The Idiot (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Author), David Magarshack (Introduction, Translator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, justly acclaimed for their translations of such Russian classics as Gogol's Dead Souls and Dostoyevski's The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment and Notes from Underground, have now undertaken another major Dostoyevski novel, The Idiot. Their trademark style fresh, crisp and faithful to the original (bumps and blemishes included) brings the story of nave, truth-telling Prince Myshkin to new life. As is true of their other translations of Dostoyevski, this will likely be the definitive edition for years to come. Intro. by Pevear.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
?Nothing is outside Dostoevsky?s province. . . . Out of Shakespeare there is no more exciting reading.? ?Virginia Woolf


From the Trade Paperback edition. -- Review --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (January 30, 1956)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140440542
• ISBN-13: 978-0140440546
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,167,653 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

122 of 125 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dark, tumultuous, complex work--one of D's greatest., March 16, 2000

By	William Errickson, Jr. "Will Errickson" (Raleigh, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Idiot (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Dostoevsky, that great tortured and feverish soul, wrote this novel after the onslaught of the Nihilists in Russian arts and letters. He felt he was waging a war against the crude and unfeeling Western materialism of the day; he was battling what he saw as a holy war. While authors like Turgenev and Tolstoy regarded the expanding West with (fairly) open arms, Dostoevsky feared it would cause a religious crisis, where faith in Christ was extinguished and ignorance, vanity, and greed would overcome.

This is a towering, exciting novel--perhaps not as great as "Crime & Punishment" or "Brothers Karamazov"--it contains some of his most penetrating insights into religious faith, human compassion, despair, and insanity. Prince Myshkin is of course one of literature's great characters, a Christ-like young man caught up in the treachery of the aristocratic lives of the Yepanchins. The other two main characters, Rogozhin and Nastasya Filippovna, along with Myshkin, form a powerful triangle that, despite their being "off-stage" for much of the novel, drive this novel to its tragic, unavoidable climax.

I do not, however, recommend this book to first time Dostoevsky readers; that should be "Notes from Underground" or "Crime and Punishment." The ideas Dostoevsky explores here need some context and understanding; they may leave the inexperienced reader a bit confused. At least that was my experience! After understanding him and his concerns, this novel cracked wide open. It is a darkly spiritual work, as are all of his; it is also quite disturbing. When young Ippolit describes the Hans Holbein painting "Christ in the Tomb" that adorns the cover of the Oxford edition, we see into the darkest reaches of despair and hopelessness. Indeed, the painting is a Christ that is unresurrected, one that is rotting flesh and cannot, in Dostoevsky's scenario, save humankind. This thought terrifies Rogozhin, Myshkin... and Dostoevsky himself.

What a stunning achievement this work is. I am in awe of it. Simply: Read it.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By far, the best book I've read, November 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Idiot (Signet classic) (Paperback)

Dostoyevsky is the master of the art of creating the character. All his characters have a distinct personality, each of them behaving in a certain way, until you truly feel for those characters. But in The Idiot, things are different. You see the corruption of the people through the eyes of the innocent and loveable Prince Myshkin. But Myshkin is seen as an 'Idiot' because of his true kindness. Only the strong can survive in this world, or so it seems. The character of Hippolite is also a truly great character, as well as Rogozhin. Not a word should ever be changed from this awesome novel. Read it, change your view on life.

43 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book by my favorite author!, August 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Idiot (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

This is the novel where Dostoevsky's ability as an artist to create fascinating characters reach it's pinnacle. How can you read this novel and not love the Prince Myshkin, with his childlike innocence juxtaposed against his complete mastery into the inner psychologies of people, or not fall in love with Aglaia, the sensitive and mercurial soul that protects herself behind a wall of cynicism and pride? Dostoevsky somehow casts his spell, whereby the the reader is lead into another world populated with seemingly fantastic and insane characters, who nevertheless seem absolutely real. His uncanny insights into the depths of psychology are incredibly trenchant and almost super-human. Nietschze said of Dostoevsky that he is the only psychologist whom he ever learned anything from. So absolutely true! Who else wrote with such insight about people with self destructive tendencies(Natashya), subconscious desires, and the irrational contradictions of the conscious and subconscious. If you read this novel and do not come away with new insight and a better understanding of the psychological workings of others around you, either you are Freud come back from the dead or incredibly dense!