Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Список книг автора Fyodor DostoyevskyNotes from Underground and The Double (translated by Constance Garnett)
A predecessor to such monumental works as “Crime and Punishment” and “The Brothers Karamazov”, “Notes from Underground” represents a turning point in Dostoyevsky’s writing towards the more political side. In this work we find a story in two parts, the first a rambling memoir of a bitter, isolated, retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg, Russia. In the second part we follow the unnamed narrator through a series of events which further exhibit the consciousness of a man who is disillusioned by the oppression and corruption of the society in which he lives. A philosophically dark and politically charged novel, “Notes from Underground” shows Dostoyevsky using the narrative form as a device for criticizing the prevailing ideologies of his time, mainly nihilism and rational egoism. In “The Double” we see an intense psychological study of its main character, Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin, a government clerk who becomes increasingly obsessed with the idea that a man who bears a striking resemblance to him is trying to take over his identity. “Notes from Underground” and “The Double” are two of Dostoyevsky’s more popular shorter works, which exhibit the author’s uncanny ability to portray the darker side of the human psyche. This edition is printed follows the translations of Constance Garnett and includes a biographical afterword.
Demons
One of Dostoyevsky’s most famous novels, this 1872 work utilizes five main characters and their philosophical ideas to describe the political chaos of Imperial Russia in the nineteenth century. Based on an actual event involving the murder of a revolutionary by his comrades, this novel depicts a band of ruthless radicals attempting to incite revolt in their small, rural community. At the center of “Demons” lies Dostoyevsky’s desire to protest the enthusiasm for revolution he saw all around him, as well as the conservative establishment’s inability to cope with those revolutionary ideas or their consequences. The author considered utopias unobtainable, and he depicts the radicals and the ideas they represent with a frightening savage intensity, as if they were possessed by demons rather than those unrealistic ideas. Perhaps the greatest political novel ever written, Dostoyevsky’s “Demons” fully displays his devastating condemnation of human manipulation through brilliant characterization, as well as his keen and seemingly clairvoyant insight into the hearts of men. This edition follows the translation of Constance Garnett and includes a biographical afterword.
Crime and Punishment (Translated by Constance Garnett with an Introduction by Nathan B. Fagin)
Raskolnikov is an impoverished former student living in Saint Petersburg, Russia who feels compelled to rob and murder Alyona Ivanovna, an elderly pawn broker and money lender. After much deliberation the young man sneaks into her apartment and commits the murder. In the chaos of the crime Raskolnikov fails to steal anything of real value, the primary purpose of his actions to begin with. In the period that follows Raskolnikov is racked with guilt over the crime that he has committed and begins to worry excessively about being discovered. His guilt begins to manifest itself in physical ways. He falls into a feverish state and his actions grow increasingly strange almost as if he subconsciously wishes to be discovered. As suspicion begins to mount towards him, he is ultimately faced with the decision as to how he can atone for the heinous crime that he has committed, for it is only through this atonement that he may achieve some psychological relief. As is common with Dostoyevsky’s work, the author brilliantly explores the psychology of his characters, providing the reader with a deeper understanding of the motivations and conflicts that are central to the human condition. First published in 1866, “Crime and Punishment” is one of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s most famous novels, and to this day is regarded as one of the true masterpieces of world literature. This edition is translated by Constance Garnett, includes an Introduction by Nathan B. Fagin, and a biographical afterword.
White Nights and Other Stories
From the author of Crime and Punishment comes this remarkable collection of short fiction. A selection of ten compelling tales, steeped in Dostoyevsky's characteristic themes of spiritual torment and psychological struggle, evoke life in Czarist Russia. Featured stories include «The Dream of a Ridiculous Man,» «Bobok,» «An Honest Thief,» «An Unpleasant Predicament,» «Another Man's Wife,» «The Peasant Marey,» «The Crocodile,» "A Faint Heart," «A Christmas Tree and a Wedding,» and the title work. Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) created powerful depictions of the human condition that led to significant developments in twentieth-century thought, including psychoanalysis and existentialism. His influence resonates in the works of latter-day authors such as Proust, Faulkner, Hemingway, and Kafka. This collection of his short stories offers thought-provoking glimpses into the Russian author's moving portrayals of the conflict between flesh and spirit.
