Student music video ] Now,
this is the story All about how

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My life got flipped, turned upside down

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So, I’d like to take a minute
And in any event,

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I’ll tell you how I did a crime
And how I got punishment

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[ VO ] This video was literally made in a
day — with help from friends on the campus.

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[ VO ] But it brought Patrick his
victory in the Dostoevsky Games.

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[ VO ] Such a clear and concise representation
of the Russian writer’s work is rare.

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[ Student music video ] Thinking up, stewing
in my little cesspool, and writing some stuff

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When I dropped out of school.

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Then I got an idea, and I thought it was good,

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“I should kill a lady in my neighbourhood!”

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I grabbed one little axe and hit her straight in the head,

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Next thing I know, she and her sister are both lying dead.

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[ Patrick ] I was just trying to make a fun
and approachable version of the novel.

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[ Patrick ] Being Raskolnikov was
interesting. I guess, I felt that I…

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[ Patrick ] I looked the part
towards the end of my senior year.

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[ Patrick ] And, you know, I just had, like, long greasy hair.

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[ Student music video ] Back in
my house I dreamt about killing,

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When I woke up, Svid was in my room, chilling

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Svidrigaylov, Svid-, Svid-,
Svidrigaylov

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[ Patrick ] And just, sort of, worked
together,

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and it was a lot of fun.

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[ Patrick ] And we sort of just, like, did it
and didn’t second guess ourselves too much.

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[ Patrick ] And, when I actually shared it at the
Dostoevsky Games, I was very embarrassed.

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[ Patrick ] . I could hardly watch it myself. But
now when I look back at it, I think it’s awesome.

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[ Patrick’s Friend ] I was
just thinking, I haven’t really

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thought about ‘Crime and
Punishment’ in a while, but great book.

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[ Patrick ] I just reread it. And
you should check it out, again.

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[ Patrick ] And also, just being
able to read it at a slower pace

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[ Patrick’s Friend ] So why did Raskolnikov do it?

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[ Patrick ] He pretty much held on to that idea
that he did it to, like, test his theory, you know.

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[ Patrick ] And because he thought he
might be, like, an extraordinary man.

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[ Patrick ] The Dostoevsky
Games, very unique,

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very…It felt really
special, like, something like

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that doesn’t happen
regularly, like, 35 people

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who are all young, but also
interested in Dostoevsky.

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[ Damien J. Wallace ] Sick, spiteful, wicked.

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‘UNDERGROUND’ BY EGOPO INSPIRED BY F. DOSTOEVSKY

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[ Damien ] A wicked man, and ugly, and tired.

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[ Damien ] So tired my body hurts.

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[ VO ] That’s how ‘Notes from Underground’,
one of Dostoevsky's major works begins.

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[ VO ] It was published in Saint Petersburg in 1864, and
reborn in the 21st century, on the other side of the ocean.

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[ VO ] An experimental theatre group from
Philadelphia carried Dostoevsky's leading character,

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and the scenery, to a ghetto in the
western outskirts of the oldest city in the US.

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[ VO ] ‘Single-storey America’: small houses,
countless anonymous streets and alleys,

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resembling the ‘yellow Saint Petersburg’
Dostoevsky portrayed in his novels.

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[ Damien ] One of the quotes that really stuck out to me

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that I really identified with, “I
will now like to tell you, gentlemen,

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whether you do or do not wish to hear it:

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why I have never managed to become even an insect.

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[ Damien ] I tell you solemnly, that I
wanted many times to become an insect. But

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I was not deemed worthy even of that.”

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[ Damien ] This quote comes out
early that drives this character,

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the Underground Man, based
on Dostoevsky’s character.

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[ GEO ] PHILADELPHIA, USA, 2020

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[ VO ] In this online play, the
lead character is not a retired

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government official from Saint
Petersburg, as Dostoevsky wrote,

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but a black police officer who’s worked too
long for a system steeped in violence and racism.

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[ GEO ] DALLAS, USA, 2020

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[ Damien ] I was a wicked man
when I was on the force. I was rude

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and I took pleasure in it.

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[ Damien ] It made me sick.

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[ Damien ] And now, I'm living out
my life in my corner, on the Internet,

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 [ GEO ] ST. LOUIS, USA, 2014

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 [ Damien ] taunting myself with these spiteful futile

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constellations that it's even possible for an intelligent
black man

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 [ GEO ] CHARLOTTE, USA, 2016

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 [ Damien ] to become anything in this city, in this country.

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[ Damien ] Only fools become anything in
a system built for fools! Yes, sir!

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[ Damien ] An intelligent black man of the
21st century must either sit down or shut up.

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[ VO ] The image of a small, resentful and oppressed
man, in ‘Notes from Underground’ has become

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particularly relevant to a new generation
of black people fighting for their rights:

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the concept of a hero isolated from the outside world and
fighting an internal battle came in the wake of the pandemic.

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[ DANE EISSLER, DIRECTOR, UNDERGROUND ] We
wanted to do a whole season of shows around isolation

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to match our moment of being in isolation due to COVID.

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 [ Dane ] And to reflect the time that we’re going through.
And this is kind of a cool thing about this adaptation —

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you’re just overlaying those different given circumstances,
like, “Okay, no more 19th century, it’s 21st century.”

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[ Dane ] I was like, “Oh, wow! This
is really easy to recontextualise.”

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 [ Damien ] Yeah.

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 [ Dane ] And they talk about politics, how, like…
a man’s perspective, and how he treats a woman.

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[ VO ] The story was inspired by events
here, in Philadelphia, in May 1985.

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[ VO ] US authorities destroyed
a whole block with explosives,

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while storming activists from
MOVE. A fringe group that advocated

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‘living with nature’, opposed technology and medicines,
and campaigned against animal abuse.

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[ Dane ] The events of 1985 in
Philly drove our character into hiding.

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[ Dane ] And then he resurfaced
at this new age of protest.

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[ Dane ] And one of the characters in
the play, Liza, who in the Dostoevsky

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version is a prostitute, and in
our version, she was an activist.

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[ Dane ] She lived around this
neighbourhood, and he goes to check on her.

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[ Damien ] I can't unsee the things that Liza
woke me up to at that precinct, in the system,

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 things I had chosen to ignore, the sneaking,
the lying, the abuse, so many horrible things.

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 [ VO ] MOVE became a thorn in the side of US authorities:

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black hippies who rejected the system,
regularly disrupted local government

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proceedings, gave shelter to drug addicts,
and eventually started taking up arms.

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[ VO ] It was finally decided that the
group had to be dealt with for good.

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 [ GEO ] PHILADELPHIA, USA, 1985

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[ VO ] The operation to evict MOVE ended in tragedy —

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a residential area was bombed and the
resulting fire destroyed dozens of houses.

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[ Damien ] Tear gas, canisters and shells lead in the guttered
screams echoed to the air riding with echoes of sirens.

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 [ Damien ] There was fire everywhere and still,
 and still the sound of bullets.

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[ Damien ] Four hours later, and 61 houses would be
decimated. Everyone in the MOVE house was dead.

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[ Dane ] We are walking to the site of the MOVE bombing.

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[ Damien ] So, this is where

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 the house actually sat. I don’t know, I was young.

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 [ Damien ] I was young at that time, but I can
 remember hearing about this on the news,

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and how it affected me, and how it still bothers me today.

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 [ Damien ] Because it didn’t have to happen.

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 [ GEO ] PHILADELPHIA, USA, 1985

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 [ Damien ] But… this is America.

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[ Damien ] Our character is more so of a hero as opposed
to the Dostoyesky’s character. But as to human struggle,

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 [ Damien ] I can really identify with that struggle.

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 [ GEO ] PHILADELPHIA, USA, 2020

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[ Dane ] I mean, both pieces
are kind of a protest piece. Like,

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Dostoevsky was kind of commenting
on the Russia of his time. In our

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piece, we’re commenting on the
Philly and the United States of our time.

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 [ Dane ] I mean, human nature never changes.

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[ Lena Yannella ] 'I only wanted to know,
do you believe in God, or not?

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[ Elyse Demas ] I believe in
Russia. I believe in her orthodoxy.

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 [ Elyse ] I believe in the body of Christ.

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 [ Elyse ] I believe the new advent will take place in Russia'

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[ VO ] It was no accident when
Elyse and Lena, students from North

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Carolina, read a specific passage
from Dostoevsky's, Demons.

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[ VO ]The 200th anniversary of the great writer's
birth coincides with another milestone: 150 years ago

00:14:05.22 --> 00:14:09.14
while travelling, he was finishing one of his
perhaps least-known but most significant works.

00:14:09.15 --> 00:14:11.13
 FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY DEMONS

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[ LENA YANNELLA, STUDENT, DUKE
UNIVERSITY ] And I think within this book

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in particular, I found it very
rewarding to read. In the sense that

00:14:17.11 --> 00:14:23.14
 I can find many reflections within myself
and within real life today. Like I know in “Besy”,

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 the younger generation is kind of always hating on the
 older generation for being wrong and bitter about it.

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 [ Lena ] And the older generation’s kind of always looking
down upon these novel ideas with a lot fear

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that their traditions are gonna be uprooted. So I
think all these themes are very apparent throughout time.

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[ Lena ] I don't imagine they'll ever stop being
relevant and they always have been relevant.

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[ VO ] Dostoevsky conceived Demons as a small
pamphlet critical of the nihilists and radicals of the day,

00:14:58.21 --> 00:15:04.15
a new generation that rejected the established social
order. But he ended up writing quite a weighty tome:

00:15:04.21 --> 00:15:11.09
a political thriller, satirical pulp fiction,
religious drama, and existential tragedy all in one.

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[ Carol Apollonio ] How this reading felt for you between Tuesday
and Thursday? Are you getting more engaged in the novel?

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[ Carol ] Are you caring more about these
characters now than you were before?

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[ VO ] The plot of Demons is discussed at
workshops among students at Duke University,

00:15:29.10 --> 00:15:33.14
one of the most prestigious in the
United States. Almost a contemporary

00:15:33.15 --> 00:15:37.06
of Dostoevsky himself, Duke
University was founded in 1838.

00:15:37.12 --> 00:15:40.23
[ VO ] It’s known today not just for
teaching Medicine, Law, and Business

00:15:41.01 --> 00:15:45.09
but also as one of the world's leading
centres for the study of Russian literature.

00:15:46.03 --> 00:15:49.16
[ Carol ] Is Peter a revolutionary, is
he a socialist? Right? He does have

00:15:49.17 --> 00:15:53.23
political goals, as you're saying,
he wants to manipulate Stavrogin.

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[ AARON SLUTKIN, STUDENT, DUKE
UNIVERSITY ] He wants to destroy things.

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[ Aaron ] He hates old forms like he confessed to
Karmazinov. He doesn't really want to create anything new,

00:16:04.01 --> 00:16:07.11
except just destroy everything and put Stavrogin on top.

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[ VO ] Professor Carol Apollonio of
Duke University is a renowned American

00:16:11.24 --> 00:16:15.23
expert on Russian literature, who’s
published many books and research papers.

00:16:16.04 --> 00:16:19.03
[ VO ]Despite her broad knowledge
of the subject, she admits

00:16:19.04 --> 00:16:22.02
that she rediscovers Dostoevsky
every time she reads his work.

00:16:22.03 --> 00:16:25.04
[ DR. CAROL APOLLONIO, PROFESSOR OF SLAVIC AND
EURASIAN STUDIES, DUKE UNIVERSITY ] When I teach these books

00:16:25.04 --> 00:16:28.14
that moved me so much, I read
them again with my students almost

00:16:28.15 --> 00:16:32.00
every time. Every time I teach,
I think, well, maybe I should

00:16:32.14 --> 00:16:39.10
stop reading the book again, and instead read more about
the book. Dostoevsky always draws me back in. He says, Nope.

00:16:39.15 --> 00:16:43.06
[ Carol ] He says, Read me, read me
again, read me with your students. And then

00:16:43.07 --> 00:16:46.24
we'll have a real conversation. Every
time I read I'm learning new things.

00:16:48.13 --> 00:16:53.06
[ VO ] Dostoevsky's work written in the 19th
century, is now reinterpreted by her students.

00:16:53.17 --> 00:16:58.03
[ VO ] Perhaps surprisingly, while reading
Demons, for example, they don’t only

00:16:58.04 --> 00:17:02.16
see modern life parallels, but also
associations with certain politicians.

00:17:03.05 --> 00:17:08.05
[ ELYSE DEMAS, STUDENT, DUKE UNIVERSITY ]
Pyotr is Trump for sure. He is trying to change his mind,

00:17:08.11 --> 00:17:11.13
he is trying to consider his opinions
based on what this person has said.

00:17:11.13 --> 00:17:12.16
 [ GEO ] VALDOSTA, USA, 2020

00:17:12.19 --> 00:17:14.14
 [ Aaron ] I think what these books have for us

00:17:14.19 --> 00:17:21.24
is that it's kind of a timeless warning, to think about what
we're doing to ourselves, to our environment, to our souls

00:17:23.23 --> 00:17:30.14
and to caution ourselves. I think that's what Dostoevsky
wants to tell us. He always says, all of his characters say,

00:17:32.00 --> 00:17:39.03
Stavrogin or Pyotr Stepanovich, or Shatov, or
Sonya in Crime and Punishment… Beg forgiveness!

00:17:39.24 --> 00:17:44.18
[ Aaron ] That's what you have to do. You can be
saved. You can better yourself. You can be improved.

00:17:45.14 --> 00:17:48.12
[ Aaron ] You know, one way
to think about that is the death

00:17:48.12 --> 00:17:52.00
penalty. We execute people
because we think that they're not worth

00:17:52.05 --> 00:17:55.10
keeping alive anymore,
regardless of the fact that it's more

00:17:55.11 --> 00:17:59.09
expensive in our system to execute
someone that is to keep them alive.

00:17:59.23 --> 00:18:05.08
[ Aaron ] We do this because we think people are
either undeserving or incapable of rehabilitation.

00:18:05.13 --> 00:18:10.14
[ Aaron ] They've done something bad and now they can
be thrown away like human trash and Dostoevsky says,

00:18:10.21 --> 00:18:14.05
That's not true! Even the
murderer Raskolnikov can be sent

00:18:14.05 --> 00:18:18.01
away to prison. He can read his
Bible. He can be saved by Sonya

00:18:18.07 --> 00:18:21.06
and he can be better. Doestoevsky
was a witness to that himself.

00:18:21.07 --> 00:18:24.09
[ ELISE VAN DEN HOEK, STUDENT, DUKE
UNIVERSITY ] Dostoevsky is not the guy to

00:18:24.09 --> 00:18:27.07
make you sit silently. He's the guy
who will bring out your opinions. And

00:18:28.11 --> 00:18:35.23
even in just using his texts to almost reveal who you are
and what you believe is such a useful exercise. You know?

00:18:36.24 --> 00:18:42.12
[ Elyse ] I felt that I learned a lot about myself
in reading his books. It's almost like therapy.

00:18:42.13 --> 00:18:47.23
[ JOSHUA MEYER, STUDENT, DUKE UNIVERSITY ] He
gives you a therapy session that was written 200 years ago.

00:18:48.00 --> 00:18:54.19
[ Joshua ] In a language you don't understand, in a
culture that you've never met. Yeah, that’s… Unbelievable.

00:18:54.19 --> 00:18:58.02
[ VO ] Professor Carol Appolonio
maintains it doesn’t matter if you

00:18:58.02 --> 00:19:01.10
read Dostoevsky's books in the
original language or a translation.

