A Karamazov Companion: Commentary on the Genesis, Language, and Style of Dostoevsky's Novel

This book is a great reference when reading the Brothers K. I agree wholeheartedly with the previous reviewer's comments. I would only add that this edition of the book is poorly bound--it easily falls apart. I am accumulating many loose pages as I read through the book. But better to have this book available in a substandard binding than out-of-print.

If you want to deepen your understanding of Dostoevsky's last great work, this book is an invaluable supplement. The first 1/3 is an excellent essay. One of its crucial insights is that the famous Grand Inquisitor chapter can be properly understood only when read in view of the novel as a whole. Isolating it from the whole, Terras rightly explains, has led to much misinterpretation of this pivotal part of the book. Both within this chapter and throughout the entire book after it, Dostoevsky sought to expose the fatal flaws of Ivan's thought. No, D was not at all propounding his own views in this chapter. This essay contains many more key insights into the book. The last 2/3 contains extensive, illuminating footnotes to every chapter of BK. Unfortunately, such a scholarly apparatus is necessary to fully understand BK, removed as we are linguistically, temporally, and culturally from BK's milieu. The notes are meant to be read with Matlaw's revision of Garnett's translation. Get the Norton Critical Edition of this, as this edition also contains much valuable material - particularly D's letters - in addition to the text. If you seek a more authentic translation, it's perfectly fine to read A Karamazov Companion with Pevear's translation instead, as I did the first time.