USM professor visits St. Patrick

Mr. Edward McCormack, Professor and Dean of the library at the University of Southern Mississippi, lectured to Mrs. Sutherlin’s Advanced Placement Literature and Composition students on Russian history in general and Fyodor Dostoevsky in particular. Students are preparing to cover Crime and Punishment in their Advanced Placement class.

Mr. McCormack discussed nineteenth century Russia, the tsars, and Dostoevsky’s background. He also covered how Dostoevsky’s background affected his writing. The universality of Dostoevsky’s themes include the suffering of the innocent, the burden of freedom that the common man is incapable of sustaining in the face of temptation, and the dual nature of man caused by the constant inner battle between good and evil impulses.

McCormack noted that Dostoevsky is the originator of the modern psychological novel and that even today, his novels are used as case studies of various psychological and physical disorders and that Dostoevsky was a brilliant psychologist and philosopher as well as a superb artist and craftsman.

A video of Russia and Dostoevsky’s history were included in the presentation.

Students greatly benefitted and are much more prepared to begin their study of Crime and Punishment, thanks to Mr. McCormack’s informative presentation.