8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dostoevsky's Grim View of Mankind, May 7, 2001
This review is from: The Best Short Stories of Dostoevsky (Modern Library) (Hardcover)
This collection of six short stories and the novella Notes from the Underground give the reader a glimpse into the mind of one of the 19th Centuries greatest authors. The collection literally covers the entire career of the novelist. The stories offer compact detailed descriptions of life in St. Petersburg at the end of the last century.
While the stories are certainly not happy they are worth reading. The selections include the following: White Nights: a love story between a dreamer and a woman he meets and loses in a time span of 4 days. This story hearkens to later dreamers in Dostoevsky's writings including the Underground Man.
In The Honest Thief we see a more mature writer grappling with the idea of guilt associated with a minor crime. The honest thief of the title is Yemalyan who may be the genesis for later characters who are unable to avoid crime that surrounds them
The Christmas Tree and a Wedding is a straight forward story with a twist that is almost O. Henry-ish in its finale. It is probably the most perfect story in the collection.
The Peasant Marey is a recollection from the author's youth which was written during a prison stay. The purpose is to show the nobility of the peasant class.
Notes From Underground has been reviewed earlier and needs no more discussion at this point.
A Gentle Creature is an excellent example of realism. The story recounts the tortured thoughts of a less than perfect husband on the occassion of his young wife's suicide.
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man recounts Dostoevsky's final analysis of the human condition. Man is essentially good but can be corrupted bt reason and science.
On the whole this is a good introduction to the author's shorter works that with careful reading can be if not joyful quite meaningful.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Collection, September 6, 2010
This review is from: The Best Short Stories of Dostoevsky (Modern Library) (Hardcover)
Best Short Stories of Dostoevsky truly lives up to its name - a notable accomplishment - and may still be the author's top short fiction collection in English. With seven stories and over three hundred pages, it has a generous offering: "White Nights," "The Honest Thief," "The Christmas Tree and the Wedding," "The Peasant Marey," "Notes from the Underground," "A Gentle Creature," and "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man." Ranging from great to masterful, they are essential for anyone even remotely interested in Dostoevsky and an ideal starting point before tackling his mammoth novels.
Dostoevsky being Dostoevsky, the real thing to know about any of his English books is how good the translation is and how much supplemental material is included. This is very strong in the former department. David Magarshack is now one of the lesser-read Dostoevsky translators but in my view the best. I know no Russian and am unable to comment on accuracy, but I have read Dostoevsky through about half a dozen translators, and Magarshack is the best for me. His Dostoevsky is supple and streamlined, making for relatively easy reading and seeming to readily capture the writer's unique dialogue. Above all, he seems remarkably current and is at least as accessible as more recent translators. As for supplemental material, there is a substantial Introduction with some biographical and contextual information on Dostoevsky and the texts, but those wanting notes or anything else must look elsewhere.
The stories are of course enough reason in themselves to buy the book. "White" is one of Dostoevsky's most intensive love meditations and, indeed, one of the most profoundly searching and affecting - not to mention thorough and honest - investigations of the perennial subject. He shows many of its sides, including those most writers and people ignore, with such realism and emotion that they come across as powerfully as ever - and surely always will. Though missing some of his later depth, this is in many ways one of Dostoevsky's most timeless works. It is also interesting in his canon in that the narrator prefigures some of his more famous characters, especially the Underground Man.
A searching examination of poverty, alcoholism, and other problems plaguing the nineteenth century in Russia and elsewhere, "Honest" is one of Dostoevsky's most moving works. Though again lacking complexity, this has much of the author's core greatness.
Despite being one of his shortest works, "The Christmas" has more than a hint of characteristic greatness and is also somewhat unusual. The narrator again resembles others, but the themes - class, marriage, etc. - are not typical of the author, however prevalent in nineteenth century literature. To see his spin on them is interesting and, though not revolutionary like so much of his work, well done. This is a moving, thought-provoking story that fans will like and that those not normally keen on Dostoevsky may find themselves enjoying.
Though one of his shortest works, "The Peasant" has more than a hint of Dostoevsky's characteristic greatness and is also somewhat unusual in his canon. Like his major work, it is complex in that it can be legitimately read in several very different, even contradictory, ways. Though usually seen as Slavophilic, it ironically has great sympathy for criminals, Poles, and peasants, though certainly in a way very different from today's political correctness. Apparently autobiographical, it begins with a very interesting reminiscence of Dostoevsky's famous prison term and moves to his childhood. His points are well-made, whether or not we agree, and the piece is both moving and thought-provoking.
One might question the inclusion of Notes both because it is too long to be a short story, usually being called a novella or short novel, and because it is so widely available. However, translation advantages aside, including it makes sense in many ways. Primarily, it lets us trace Dostoevsky's career arc, which is particularly interesting in that we can see how prior tales in many ways led up to it. The work itself is masterful beyond words. A vivid depiction of the dark side of human nature, it is a great classic that perfectly evokes the feelings of isolation, despair, narcissism, and paranoia that continue to afflict the masses. Though very short, one feels on completing it that one has read a very profound book. It is one of the best and most essential short novels ever. Dostoevsky is known for stunning penetration into human nature, and his mastery showed here for the first time. Notes touches on many profoundly important issues: philosophical, religious, social, political, etc. Indeed, it was right at the heart of the era's prevalent intellectual modes and remains relevant today. It also works as a springboard for Dostoevsky's later, more ambitious novels. Part of the reason it works so well is that the narrator is so recognizably, touchingly, and pathetically human. Anyone who considers him or herself an outcast, who feels as if he or she has never been able to fit in, who is uncomfortable in social situations, feels morally or intellectually superior for unknown reasons, is overly emotional and susceptible to constant depression - or any such thing - will undoubtedly identify and sympathize. Another reason it works so well is the writing style. Far from traditional novel or documentary style, it gives the impression that one is reading a record of a person's private thoughts. We see the thoughts as they come to the character, not in any linear form. He may well be neurotic, psychotic, manic depressive, bi-polar, or egocentric - but is human nonetheless. This is a singular, profound, and important literary work of unique value that sticks a penetrating and insightful knife straight through human nature's heart. It is an essential read for all; even those who will despise it must deal with it, such is its importance and influence.
"A Gentle" may be Dostoevsky's best short story, a masterpiece in many ways as great as his novels. Moving well beyond his early short works' directness, it is a complex, multi-layered piece that can be legitimately interpreted in many ways. The psychological depth for which his novels are so justly famous is here in full force, as is his strong first-person voice. The narration is indeed one of the highlights, as Dostoevsky uses several techniques - unreliable narrator, stream of consciousness, etc. - not common until about half a century later. This shows his vast originality and influence, but the story also has many core strengths, especially a focus on perennial Dostoevsky themes: suicide, mental instability, love's dark side, egotism's evils, and other heavy psychological, philosophical, and social themes.
"The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" is one of Dostoevsky's best, most original, and most influential short stories. It epitomizes several of his defining preoccupations - alienation, Christian charity, etc. - and is a preeminent example of his characteristic psychological realism. A first-person tour de force, it shows yet again that no one matches him for psychological verisimilitude. It is also heavy on his core philosophical concerns and, perhaps most notably, pioneered important concepts that had not even been defined, namely psychoanalysis and solipsism. One can easily see why Freud frequently cited Dostoevsky, as this story essentially prefigured much of his work on dreams by several decades. Fantastic as the story is in some ways - recalling the wilder flights of Paradise Lost and arguably even being almost a science fiction precursor -, it is one of Dostoevsky's most moving and deeply human works.
Wherever one chooses to read them, these stories are required reading, and this edition is highly recommended.
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