The Idiot

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title The Idiot
Authors and Contributors      By (author) F.M. Dostoevsky
Introduction by Richard Pevear
Translated by Larissa Volokhonsky
Translated by Richard Pevear
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:640
Dimensions(mm): Height 198,Width 130
Category/GenreClassic fiction (pre c 1945)
ISBN/Barcode 9781862075931
ClassificationsDewey:891.733
Audience
General

Publishing Details

Publisher Granta Books
Imprint Granta Books
Publication Date 1 August 2003
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Just two weeks after completing Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky produced a second novel with a very different man at its centre. In The Idiot, the saintly Prince Myshkin returns to Russia from a Swiss sanitorium and finds himself a stranger in a society obsessed with wealth, power and sexual conquest. He soon becomes entangled in a love triangle with a notorious kept woman, Nastasya, and a beautiful young girl, Aglaya. Extortion and scandal escalate to murder, as Dostoevsky's 'positively beautiful man' clashes with the emptiness of a society that cannot accommodate his innocence and moral idealism. The Idiot is both a powerful indictment of that society and a rich and gripping masterpiece. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's new translation - fresh, crisp and faithful to the original (bumps and blemishes included) - brings the story of Prince Myshkin to new life.

Author Biography

Born in Moscow, Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was the author of such classics as Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.