The Idiot - Softcover

"The Idiot" is Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1868 novel which tells the story of Prince Lyov Nikolayevich Myshkin who, after a long absence, returns to Russia from Switzerland where he sought treatment for his epilepsy. The story is primarily a tragic tale of the struggle for the love of a woman, Nastasya Filippovna, between Myshkin and Rogozhin, a dark and impassioned man that the Prince meets on the train to St. Petersburg. "The Idiot" is a classic tale of the conflict between good and evil. On the one hand Prince Myshkin represents Dostoyevksy's attempt to portray a Christ-like "positively good man" which is sharply contrasted with not only the dark and roguish character of Rogozhin but also with the nature of Russian upper-class society depicted in the novel.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a Russian novelist, short story writer and essayist whose literary works explored human psychology in the troubled political, social, and spiritual context of nineteenth-century Russia. A student of the Nikolayev Military Engineering Institute, Dostoyevsky initially worked as an engineer, but began translating books to earn extra money. The publication of his first novel, Poor Folk, allowed him to join St. Petersburg s literary circles. A prolific writer, Dostoyevsky is best known for work from the latter part of his career, including the classic novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov. Dostoyevsky s influence extends to authors as diverse as Anton Chekhov, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, and Jean-Paul Sartre, among many others. He died in 1881.