Dostoevsky the Russian Bukowski

There's a great opening line in the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude that goes “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”

In the case of Dostoevsky it was almost literally true. He was arrested for his involvement with a secret society of liberal utopians and a literary discussion group. He and other members were sentenced to death by firing squad. At the last moment Tsar Nicholas I arrived at the scene of the firing squad and commuted the sentence to four years of hard labor in Siberia.

After he was released, he was forced to serve in the army, but was discharged due to ill health and epileptic seizures. He found work as a journalist, but developed a gambling addiction, and went through a time where he had to beg for money. Through the sheer volume of his work, he became one of the most widely read authors. He influenced Chekhov, James Joyce, Hemingway, and Sartre, among others.

You can add Bukowski to the list of writers that he influenced. Bukowski wrote a poem about "Dostoevsky against the wall, the firing squad ready." Bukowski was thankful Dostoevksy got a reprieve because it was Dostoevksy that got Bukowski "through the factories" and lifted him "high through the night" and put him "down in a better place."

Some people have gods and others have writers.

Something Wonderful:

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
-Carl Sagan (Cosmos, 1980)

It took thirty years, but finally Randall was rezzed.

Affirmation

You are doing great. Even in this terrible moment you are amazing. It's a miracle that you haven't already killed yourself.

A Prayer for Owen Meany

I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice – not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.
- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

That's a great opening paragraph for a novel. I could tell you why the narrator is a Christian and how Owen Meany was the instrument of his mother's death, but I don't want to spoil it for you. It's a sad and moving story.

Superman:

I'm not saying I'm Superman, but nobody has ever seen Randall and Superman together.

Ugly Angels

Roaches are ugly angels sent to protect us. Raindrops are the tears of a lost god. And all problems are just situations waiting to unravel their magic.
-James Altucher

Reflected Beauty:

The story of Narcissus is a legend of Greek mythology known by almost everyone. Not as widely known is how Oscar Wilde changed the ending. According to him when Narcissus died, the pool where Narcissus had gazed at his image wept. So many tears were shed that the pool had become salty.

The goddesses of the woods told the pool that they understood its grief. They could only run after Narcissus through the forest, but the pool could gaze upon his beauty close up.
 
"But was Narcissus beautiful?" asked the pool.

Of course, replied the goddesses, astonished at the question.

After a moment, the pool explained:

"I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that he was beautiful. I weep for him because whenever he lay on my banks and looked into my waters, I could see my own beauty reflected in his eyes."