00:19:01.15 --> 00:19:04.24
[ VO ] He is relatable anywhere
in the world, in any language.

00:19:05.00 --> 00:19:09.01
Perhaps that’s why Dostoevsky is
the most translated Russian author.

00:19:10.09 --> 00:19:14.11
[ Carol ] Translation is actually not
something that takes away from the original

00:19:14.12 --> 00:19:18.15
work. It's quite the opposite. The
translation is something that actually...

00:19:19.05 --> 00:19:23.22
[ Carol ] It increases the power of a work of
literature, expands its range around the world.

00:19:24.08 --> 00:19:27.23
[ VO ] But there's one particular passage
that Professor Appolonio prefers to

00:19:27.23 --> 00:19:31.13
read in Russian. Raskolnikov's dream
in the Crime and Punishment epilogue.

00:19:31.21 --> 00:19:37.14
[ VO ] What Dostoevsky wrote back the 19th century
isn't just relevant today, it’s more like a prophecy.

00:19:40.00 --> 00:19:42.00
 [ Carol ] While ill, he dreamed...

00:19:42.05 --> 00:19:46.10
that the world was condemned
to be sacrificed to some terrible,

00:19:46.15 --> 00:19:49.15
unheard-of and unprecedented pestilence,

00:19:49.20 --> 00:19:52.17
coming from the depths of Asia to Europe.

00:19:53.05 --> 00:19:57.00
Everyone would die, except for a very few chosen ones.

00:19:57.05 --> 00:19:59.12
 F. DOSTOEVSKY CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

00:19:59.18 --> 00:20:07.08
[ Carol ] Raskolnikov is now in prison paying for his
crime of murder. And he falls ill, and he has a dream,

00:20:07.13 --> 00:20:12.11
and his dream is a dream about
these microscopic sort of… something

00:20:12.12 --> 00:20:16.04
like bacteria, these ‘trikhina’
that have affected the entire world.

00:20:16.05 --> 00:20:17.20
 [ GEO ] FRANCISCO AVIA HOSPITAL CLINIC

00:20:17.20 --> 00:20:24.24
[ Carol ] And when I read this, I think about
pandemic, which is a disease. But it's also tied up with

00:20:25.04 --> 00:20:32.16
the other sort of divisions and stresses that our world
is suffering today. Dostoevsky is really relevant today.

00:20:33.17 --> 00:20:41.24
[ Carol ] The idea that his writing is sort of writing of
extremes, on edges, and for him, the theme of apocalypse,

00:20:42.05 --> 00:20:46.03
the point at which, you know, the world
is threatened with ultimate destruction.

00:20:47.02 --> 00:20:51.20
[ Carol ] His message, I guess, in his works
about how people's intellectual concerns

00:20:52.04 --> 00:21:00.00
divide them from each other, I think is absolutely relevant
to the way our political world has been developing recently.

00:21:05.05 --> 00:21:10.08
[ VO ] China. A country that’s always had a
unique culture with its own morality and customs.

00:21:10.16 --> 00:21:15.01
[ VO ] Dostoevsky’s novels, like Chinese
characters, can seem indecypherable

00:21:15.02 --> 00:21:19.00
to Europeans. But the author’s
great popularity here is clear:

00:21:19.11 --> 00:21:24.03
his novels are published and republished almost
every year, and many have multiple translations.

00:21:24.04 --> 00:21:26.18
 FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV 
FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY WHITE NIGHTS

00:21:26.19 --> 00:21:31.04
[ SUN LIZHUO, MASTERS STUDENT, BEIJING NORMAL UNIVERSITY ]
I like Crime and Punishment best. I read it first!

00:21:31.05 --> 00:21:34.20
[ Sun ] My first impression of his
works at the time was rather vague.

00:21:35.01 --> 00:21:38.10
[ Sun ] I didn't understand why
he portrayed people like this.

