Archive - Vremya

Camus and Dostoevsky on Filthy Lucre, Happiness, and Freedom

I am currently making my way through Albert Camus's notebooks. I had been dipping in and out of the notebook for years, when I suddenly decided to read…

Jan 14 •

Steven R. Kraaijeveld

November 2023

On Thornton Wilder's Town and Moments in Eternity

It has been a while since I've written a Substack post. So it goes. A lot has happened over the past few weeks: I started a new job and, after thirteen…

Nov 26, 2023 •

Steven R. Kraaijeveld

July 2023

The Last Day of a Condemned Man—Reflections on Capital Punishment through Hugo, Dostoevsky, Camus, and Boethius

Victor Hugo witnessed the workings of the guillotine at first hand. More than once, he found himself among the crowds of curious, expectant, agitated…

Jul 26, 2023 •

Steven R. Kraaijeveld

December 2022

Train Stations Early in the Morning—Dazai and Dostoevsky on Mood

The bus is bumping toward the station. There are few people waiting at the stops, so early in the morning. The bus moves fast—is the driver trying to…

Dec 4, 2022 •

Steven R. Kraaijeveld

October 2022

A Return to the World—On Dovlatov's Peter the Great and Dostoevsky's Christ

Sergei Dovlatov (1941-1990) found himself persecuted by the authorities in the USSR. His writing was banned. He had been actively circulating his…

Oct 2, 2022 •

Steven R. Kraaijeveld

September 2022

Camus, Perfectionism, and Absurd Creation—On Joseph Grand in The Plague

Albert Camus's 1947 novel The Plague is set in the French-Algerian city of Oran, where thousands of rats are suddenly found dead in the streets. At…

Sep 11, 2022 •

Steven R. Kraaijeveld

On Austen, Mansfield Park, and Social Comparison—Or How We Judge Ourselves through Others

If I were to ask you, "How is your life going?" chances are that, as you try to formulate an answer, you soon come to think of other people in an…

Sep 4, 2022 •

Steven R. Kraaijeveld

August 2022

Ways of Seeing—On Bernhard's Old Masters

True to style, Thomas Bernhard's 156-page novel Old Masters: A Comedy consists of a single paragraph. As with most of Bernhard's works, the plot is…

Aug 11, 2022 •

Steven R. Kraaijeveld

June 2022

On Mallarmé’s Tomb for Anatole—Or What to Do With Absence

Few of us are spared the experience of losing someone we love. When it happens, when someone we love dies, the loss echoes around and resounds within…

Jun 27, 2022 •

Steven R. Kraaijeveld

April 2022

On Dostoevsky's Bobok—Or the Banality of the Dead

Dostoevsky is best known for his sweeping novels, but he was also a master of the short form. He wrote a number of shorter works—including stories and…

Apr 24, 2022 •

Steven R. Kraaijeveld

On Ibsen's Enemy of the People—Or How to Face Public Outrage

In an introduction to a collection of writings by James Joyce on Henrik Ibsen, Dennis Phillips observes that "at the beginning and end of his career…

Apr 9, 2022 •

Steven R. Kraaijeveld

July 2021

House Sitting in Kiev—Or Why I Read

Jul 2, 2021 •

Steven R. Kraaijeveld

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts