The Brothers Karamazov | Page 6

timid boy. At ten years old he
had realised that they were living not in their own home but on other
people's charity, and that their father was a man of whom it was
disgraceful to speak. This boy began very early, almost in his infancy
(so they say at least), to show a brilliant and unusual aptitude for
learning. I don't know precisely why, but he left the family of Yefim
Petrovitch when he was hardly thirteen, entering a Moscow gymnasium
and boarding with an experienced and celebrated teacher, an old friend
of Yefim Petrovitch. Ivan used to declare afterwards that this was all
due to the "ardour for good works" of Yefim Petrovitch, who was
captivated by the idea that the boy's genius should be trained by a
teacher of genius. But neither Yefim Petrovitch nor this teacher was
living when the young man finished at the gymnasium and entered the
university. As Yefim Petrovitch had made no provision for the payment
of the tyrannical old lady's legacy, which had grown from one thousand
to two, it was delayed, owing to formalities inevitable in Russia, and
the young man was in great straits for the first two years at the
university, as he was forced to keep himself all the time he was
studying. It must be noted that he did not even attempt to communicate
with his father, perhaps from pride, from contempt for him, or perhaps
from his cool common sense, which told him that from such a father he
would get no real assistance. However that may have been, the young
man was by no means despondent and succeeded in getting work, at
first giving sixpenny lessons and afterwards getting paragraphs on
street incidents into the newspapers under the signature of
"Eye-Witness." These paragraphs, it was said, were so interesting and
piquant that they were soon taken. This alone showed the young man's
practical and intellectual superiority over the masses of needy and
unfortunate students of both sexes who hang about the offices of the

newspapers and journals, unable to think of anything better than
everlasting entreaties for copying and translations from the French.
Having once got into touch with the editors Ivan Fyodorovitch always
kept up his connection with them, and in his latter years at the
university he published brilliant reviews of books upon various special
subjects, so that he became well known in literary circles. But only in
his last year he suddenly succeeded in attracting the attention of a far
wider circle of readers, so that a great many people noticed and
remembered him. It was rather a curious incident. When he had just left
the university and was preparing to go abroad upon his two thousand
roubles, Ivan Fyodorovitch published in one of the more important
journals a strange article, which attracted general notice, on a subject of
which he might have been supposed to know nothing, as he was a
student of natural science. The article dealt with a subject which was
being debated everywhere at the time- the position of the ecclesiastical
courts. After discussing several opinions on the subject he went on to
explain his own view. What was most striking about the article was its
tone, and its unexpected conclusion. Many of the Church party
regarded him unquestioningly as on their side. And yet not only the
secularists but even atheists joined them in their applause. Finally some
sagacious persons opined that the article was nothing but an impudent
satirical burlesque. I mention this incident particularly because this
article penetrated into the famous monastery in our neighbourhood,
where the inmates, being particularly interested in question of the
ecclesiastical courts, were completely bewildered by it. Learning the
author's name, they were interested in his being a native of the town
and the son of "that Fyodor Pavlovitch." And just then it was that the
author himself made his appearance among us.
Why Ivan Fyodorovitch had come amongst us I remember asking
myself at the time with a certain uneasiness. This fateful visit, which
was the first step leading to so many consequences, I never fully
explained to myself. It seemed strange on the face of it that a young
man so learned, so proud, and apparently so cautious, should suddenly
visit such an infamous house and a father who had ignored him all his
life, hardly knew him, never thought of him, and would not under any
circumstances have given him money, though he was always afraid that

his sons Ivan and Alexey would also come to ask him for it. And here
the young man was staying in the house of such a father, had been
living with him for two months, and they were on the best possible
terms. This last fact was a special cause of