Yes, the Russian literary canon is tainted by imperialism
That doesn’t mean you should stop reading it
For many in the West, the masterworks of 19th-century Russian authors such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Leo Tolstoy have inspired awe. These writers often seem to stretch up their hands to heaven, grappling with universal profundities of faith, power and injustice. The British novelist D.H. Lawrence, for instance, said that Russian literature explored “the phenomenal coruscations of the souls of quite commonplace people”. But in some circles Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has called into question not just the value of reading these books, but also the morality.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “The useful “Idiot””
Culture October 8th 2022
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