Latest post in my blog on popular science:
Klara and the sun
https://populscience.blogspot.com/2022/10/klara-and-sun.html
Regards,
The topic of famous writers writing science fiction brought to mind Dostoevsky’s story titled “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man”, which is my favorite of all of Dostoevsky’s works. It is actually fantasy, rather than science fiction, and the only such work by Dostoevsky that I’m aware of. The main protagonist is on the verge of killing himself, and just like Ivan in “The Brothers Karamazov”, passes by a person in great distress without helping him (or her, in this case). But before he shoots himself he falls asleep. After he awakes he returns to help that person, just as Ivan did, after he has understood the truth of what life should be about, which, in this case, he has discovered in his “Dream”. In that “Dream” the unnamed protagonist finds himself on another planet where there is only love between people; but he ends up unwittingly corrupting them simply because he is a sinful person himself. And when he wakes, he realizes that what he saw there is what the secret to life is: “The main thing is to love others as you love yourself, that’s what the main thing is, and that’s all, nothing else at all is needed: you’ll immediately find how quickly everything will fall into place. And this is just an old truth, which has been repeated and read a billion times, but has not taken hold!”
Dimitry
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)
I agree, "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man” is one of my favorite works by Dostoevsky, at the same level as
“The insulted & the injured”, “The possessed” and “Crime & punishment.” But my global favorite by him is “The Brothers Karamazov.”
Regards,