00:21:38.20 --> 00:21:41.16
[ Sun ] Then I chose Russian as my
speciality. I visited Saint Petersburg,

00:21:47.24 --> 00:21:51.11
and began to understand why
he depicted people the way he did.

00:21:52.00 --> 00:21:55.16
[ WANG SHUOYU, MASTERS STUDENT, BEIJING
NORMAL UNIVERSITY ] When I was an undergrad,

00:21:55.22 --> 00:22:01.11
one of our professors said: liberal arts students
should learn to pronounce 'Dostoevsky' by graduation.

00:22:01.15 --> 00:22:07.16
[ Wang ] When the Chinese hear the name, they
think it's too long, and impossible to remember.

00:22:07.17 --> 00:22:11.21
[ VO ] In fact, it turns out that Chinese
people don’t just know Dostoevsky,

00:22:12.01 --> 00:22:17.22
but each of his characters, too - by name. To
celebrate the 200th anniversary of the writer’s birthday,

00:22:18.07 --> 00:22:22.18
students from various Chinese institutes got
together and staged ‘The Brothers Karamazov’.

00:22:23.01 --> 00:22:25.24
[ VO ] The novel that rather
encapsulates the writer’s whole

00:22:25.24 --> 00:22:29.09
life — Dostoevsky finished it
just a few months before he died.

00:22:29.15 --> 00:22:32.01
 [ Students performing ] And now we join hands. Always so!

00:22:32.02 --> 00:22:34.06
[ Students performing ] All our lives hand in hand!

00:22:34.07 --> 00:22:37.05
[ Students performing ] Hurrah for
Karamazov! Hurrah for Karamazov!

00:22:37.05 --> 00:22:39.15
[ Students performing ] Hurrah for Dostoevsky!

00:22:39.20 --> 00:22:44.09
[ VO ] Everyone’s heard of Dostoevsky, even if
they haven’t actually read him. Many Chinese admit

00:22:44.13 --> 00:22:49.11
that the Russian classical writer’s dark tones
don’t exactly resonate with their views of life.

00:22:49.13 --> 00:22:54.11
[ VO ] However, it turns out that, even there,
you can find colour, or add some of your own.

00:22:56.01 --> 00:22:59.02
[ ZHOU NUOYAN, SCHOOLGIRL ] I like the purple one best.

00:22:59.09 --> 00:23:02.24
[ YING HONGYI, SCHOOLBOY ] I think
the clothes people wore were quite formal.

00:23:03.04 --> 00:23:06.11
[ Ying ] The clothes also had very pretty colours.

00:23:06.16 --> 00:23:11.15
[ Ying ] I think those were the kind of things they wore.

00:23:11.20 --> 00:23:15.02
 [ Ying ] I think this drawing shows a day in his life.

00:23:15.07 --> 00:23:22.24
[ Ying ] Here it looks like he's
eating. In this one, he's drinking wine.

00:23:23.04 --> 00:23:27.11
 [ Ying ] And here, he wants to drink some water.

00:23:30.11 --> 00:23:33.14
[ VO ] Raskolnikov’s hat, Sonya
Marmeladova’s shawl, or Myshkin’s coat:

00:23:33.19 --> 00:23:37.04
Dostoevsky, a renowned dandy and
follower of fashion who used the best

00:23:37.05 --> 00:23:40.15
Saint Petersburg tailors, paid
close attention to his heroes’ clothing,

00:23:40.20 --> 00:23:44.09
imbuing it with special meaning.
for the 200th anniversary, a group of

00:23:44.10 --> 00:23:48.12
Saint Petersburg artists put on an
interactive exhibition of illustrations,

00:23:48.17 --> 00:23:54.16
which is a bit like a colouring book. What and
where to draw on Dostoevsky is an individual decision.

00:23:58.11 --> 00:24:04.05
[ VO ] The Moscow street that’s named after Dostoevsky,
once had a different name. Novaya Bozhedomka.

