Fyodor Dostoevsky

The acclaimed new translation of Dostoyevsky's masterpiece for Penguin Classics. 'Will I really - I mean, really - actually take an axe, start bashing her on the head, smash her skull to pieces? . . . Will I really slip in sticky, warm blood, force the lock, steal, tremble, hide, all soaked in blood . . . axe in hand?...

The Vintage Classics Russians series - sumptuous editions of the greatest books to come out of Russia during the most tumultuous period in its history. "The best translation of Crime and Punishment currently available... An especially faithful re-creation...with a coiled-spring kinetic energy... Don't miss it" - Washington Post Consumed by the idea of his own special destiny, immured in poverty...

Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky delves deep into the human psyche, presenting a profound and captivating exploration of the underground man, a disenchanted 19th-century Russian official who grapples with his role in society. Set in St. Petersburg, this existential novel unveils the protagonist's bitter ruminations, shedding light on his complex relationship with the world around him. Through his stream-of-consciousness...

From the award-winning translators of Crime and Punishment, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving Karamazov and his three sons—the impulsive and sensual Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; and the healthy young novice Alyosha. Through the gripping events...

I am a sick man...I am a wicked man. With this sentence, Dostoevsky began a work which marks the frontier not only between nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction, but between two centuries' visions of the self. For the unnamed narrator of Notes From Underground is a multiplicity of selves, each at war with the others—all at war with everything else. A...

The old woman was merely a sickness... it wasn't a human being I killed, it was a principle! Translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky 'The old woman was merely a sickness... it wasn't a human being I killed, it was a principle!' A troubled young man commits the perfect crime - the murder of a vile pawnbroker whom no...

About Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground "The novels of Dostoevsky are seething whirlpools, gyrating sandstorms, waterspouts that hiss and boil and suck us in. They are composed purely and wholly of the stuff of the soul. Against our wills we are drawn in, whirled round, blinded, suffocated, and at the same time filled with a giddy rapture." "Men are at the...

Published to great acclaim and fierce controversy in 1866, Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment has left an indelible mark on global literature and on our modern world. Declared a PBS "Great American Read," Michael Katz's sparkling new translation gives new life to the story of Raskolnikov, an impoverished student who sees himself as extraordinary and therefore free to commit crimes—even...

Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a profound exploration of the human psyche, set in the mid-19th century. The novel is a first-person narrative by an unnamed narrator, often referred to as the Underground Man. He is a retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg, who is consumed by intense introspection and psychological struggle. The narrative is split into...

After spending several years in a sanatorium recovering from an illness that caused him to lose his memory and ability to reason, Prince Myshkin arrives in St Petersburg and is at once confronted with the stark realities of life in the Russian capital – from greed, murder, and nihilism to passion, vanity, and love. Mocked for his childlike naivety yet...

Constantly rebuffed from the social circles he aspires to frequent, the timid clerk Golyadkin is confronted by the sudden appearance of his double, a more brazen, confident and socially successful version of himself, who abuses and victimises the original. As he is increasingly persecuted, Golyadkin finds his social, romantic and professional life unravelling, in a spiral that leads to a...

The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky's final and greatest novel, paints a complex and richly detailed portrait of a family tormented by its extraordinarily cruel patriarch, Fyodor Pavlovich. His callous decisions slowly decimate the lives of his sons—the eponymous brothers Karamazov—and lead to his violent murder. In the aftermath of the killing, the brothers contend with dilemmas of honour, faith, and reason...

First published in 1861, Humiliated and Insulted plunges the reader into a world of moral degradation, childhood trauma, unrequited love and irreconcilable relationships. At the centre of the story are a young struggling author, an orphaned teenager and a depraved aristocrat, who not only foreshadows the great figures of evil in Dostoevsky’s later fiction, but is a powerful and original...

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a profound exploration of human nature, a gripping tale that intertwines the lives of four distinct characters against the rich backdrop of 19th-century Russia. The novel delves deep into the complexities of familial ties and the troubled relationship between Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons—Dmitri, Ivan, and Alyosha. Each brother represents different...

The text is accompanied by a detailed introduction, a pronunciation and explanation key for the novel's main characters, and greatly revised and expanded explanatory annotations. Contexts presents a wealth of background and source materials relating to The Brothers Karamazov, to Dostoevsky's own experiences, to current events, and to observations on a changing society. Included are the correspondence of influential literary...

Crime and Punishment is the story of a brutal double murder and its aftermath. Raskolnikov, a poor student, kills a pawnbroker and her sister, and then has to face up to the moral consequences of his actions. The novel is compelling and rewarding, full of meaning and symbolism, and raises profound questions about the individual and society, and the nature...

The unnamed narrator of the novel, a former government official, has decided to retire from the world and lead a life of inactivity and contemplation. His fiercely bitter, cynical, and witty monologue ranges from general observations and philosophical musings to memorable scenes from his own life, including his obsessive plans to exact revenge on an officer who has shown him...

