Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1880 · Garnett translation, 1912
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov (1880) is Dostoevsky’s last novel: three brothers, a murdered father, and a trial that becomes an argument about God and free will. The Philosopher reading companion in IO reader surfaces the Grand Inquisitor’s challenge and Ivan’s rebellion as they come up, free and unabridged in Garnett’s translation.
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PART I · PARAGRAPH
Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov was the third son of Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov, a land owner well known in our district in his own day, and still remembered among us owing to his gloomy and tragic death, which happened thirteen years ago, and which I shall describe in its proper place. For the present I will only say that this “landowner”—for so we used to call him, although he hardly spent a day of his life on his own estate—was a strange type, yet one pretty frequently to be met with, a type abject and vicious and at the same time senseless. But he was one of those senseless persons who are very well capable of looking after their worldly affairs, and, apparently, after nothing else. Fyodor Pavlovitch, for instance, began with next to nothing; his estate was of the smallest; he ran to dine at other men’s tables, and fastened on them as a toady, yet at his death it appeared that he had a hundred thousand roubles in hard cash. At the same time, he was all his life one of the most senseless, fantastical fellows in the whole district. I repeat, it was not stupidity—the majority of these fantastical fellows are shrewd and intelligent enough—but just senselessness, and a peculiar national form of it.
Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov was the third son of Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov, a land owner well known in our district in his own day, and still remembered among us owing to his gloomy and tragic death, which happened thirteen years ago, and which I shall describe in its proper place.
The Brothers Karamazov · Fyodor Dostoevsky · tr. Constance Garnett
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The facts
| Length | about 350,700 words · 20,500 sentences |
|---|---|
| In sentence cards | about 1367 minutes |
| Difficulty | demanding |
| First line | Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov was the third son of Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov, a land owner well known in our district in his own day, and still remembered among us owing to his gloomy and tragic death, which happened thirteen years ago, and which I shall describe in its proper place. |
| Themes | Part I · Part II · Part III · Part IV · Epilogue |
Is The Brothers Karamazov hard to read?
Yes — it is Dostoevsky's longest and most demanding novel, weighing faith, doubt, and family across four parts. In sentence cards it runs about 1,367 minutes.
Which translation is this?
Constance Garnett's 1912 translation, in the public domain.
How long is The Brothers Karamazov?
About 350,700 words; roughly 20,500 sentences.
Read The Brothers Karamazov in IO reader
Colophon
Text: Garnett translation, 1912, from Project Gutenberg (pg:28054). Cover: Standard Ebooks CC0 cover, fyodor-dostoevsky/the-brothers-karamazov/constance-garnett. Reviewed 2026-09-04.