00:24:04.06 --> 00:24:05.18
F. DOSTOEVSKY APARTMENT MUSEUM

00:24:06.01 --> 00:24:09.00
[ VO ] Fyodor Dostoyevsky was
born here, at the Mariinsky Hospital

00:24:09.00 --> 00:24:11.23
in a wing for the poor, where
he lived for almost 16 years.

00:24:12.04 --> 00:24:18.14
[ VO ] This is where he first imagined the heroes of his
future novels. A once small museum commemorating the writer,

00:24:18.20 --> 00:24:21.16
became a huge exhibition for the big 200th anniversary.

00:24:21.17 --> 00:24:26.07
[ OLGA LYUBIMOVA, RUSSIAN MINISTER OF CULTURE ] This
exhibition is devoted to Fyodor Mikhaylovich's large family,

00:24:27.07 --> 00:24:35.07
including his brothers and sisters. The interior is
recreated from Dostoevsky's brother's memories.

00:24:36.02 --> 00:24:39.02
[ VO ] Three floors of personal
belongings, manuscripts and video

00:24:39.03 --> 00:24:42.03
installations. Dostoevsky moved
from here to Saint Petersburg.

00:24:42.08 --> 00:24:46.23
[ VO ] A whole life lay ahead: forced labour,
temptation, the search for meaning. Only

00:24:46.24 --> 00:24:52.01
later, will ‘Crime and Punishment’, ‘Demons’,
and ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ come to light.

00:24:52.06 --> 00:24:58.10
[ VO ] But it all started here. Two centuries later,
we still live with the reality of Dostoevsky’s world.

00:24:58.15 --> 00:25:01.22
 [ VO ] We are all his heroes. All over the world.

00:25:03.18 --> 00:25:04.15
WRITTEN BY DMITRY KHRUSTALEV DIRECTED BY EKATERINA
KOZHAKINA CAMERA OPERATORS PYOTR MAMOCHKIN

00:25:04.15 --> 00:25:05.14
SERAFIM FYODOROV ALEXEY BRAZHNIKOV PRODUCERS
KONSTANTIN BELYAEV ALEXEY BRAZHNIKOV DMITRY KHRUSTALEV

00:25:05.15 --> 00:25:06.10
VIDEO EDITORS DMITRY BORZENKO MIKHAIL SUPRUN
SOUND EDITOR ALEKSEY POZHAROV MOTION DESIGN

00:25:06.11 --> 00:25:07.09
DIANA SHANGARYAEVA MUSIC KSENIA PRASOLOVA
TRANSLATORS ALIK BERDUKOV ALEKSANDR PETROV NARRATOR

00:25:07.09 --> 00:25:07.24
DAVID A. WATSON STYLE EDITOR STEVE
ELLIOTT EDITOR ALEKSANDRA ERMOLAEVA

00:25:08.00 --> 00:25:08.14
DEPUTY HEAD OF RTDOC CHANNEL
GALINA ARKHIPOVA HEAD OF RTDOC CHANNEL

00:25:08.14 --> 00:25:09.05
EKATERINA YAKOVLEVA WITH GRATEFUL
THANKS TO: VLADIMIR DAHL STATE LITERATURE

00:25:09.06 --> 00:25:09.21
MUSEUM KUKFO PUPPET THEATRE RUSSIAN
CULTURAL CENTRE, BEIJING FEATURED

00:25:09.22 --> 00:25:10.11
EXCERPTS: ‘UNDERGROUND’ ADAPTED BY
EGOPO FROM DOSTOEVSKY’S NOTES FROM

00:25:10.12 --> 00:25:11.01
UNDERGROUND. STARRING DAMIEN J.
WALLACE AND NIYA COLBERT. DIRECTOR DANE

00:25:11.02 --> 00:25:11.17
EISSLER ‘THE FRESH PRINCE OF “TO
DARE”’ STUDENT MUSIC VIDEO PHOTOS: LEIF

00:25:11.18 --> 00:25:12.08
SKOOGFORS/CORBIS/CORBIS VIA GETTY
IMAGES BETTMANN ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES