The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky (Modern Library) [Paperback]

Fyodor Dostoevsky (Author), David Magarshack (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 13, 2001

This collection, unique to the Modern Library, gathers seven of Dostoevsky's key works and shows him to be equally adept at the short story as with the novel. Exploring many of the same themes as in his longer works, these small masterpieces move from the tender and romantic White Nights, an archetypal nineteenth-century morality tale of pathos and loss, to the famous Notes from the Underground, a story of guilt, ineffectiveness, and uncompromising cynicism, and the first major work of existential literature. Among Dostoevsky's prototypical characters is Yemelyan in The Honest Thief, whose tragedy turns on an inability to resist crime. Presented in chronological order, in David Magarshack's celebrated translation, this is the definitive edition of Dostoevsky's best stories.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dostoevsky, the only psychologist from whom I had something to learn."

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Modern Library (February 13, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375756884
• ISBN-13: 978-0375756887
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Russian

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enduring, February 20, 2001

By 

Prokievitch Bazarov "Bazarov" (POLOTROV RUSSIA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky (Modern Library) (Paperback)

Dostoyevsky is usually regarded as one of the finest novelists who ever lived. Literary modernism, existentialism, and various schools of psychology, theology, and literary criticism have been profoundly shaped by his ideas. His works are often called prophetic because he so accurately predicted how Russia's revolutionaries would behave if they came to power. In his time he was also renowned for his activity as a journalist.

In 1876-77 Dostoyevsky devoted his energies to Dnevnik pisatelya, which he was now able to bring out in the form he had originally intended. A one-man journal, for which Dostoyevsky served as editor, publisher, and sole contributor, the Diary represented an attempt to initiate a new literary genre. Issue by monthly issue, the Diary created complex thematic resonances among diverse kinds of material: short stories, plans for possible stories, autobiographical essays, sketches that seem to lie on the boundary between fiction and journalism, psychological analyses of sensational crimes, literary criticism, and political commentary. The Diary proved immensely popular and financially rewarding, but as an aesthetic experiment it was less successful, probably because Dostoyevsky, after a few intricate issues, seemed unable to maintain his complex design. Instead, he was drawn into expressing his political views, which, during these two years, became increasingly extreme. Specifically, Dostoyevsky came to believe that western Europe was about to collapse, after which Russia and the Russian Orthodox church would create the kingdom of God on earth and so fulfill the promise of the Book of Revelation. In a series of anti-Catholic articles, he equated the Roman Catholic church with the socialists because both are concerned with earthly rule and maintain (Dostoyevsky believed) an essentially materialist view of human nature. He reached his moral nadir with a number of anti-Semitic articles.

Because Dostoyevsky was unable to maintain his aesthetic design for the Diary, its most famous sections are usually known from anthologies and so are separated from the context in which they were designed to fit. These sections include four of his best short stories--"Krotkaya" ("The Meek One"), "Son smeshnogo cheloveka" ("The Dream of a Ridiculous Man"), "Malchik u Khrista na elke" ("The Heavenly Christmas Tree"), and "Bobok"--as well as a number of autobiographical and semifictional sketches, including "Muzhik Marey" ("The Peasant Marey"), "Stoletnaya" ("A Hundred-Year-Old Woman"), and a satire, "Spiritizm. Nechto o chertyakh Chrezychaynaya khitrost chertey, esli tolko eto cherti" ("Spiritualism. Something about Devils. The Extraordinary Cleverness of Devils, If Only These Are Devils"). These are some rare stories indeed...

51 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dostoyevsky's creative power and profundity of thought, February 21, 2004

By 

Matthew M. Yau "Voracious reader" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky (Modern Library) (Paperback)

This collection of seven stories presented in chronological order, by David Magarshack, is not only unique to the Modern Library classics series but to all published works. This celebrated translation explores many of the recurring themes in Dostoyevsky's longer works and presents apropos the silhouettes of his characters in novels. The short works accent his creative power and profundities of thought and manifest his tour de force as a raconteur.

