The Fragility of Grace in the Karamazov World—and Ours.

This article analyzes the vision of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov as a narrative riff on Kant's three basic questions. The novel shows what it means to live out "What can I know?" "What ought we do?" and "What may we hope?" It argues that this approach, combined with a rejection of the modernist dichotomy of "faith vs. reason," overcomes the problems many critics see in the text. Ivan lives out a "first critique materialism"; Zosima and Alyosha show how to live out a "revised second critique solidarity"; the evolution of Grushenka and Dmitri—both "different people" in the final third of the novel than they were earlier—demonstrates "what we may hope." Dostoevsky does, despite some critics' claims, offer realistic responses to Ivan's profound challenges to faith in the often-excerpted chapters, "Rebellion" and "The Grand Inquisitor." The essay suggests that the lessons the novel teaches are applicable in our own world, where grace is also fragile. Grace can be rejected, as it is by Ivan, yet also be found in and through flawed vessels like Zosima, Alyosha, Grushenka, and Dmitri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]