36 / CHRONICLESni Speakn%)anishnlike andiplomat!’nWhat sort of people need to learn anforeign language as quickly and effectivelynas possible? Foreign servicenpersonnei, that’s who. Mennbers ofnAmerica’s diplomatic corps are assignednto U.S. embassies abroad, where theynmust be able to converse fluently innevery situation.nNow you can learn to speak Spanishnjust as these diplomatic personnelndo — with the Foreign Service Institute snProgrammatic Spanish Courses. You’llnlearn Latin American Spanish recordednby native speakers.nThe U.S. Department of State hasnspent thousands of dollars developingnthis course. It’s by far the most effectivenway to learn Spanish at your ownnconvenience and at your own pace.nThe course consists of a series ofncassettes and accompanying textbook.nSimply follow the spoken and writtenninstructions, listening and repeating.nBy the end of the course, you’ll benleaming and speaking entirely in Spanish!nThis course turns your cassettenplayer into a “teaching machine.” Withnits unique “programmatic” learningnmethod, you set your own pace -ntesting yourself, correcting errors, reinforcingnaccurate responses.nThe FSI’s Programmatic SpanishnCourse comes in two volumes, eachnshipped in a handsome library binder.nOrder either, or save 10% by orderingnboth:nD Volume I: Basic. 12 cassettesn(17 hr.), manual, and 464-p. text, $ 1 3 5nD Volume II: Intermediate. 8 cassettesn(12 hr.), manual, and 614-p. text, $ 120n(CT residents add sales tax.)nTO ORDER BY PHONE, PLEASE CALLnTOLL-FREE NUMBER: 1-800-243-1234.nTo order by mail, clip this ad and sendnwith your name and address, and ancheck or money order-or charge tonyour credit card (AmEx, VISA, Master­nCard, Diners) by enclosing card number,nexpiration date, and your signature.nThe Foreign Service Institute’snSpanish course is unconditionallynguaranteed. Try it for three weeks. Ifnyou’re not convinced it’s the fastest,neasiest, most painless way to learnnSpanish, return it and we’ll refund everynpenny you paid. Order today !n120 courses in 41 other languagesnalso available. Write us for freencatalog. Our 12th year.nAudio-ForumnSuite P-139nOn-the-Green,nGuilford, CT 06437n(203)453-9794 ^~^^^^& •ndissent and protests in Eastern Europe;nstubborn resistance in Afghanistan andnNicaragua; reluctant experimentationnin China. International Communism isnhardly in retreat, but its worldwidentriumph is still far from assured. ccnAffliction andnRedemptionnGeorge A. Panichas: The Burden ofnVision: Dostoevsky’s Spiritual Art;nGateway Editions; Chicago.nFyodor Dostoevsky is among the pioneersnof modern literature. However,nlike so many of the pioneersn—particularly T.S. Eliot—he is acknowledgednwith ambivalence and evennreluctance. Like The Waste Land, Dostoevsky’snworks are prized for their subtlenexploration of modern despair andnalienation. Like Eliot, Dostoevsky isncelebrated as a daring technical innovatornand a superb craftsman. But as withnEliot (as well as Yeats, Faulkner, andnClaudel), there remains the embarrassingnproblem of a modern artist whoseninvestigation of the human conditionnleads him into the realms of the spirit.nWhen most contemporary critics see anreligious meaning striding toward themndown the dark and narrow corridors ofnDostoevsky’s fiction, they franticallynlook about for escape into some sidendoor opening onto formalism, psychology,nor sociology. Some critics solve thendilemma by conceding the labeln”Christian existentialist” to the Russiannmaster but then quietly employing annexclusively existentialist commentary tonleach away the bitter faith.nIn George A. Panichas, Dostoevskynhas found a critic who accepts him onnhis own metaphysical terms. EmphasizingnDostoevsky’s religious commitmentnhardly means discovering a cheerfullynpious “message” in his daunting andnprofoundly disturbing books. As hentraces the torturous path through thenmajor novels—Crime and Punishment,nThe Idiot, The Devils, A RawnYouth, and The Brothers Karamazovn—Panichas shows us a writer whosenartistic confrontation with modern disintegrationnand doubt is filled withnanguish and perplexity. The creator ofnthe Satanic Nikolay Stavrogin and thenskeptical Ivan Karamazov never mufflednthe frightening “rhythm of breakdown,nof disconnection and separation,nof cynicism and lostness” in his fiction.nYet the reader who descends with Dostoevskyninto hell also ascends with himnnnto ecstatic vision within a “radical viewnof absolutes” that is “religious but notnnecessarily orthodox.” From Raskolnikov’snproud broodings in his dingynSt. Petersburg apartment to Alyosha’snlast “Hurrah!” after Ilusha’s funeral,nDostoevsky guides the reader alongna “road to faith . . . filled withntreachery.”nA work of “meditative criticism,” ThenBurden of Vision brings into focus thenreligious convictions informing Dostoevsky’snart, convictions now generallynobscured by critics busy with semioticnanalyses and Marxist critique. By insistingnupon the fundamentally religiousncharacter of the novels, Panichas takes anstand against “the increasing attemptsnto make Dostoevsky into just anotherncommodity for the consumption ofnWestern readers and more grist fornWestern critics.” And unlike the drylynBaconian exegeses that fill the professionalnjournals, the deep erudition innthese pages is alive with a sympathy andna sensitivity—at times even a passionn—that bespeak a real sharing in thenauthor’s prophetic vision. As few worksnof criticism do, this is a book thatndeserves its place on the same shelf withnthe inspired fiction it examines. (BC) ccnIN FOCUSnIconoclast ofnthe Centernby Michael A. FumentonCharles Krauthammer: CuttingnEdges: Making Sense of the Eighties;nRandom House; New York.nThe New Republic claims with somenpride to be schizophrenic: it infuriatesnboth the right and the left, while claimingnsubscribers firom the elite of bothnwings. It has published one of the mostndamning articles yet on the Sandinistangovernment, while likewise exposingnthe atrocities of the Contras. And whatnother magazine offers both the amusementnof seeing Congressman StephennSolarz twist reality, logic, and his ownnradical principles and the delight ofnwatching Charles Krauthammer marshalnfact and reason in his thoughtfulnanalyses of domestic and foreign affairs?nAs Krauthammer’s first collection ofnessays. Cutting Edges constitutes a careernlandmark. A senior editor at Then