1. White Nights (1848)
The title refers to the twilight summer nights in Petersberg. A tender and romantic story, this piece to a large extent is autobiographical of the days Dostoyevsky spent alone in Petersberg. The main character is a dreamer who cannot remember what he was dreaming and sometimes had no recollection of how everything had all happened. A sentimental theme develops against the background of Dostoyevsky's own personal impressions during his nocturnal wanderings, filled with gentle humor and delicate touches of genuine feelings. This piece affords vague hint of theme in Crime and Punishment. It is a story that odes to a moment of bliss that is sufficient for a whole of a man's life.

2. The Honest Thief (1848)
The central character of this piece is an anti-hero whose tragedy consists of his helplessness to shun and to resist evil. Like "White Nights", this piece again paves the way for the longer work in the sense of punishment.

3. The Christmas Tree and a Wedding (1849)
David Magarshack calls this piece the most artistically perfect short story in Dostoyevsky's early days as a fiction writer. It happens to be my personal favorite besides the uncompromisingly cynical "The Notes From Underground." The piece is savagely satiric and ridicules the preposterous, fawning adults in high society. Dostoyevsky delineates an indelible scene of pure joy only perhaps manifested in our children during the very first years of their life. Through the narrator's admiration for the children, the absurdities of their parents are shamelessly magnified to the fullness. A career opportunist, in spite of his importance and dignity, went out of his way to pursue an underage heiress, an object of his desire that could not become a real object at least another five years.

4. The Peasant Marey (1876)
Dostoyevsky probably adds new touch and imbues his sentiment in depicting this anecdote with a serf during his early childhood. Written during his imprisonment in Siberia, this piece captures the vividness of a brief encounter that must have been hidden in his mind without even his knowing it. Only God perhaps might have seen from above what profound human feeling, delicate tenderness the heart of a serf who neither expected nor dreamed of his emancipation.

5. A Gentle Creature (1876)
This is one of the least comprehensible pieces in this collection despite the style of writing conveys the reality of the situation. Dostoyevsky himself regarded the story "eminently realistic" and surely accents the psychologist in him. A husband tells of the events that invariably led to the suicide of his wife. The rambling, fragmented, bearing-no-cause narrative style epitomizes the thought-process and speech of an inveterate hypochondriac. Succession of memories dawns on him the truth as the prose takes a more concrete form. The story explores the rare theme of insensibility in human relationships.

6. Notes From Underground
Doubtless Dostoyevsky's most significant short work, this piece inaugurated existential literature in the 19th century. The Underground Man goes out of his way to offend his hearers, with frequent contradictory comments, rambles on with no reason and bears no cause. So often does he mean to say something but conceal his last word out of fear. The Underground Man is ubiquitous in society and is shadowed in those who feel disgusted with real life. The personage transcends the personal struggles and assumes a universal significance that embraces mankind. It is reminiscent of "White Nights" only that the latter flows along the pleasant surface of human thought and emotion.

7. The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
The piece along with "The Notes from Underground" voice Dostoyevsky's final judgment of mankind. It explores the purging of conscience and the existence of human being and consciousness.

The collection shows that Dostoyevsky is capable and adept in surveying the human scene with complete detachment. It serves as a fine introduction to Dostoyevsky's works and as a prelude to his longer works.

2004 (9)

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, needs more recognition!, February 4, 2004

By 

Frederoil (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky (Modern Library) (Paperback)

Some of these short stories are well-known (Notes from the Underground). However, if you've never read White Nights, this is a must buy. Each short story is unique and can carry itself, but White Nights is the story that sticks with me the longest. I read these stories on a whim, and it brought me a whole new interest in Dostoevsky. I read "The Gambler" most recently, also brilliant. And right now I've just started "Crime and Punishment." The writing style of Dostoevsky is right up my ally. Each of his characters become so familiar with the reader, because of the way he reads out their thoughts and inner ramblings in a way I never thought possible. Dostoevsky's true gift, in my opinion, are his characters and how distinct they are. It's hard to describe, but I can really feel the psychological differences between each person. Remarkable.