Customer Reviews

Great Short Works of Fyodor Dostoevsky (Perennial Classics)

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One night i decided to "start" the first story in the book, The Double. I was up a little past four in the morning, finishing the story. I was simply enthralled. I continued in this fashion for eight days; until i had finished all eight stories. Dostoevsky seems to have endowed every piece of everything he ever wrote with complete brilliance. Though my favorite story in the collection was Notes From the Underground, all the stories were generally entertaining and almost always enlightening.

This collection can be recommended to anyone interested in sampling Dostoyesvky's shorter fiction; it contains within the one volume a good number of stories which in other editions (Penguin and Oxford) fill more than one volume.

The short stories themselves are just sublime and should not be overlooked by those who tend to think that the best work will be necessarily contained in the novels. The Double is my favourite; it is an especially humorous tale, though sombre in its overall vision. Notes from the Underground is seminal, of course, and is probably the most important story included; A Gentle Creature is disturbing.

This is a wonderful book for anyone just entering into Russian literature (or someone who has yet to gain a passion for reading). Dostoevsky is very poignant and clearly articulates the feelings humans go through, including the inner turmoil associated with daily life... Great night time reading.

After reading The House of the Dead, I was given this collection of short stories. I easily drown in each story, always ready to begin the next tale upon finishing the previous.

While this doesn't include all of his great works, this is a great start for anyone wishing to taste his literary genius. I bought this as a prerequisite to Crime and Punishment and am happy to have started here. This collection will give you a good variety of his short works.

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) stands with Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) as one of the twin towers of nineteenth century Russian fiction and as one of the greatest novelists in literary history. In Great Short Works the editors and translators of the Perennial Series have selected eight gems from the Dostoevsky ouevre which are not as well known as his masterpiece novels "Crime and Punishment"; "The Possessed"; "The Brothers Karamazov"; "The Devils" and others.
The stories take up 738 pages of densely typed prosed and are in order:
1. The Double like all the tales is set in St. Petersburg. It concerns an office clerk who begins to hallucinate and sees a double who looks like him. The double works in the same office and is a favorite with the ladies and a success in society. The ending results in the first person narrator being taken away to a madhouse.
2. White Nights is the story of a doomed loved affair. The themes of loneliness and the futile quest for a perfect love are expressed in beautiful prose.
3. A Disgraceful Affair is the only story told in the third person. This humorous story concerns an officer manager who visits the home of one of his workers on the latter's wedding day. The officer becomes drunk and spends the night in the bridal bed forcing the bride and groom to sleep elsewhere!
4. Notes from the Underground is a melancholy tale of a man who has been rejected by society. He spends time with a prostitute and disgraces himself at a wild party. The gloomy nature of this tale of social awkwardness, rejection, loneliness and despair is a microcosm of the major themes of Dostoevsky in his novels.
5. The Gambler tells the story of an inveterate player of roulette at a German watering hole. The narrator is in love with the wild Russian beauty Polina. The most interesting character is the old Granny who is addicted to the gambling tables. An excellent story which has more action and less philosophizing that the typical Dostoevsky story.
6. The Eternal Husband deals with a cuckold meeting up with the seducer of his wife. Complications ensue as the cuckold courts a young girl and murder threatens.

7. A Gentle Creature tells the story of a disillusioned pawnshop owner who has been forced to resign from the army. His difficult wife and he do not get along; she jumps out of a window clutching an icon to her breast.
Another illustration of an anti-hero lamenting the state of his life and the loneliness of humanity.
8. The Dream of a Ridiculous Man tells of a man who dreams of world peace in a utopia. The dream becomes a nightmare as he realizes that he is fated to introduce sin into the idyll he has conjured up in his bed. The story has a postive note in that the narrator seeks to help a poor girl in need of food, shelter and love.
This inexpensive book is one of a series of "The Great Short Works of ...(such authors as Tolstoy, Twain, Crane, Poe and Melville) The book is a good introduction to the works of major authors whose lesser known works are still worthy of being read and appreciated1 Excellent!