Poor Folk
When Poor Folk was first published in 1846, Dostoyevsky — one of nineteenth-century Russia's most important authors — was just twenty-four years old. The novel brought him immediate critical and public acclaim. A poignant societal and physiological sketch, Dostoyevsky's masterpiece is written in the form of letters of correspondence between two characters, both trapped within the poverty and circumstance of St. Petersburg's slums. Makar is a writer struggling to survive; Varvara, a low-paid seamstress. The two are in love, but too poor to marry. They long for respect, but can't even muster enough for themselves.Written during the initial stirrings of the Russian realism movement, Poor Folk is a vivid portrait of society's «everyman.» A work that is both beautiful and tragic, it unravels an unforgettable tale of the human condition.
Notes from the Underground
In 1864, just prior to the years in which he wrote his greatest novels — Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed and The Brothers Karamazov — Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) penned the darkly fascinating Notes from the Underground. Its nameless hero is a profoundly alienated individual in whose brooding self-analysis there is a search for the true and the good in a world of relative values and few absolutes. Moreover, the novel introduces themes — moral, religious, political and social — that dominated Dostoyevsky's later works. Notes from the Underground, then, aside from its own compelling qualities, offers readers an ideal introduction to the creative imagination, profundity and uncanny psychological penetration of one of the most influential novelists of the nineteenth century. Constance Garnett's authoritative translation is reprinted here, with a new introduction.
The Idiot
One of the towering figures of Russian literature, Fyodor Dostoyevsky depicted with remarkable insight the depth and complexity of the human soul. In this literary classic, he focuses on Prince Myshkin — a nobleman whose gentle, child-like nature, and refusal to be offended by anything has earned him the nickname of «the idiot.»Returning to Russia from Switzerland, where he underwent medical treatment for a number of years, Myshkin learns of his benefactor's death, finds himself heir to a large fortune, and without instigation, becomes entangled in the intrigues of a corrupt ruling class.A superb, panoramic view of 19th-century Russian manners, morals, and philosophy, The Idiot remains a provocative example of psychological realism.
The House of the Dead
Accused of political subversion as a young man, Fyodor Dostoyevsky was sentenced to four years of hard labor at a Siberian prison camp — a horrifying experience from which he developed this astounding semi-autobiographical memoir of a man condemned to ten years of servitude for murdering his wife.As with a number of the author's other works, this profoundly influential novel brilliantly explores his characters' thoughts while probing the depths of the human soul. Describing in relentless detail the physical and mental suffering of the convicts, Dostoyevsky's character never loses faith in human qualities and the goodness of man.A haunting and remarkable work filled with wonder and resignation, The House of the Dead ranks among the Russian novelist's greatest masterpieces. Of this powerful autobiographical novel, Tolstoy wrote, «I know no better book in all modern literature.»
The Gambler
A compulsive gambler himself at a certain period of his life, Dostoyevsky wrote this novel with real authority. Set in the appropriately named Roulettenburg, a German spa with a casino and an international clientele, it concerns the gambling episodes, tangled love affairs, and complicated lives of Alexey Ivanovitch, a young gambler; Polina Alexandrovna, the woman he loves; a pair of French adventurers, and other characters.Although not as dark as some of Dostoyevsky's other works, The Gambler nevertheless offers a grim and psychologically probing picture of the fatal attractions of gambling. Among its strengths are its well-drawn characters — Aunt Antonida, although lightly sketched in, is especially delightful — and its faithful depiction of life among the gambling set in fashionable German watering holes. This edition reprints Constance Garnett's authoritative translation.
The Eternal Husband
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881), the brilliant Russian novelist whose psychological delvings into the human soul profoundly influenced the twentieth-century novel, wrote a prolific amount of shorter works that are masterpieces in their own right. His novella The Eternal Husband is considered one of the author’s most powerful and perfect creations.This surreal tale of duality and interchanging rivalry explores the life of a rich, idle man suddenly forced to confront the husband of his dead mistress. With keen insight into the human condition, the story relates the shared hatred, love, and guilt of the two men. Ripe with the emotional themes central to Dostoyevsky's greatest novels, including morality, the bonds of sexual love, mental torture, and neurosis, The Eternal Husband reveals the full range of the author's captivating genius.