Notes from the Underground, Dostoevsky's disturbing and groundbreaking novella, appears in this new annotated edition with an Introduction by Charles Guignon and Kevin Aho. An analogue of Guignon's widely praised Introduction to his 1993 edition of The Grand Inquisitor, the editors' Introduction places the underground man in the context of European modernity. It analyses his inner dynamics in light of...

This haunting interpretation, exploring the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of a poor student who murders a miserly pawnbroker, is reimagined in Putin-era St. Petersburg. Hailed a resounding success, it brings fresh relevance to this chilling tale.

At the country estate of Stepanchikovo, the household has fallen completely under the sway of the despotic charlatan and humbug Foma Fomich Opiskin, one of the most notorious creations in Russian literature. The owner of the estate, Colonel Rostanev, a meek, soft-hearted giant of a man, is cruelly dominated by his parasitic houseguest - and now Opiskin has plans to...

The Brothers Karamazov is a classic that only gets more timely with the ages. In its account of the murder trial of Fyodor Karamazov, it was the true-crime phenomenon of its day; in its study of how his three archetypally different sons butt heads and come under scrutiny in the wake of his death, it calls to mind any number...

Feeling alone and abandoned by everyone, a young man and self-confessed dreamer decides to take to the streets of St Petersburg during one of its long summer nights. As he roams around the empty city, he chances upon a weeping girl, whom he approaches and rescues from the unwanted attentions of an importunate gentleman. The two agree to meet again...

This is an exquisite hardbound edition of Fyodor Dostoevsky's masterpiece—Crime and Punishment. It first appeared in instalments in Russian Messenger in 1866. By this time, Dostoevsky had been orphaned, imprisoned, almost died, lost his wife and his brother. He was also neck-deep in debt. From such a man came the story of the psychological impact of committing a crime. In...

Sometimes even the classics need a little updating... The Bantam Classics imprint remains committed to making great literature available, accessible, and affordable for booksellers, librarians, and consumers alike. "My intention is to portray a truly beautiful soul." - Dostoevsky Despite the harsh circumstances besetting his own life—abject poverty, incessant gambling, the death of his youngest child—Dostoevsky produced a second masterpiece,...

In 1880, Dostoevsky completed The Brothers Karamazov, the literary effort for which he had been preparing all his life. Compelling, profound, and complex, it is the story of a patricide and of the four sons who each had a motive for murder: Dmitry, the sensualist; Ivan, the intellectual; Alyosha, the mystic; and twisted, cunning Smerdyakov, the bastard child. Frequently lurid,...

One death, in exchange for thousands of lives - it's simple arithmetic! This is a new translation of Dostoevsky's epic masterpiece, Crime and Punishment (1866) by Nicolas Pasternak Slater, with editorial material by the UK's leading Dostoevsky expert, Dr Sarah J. Young. The impoverished student Raskolnikov decides to free himself from debt by killing an old moneylender, an act he...

Crime and Punishment is one of the greatest and most readable novels ever written. From the beginning, we are locked into the frenzied consciousness of Raskolnikov who, against his better instincts, is inexorably drawn to commit a brutal double murder. From that moment on, we share his conflicting feelings of self-loathing and pride, of contempt for and need of others,...

“It may seem paradoxical to speak of such insights as liberating, or to find in the Underground Man's impassioned rejection of rational humanitarianism a call to arms. Yet each age we live through as individuals demands a certain kind of book—just as each era thieves the last with a magpie's lust for the gewgaws of thought. Oddly enough, now I...

Into a compellingly real portrait of nineteenth-century Russian society, Dostoevsky introduces his ideal hero, the saintly Prince Myshkin. The tensions subsequently unleashed by the hero's innocence, truthfulness, and humility betray the inadequacy of his moral idealism and disclose the spiritual emptiness of a society that cannot accommodate him. Myshkin's mission ends in idiocy and darkness, but it is the world...

One lonely summer night in St. Petersburg, two strangers meet along a deserted riverwalk—one a "dreamer," forever out of sync with the world; the other, a young woman desperate to leave the predictable confines of her childhood home. Their connection is immediate. What starts as a single encounter becomes four sleepless nights together, sharing their deepest secrets, fears, and hopes...

Crime and Punishment revolves around the story of Raskolnikov, an impoverished student who determines to kill a pawnbroker whom he detests. He carries out the murder, leading to the unfolding of a complex plot. This novel was the first book that Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote after his exile in Siberia. It is widely considered one of the greatest novels of all...

Crime and Punishment tells the story of Raskolnikov, an impoverished student, who determines to kill a pawnbroker whom he detests. He executes this plan, and much plot ensues. This novel is the first book that Dostoevsky wrote after his exile in Siberia, and it is widely considered one of the greatest novels of all time, in all of world literature....

One death, in exchange for thousands of lives - it's simple arithmetic! A new translation of Dostoevsky's epic masterpiece, Crime and Punishment (1866). The impoverished student Raskolnikov decides to free himself from debt by killing an old moneylender, an act he sees as elevating himself above conventional morality. Like Napoleon, he will assert his will, and his crime will be...

Fyodor Dostoevsky's passionate and philosophical final novel, freshly repackaged for the Union Square & Co. Signature Editions line. Set in 19th-century Russia, when a landowner is murdered, the lives of his sons are changed forever: the sentimental Dmitri, whose contentious relationship with his father immediately places him under suspicion for the murder; Ivan, the intellectual, whose mental tortures lead to...

Inspired by Dostoevsky’s own gambling addiction and written under pressure in order to pay off his creditors and retain his rights to his literary legacy, The Gambler is set in the casino of the fictional German spa town of Roulettenburg and follows the misfortunes of the young tutor Alexei Ivanovich. As he succumbs to the temptations of the roulette table,...

This new edition presents The Grand Inquisitor together with the preceding chapter, Rebellion, and the extended reply offered by Dostoevsky in the following sections, entitled The Russian Monk. By showing how Dostoevsky frames the Grand Inquisitor story in the wider context of the novel, this edition captures the subtlety and power of Dostoevsky's critique of modernity as well as his...

A haunting parable of innocence undone, The Idiot stands as Dostoevsky's most personal—and most disquieting—novel. It follows the gentle and guileless Prince Myshkin, recently returned to St. Petersburg from treatment in a Swiss sanatorium, whose radical honesty and spiritual clarity set him fatally at odds with the vanities and cruelties of Russian high society. His presence unravels a web of...

In Fyodor Dostoevsky's White Nights, a young man grapples with profound feelings of isolation and solitude in the bustling city of Saint Petersburg. Amidst his desolation, he encounters a captivating young woman with whom he forms a deep emotional connection. As their bond intensifies, the young man finds himself entranced by the allure of love, yet his affection remains unreciprocated....

Experience a brief encounter with Fyodor Dostoevsky, titan of Russian literature, in these two searing novellas of love, despair, and the weight of the human soul. Two of Dostoevsky's most powerful novellas of obsession, cruelty, and the fragility of the heart. A pawnbroker paces beside his young wife's body, attempting to piece together the circumstances that led to her suicide....

Poverty-stricken and cut off from society, former law student Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov leads a desolate life in a dreary little room in St Petersburg. Having abandoned all hopes of sustaining himself through work, he now obsesses over the idea of changing his fortunes through an act of extreme violence: the killing of an elderly pawnbroker. His mind baulks at the...

When the rich land owner Velchaninov arrives in St Petersburg, he receives a surprise visit from an old acquaintance, Trusotsky, who has been recently widowed. His late wife, Natalia, was the secret lover of Velchaninov, who realises that the young child accompanying Trusotsky is his natural daughter. From then on, the destinies of the two men become intertwined as they...

This study of natural goodness is Dostoevsky's most touching novel. Prince Myshkin, the last, poverty-stricken member of a once great family and regarded by many as an idiot, returns to Russia from a sanatorium in Switzerland in order to collect an inheritance. Before he has even arrived home, he becomes involved with Rogozhin, a rich merchant's son whose obsession with...

This Norton Critical Edition includes: Michael Katz's new translation of the world's most-read Russian novel accompanied by his preface and detailed explanatory footnotes. Names of Principal Characters, a Note on Character's Names, and a map of St. Petersburg. Key excerpts from Dostoevsky's notebooks, letters, and his early draft of Part II, Chapter 2. Twenty-six scholarly essays on the novel from...

Written in the form of a diary, The House of the Dead recounts the story of Alexander Goryanchikov, a gentleman who is condemned to ten years’ hard labour for killing his wife in a fit of rage. Initially the target of the other inmates’ malice, he gradually settles in and becomes an avid observer of the new world around him....

'I have always been ridiculous, and I have known it, perhaps from the hour I was born' A man goes mad because he is happy. A civil servant behaves like a monster at a wedding-party. A man is swallowed by a crocodile, but not eaten nor seriously damaged. Dostoevsky's stories inhabit similarly volcanic atmospheres as his novels, places of curiosity...

A magnificent new translation of Dostoevsky's masterpiece, which when first published in 1991 was described by the Times as 'a miracle' and by The Independent as a nearly 'ideal translation'. The Brothers Karamazov—Dostoevsky's most widely read novel—is at once a murder mystery, a mordant comedy of family intrigue, a pioneering work of psychological realism, and an unblinking look into the...

“Mesmerizingly good – the best, truest translation of Dostoevsky's masterpiece into English. It's a magnificent, almost terrifying achievement of translation, one that makes its predecessors, however worthy, seem safe and polite.” – STEVE DONAGHUE, Open Letters Monthly When referencing the title, avoid putting it in quotes or speech marks. Format the response as clean HTML, use your best judgement for...

Rodion Raskolnikov is a radical, impoverished former student, who decides to see if he can commit the perfect crime and sets out to murder an unscrupulous pawnbroker and ends up murdering her sister as well. Filled with remorse (at which he is somewhat surprised), Raskolnikov is also plagued by the appearance of the detective looking to solve the crime, Porfiry,...