Hello everyone,
The possible inconsistency occurs in Part 3 Chapter 3/4. Even though I read it at least twice, it still seems that the events are impossible to occur the way that they occur.
Chronologically,
Myshkin bumps into Keller, who has been following him since he left the Epanchins’, Keller offers protection to Myshkin which he thinks is absurd. Then Myshkin walks to the park where Rogozhin appears, they discuss some stuff, and Myshkin remembers that it is his birthday. Myshkin invites Rogozhin to join him to celebrate in his villa.
Now this is where it gets unreasonable,
When Myshkin and Rogozhin arrive at Myshkin’s villa, the whole squad is waiting for them. Long story short, we are told that Keller told the squad that it was Myshkin’s birthday.
The problem I see is that there is no way that, as I understand the plot, Keller might know it was Myshkin’s birthday. On top of Keller barely knowing Myshkin, even Myshkin did not remember it was his birthday.
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IIRC, there’s an inconsistency in Crime and Punishment as well. Something about going into a building at night, having a conversation, and then leaving in the day. I was going to say there’s nothing to do about it, but it’s in public domain, so you could literally just edit it to resolve the inconsistency. But honestly, it just doesn’t matter. We don’t read Doestoevsky because his books are so exquisitely free of inconsistencies.
Something about going into a building at night, having a conversation, and then leaving in the day.
you can always chalk that up to Raskolnikov going through a psychotic break. so much of what he percives around him is not actually happening, that it would not be unusual for him to be confused about times of day.
also, C&P takes place in St Petersburg and they essentially have no nights in the summer there.
The first time Raskolnikov goes to the police station, it’s reported to be on a different floor of the building than the second time he goes.
from wiki:
French and English translations were published in 1887, and a German translation in 1889. European critical response was also largely negative, mainly due to the novel’s apparent formlessness and rambling style.^([70]) Morson notes that critics saw it as “a complete mess, as if it were written extemporaneously, with no overall structure in mind—as, in fact, it was.”^([71]) Typical of the western critics was the introduction to the first French translation which, while praising the energetic style and characterization, notes that “they are enveloped in a fantastic mist and get lost in innumerable digressions.”
Prominent modern critics acknowledge the novel’s apparent structural deficiencies, but also point out that the author was aware of them himself, and that they were perhaps a natural consequence of the experimental approach toward the central idea. Joseph Frank has called The Idiot “perhaps the most original of Dostoevsky’s great novels, and certainly the most artistically uneven of them all,”^([73]) but he also wondered how it was that the novel “triumphed so effortlessly over the inconsistencies and awkwardnesses of its structure.” Gary Saul Morson observes that “The Idiot brings to mind the old saw about how, according to the laws of physics, bumblebees should be unable to fly, but bumblebees, not knowing physics, go on flying anyway.”^([71])
This novel has noticeably inconsistencies so it hardly seems worth writing this, but I don’t think this is inconsistent. The Prince does not live alone, has a group of friends, and by this point in the book has known them a while. It seems entirely reasonable that Prince Myshkin forgot his birthday, but that Lebedev (owner of the house The Prince is living in) had learned somewhere along the way, when Myshkin’s birthday was.
I noticed a couple of other inconsistencies I just wanted to know if there was an explanation for this for some reason; I guess it is not worth much writing this:)
However, your explanation does not make sense as it is clearly stated that Keller lets everyone know that it is Myshkin’s birthday.