You Gotta Know These Works by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Crime and Punishment (1866): Rodion Raskolnikov, a former law student living in St. Petersburg, meets a drunkard named Semyon Marmeladov, whose daughter Sonya prostituted herself to raise money for their family. Seeing similarities to his own sister Dunya, who works as a governess for the perverse Svidrigailov and is engaged to the opportunistic Luzhin, Raskolnikov is moved to murder a pawnbroker named Alyona and her sister Lizaveta in an intended display of radicalism, as he believes that extraordinary people, such as Napoleon, should be allowed to commit crimes for the greater good. He then falls into a state of delirium, dreaming of a peasant named Mikolka beating a horse to death, and is cared for by his former classmate Razumikhin. After witnessing Marmeladov’s death in a carriage accident, and while being hounded by the detective Porfiry Petrovich, Raskolnikov meets Sonya, whose reading of the story of Lazarus rising from the dead eventually moves him to confess. The novel ends with Raskolnikov having been exiled to a Siberian penal colony, where he begins his road to redemption with the help of Sonya.
- Notes from Underground (1864): An unnamed narrator chronicles his thoughts while living as a recluse with an ailing liver in St. Petersburg, introducing himself by stating “I am a sick man…I am a spiteful man.” In the novella’s first section, the narrator criticizes the utopian ideals exemplified by the Crystal Palace in Nikolai Chernyshevsky’s novel What Is to Be Done?. In the novella’s second section, “Apropos of the Wet Snow,” the narrator recounts how he sought to exact revenge on an officer who had previously belittled him by buying an expensive coat and bumping into him on the street. He also describes how he met with his friend Simonov, attended a farewell party for his old classmate Zverkov, and revoked the salary of his servant Apollon. He laments how he had rejected the kindness of a prostitute named Liza, before the novella abruptly ends with an editorial note stating “It seems to us that we may stop here.”
- The Brothers Karamazov (1879): Dmitri, Ivan, and Alyosha Karamazov return to their father Fyodor to settle matters of their inheritance. Alyosha separately observes a group of schoolboys throwing rocks at the sickly Ilyusha; when Alyosha attempts to help, Ilyusha bites Alyosha’s finger. Alyosha then attempts to donate money to Ilyusha’s father Snegiryov, who throws the money on the ground. Later, Ivan recounts to Alyosha the parable of the “Grand Inquisitor,” in which the title figure is kissed on the lips by Jesus Christ. After Alyosha’s faith is shaken by the rotting corpse of Elder Zosima, a woman named Grushenka tells him a story in which an angel rescues a drowning man from a lake using an onion. Ilyusha is chastised after feeding a dog a piece of bread with a pin inside of it at the behest of Smerdyakov, a servant who is speculated to be the illegitimate child of Fyodor and “Reeking Lizaveta.” Dmitri is soon thereafter accused of murdering his father, while Ivan attempts to prove that Smerdyakov was the real perpetrator.
- The Idiot (1868): While returning from a Swiss sanatorium where he was treated for epilepsy, Prince Myshkin—a “positively good and beautiful man” meant to exemplify Christian values—meets the merchant Rogozhin, who plans to use his inheritance to pursue the object of his affection, Nastasya Filippovna. Through his relative Lizaveta Prokofyevna, Myshkin meets and soon falls in love with her daughter Aglaya; he learns that they aim to wed Nastasya to Ganya, an assistant to Lizaveta’s husband General Epanchin. Rogozhin bids for Nastasya’s hand in marriage by offering 100,000 rubles, which she tosses in the fire. At a dinner party, the young Ippolit pontificates on Hans Holbein’s painting of The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb before unsuccessfully attempting to commit suicide with an unloaded gun. Aglaya’s family begins to disapprove of Myshkin when his wild gesticulations lead to him accidentally breaking their Chinese vase. Nastasya demands to be wed to Myshkin, but is then murdered by Rogozhin, causing Myshkin to go mad and be recommitted to the Swiss sanatorium.
- Demons (1871): The narrator, Anton Lavrentyevich, details how Stepan Trofimovich was employed by Varvara Petrovna as a tutor for her son Nikolai Stavrogin, who is allegedly involved with three women—Liza Tushina, Dasha Pavlovna, and the crippled Marya Timofeevna, who lives with her brother Captain Lebyadkin. Stepan’s son Pyotr Stepanovich also attempts to convince Nikolai to join his movement of radical nihilists. After Dasha’s brother Ivan Shatov reveals that Nikolai is married to Marya, Pyotr sends the convict Fedka to kill the Lebyadkins and flirts with the governess Julia Mikhaylovna, whose husband Andrey Antonovich loses his mind when their literary gala is hijacked by radicals and a fire breaks out at the ensuing ball. After the Lebyadkins’ corpses are found in their home, Liza and her cousin Mavriky Nikolaevich head over to investigate but are murdered. Pyotr incites the radicals to kill Shatov and convinces Nikolai’s friend Kirillov to commit suicide and take the blame for the murders. The novel also features one censored chapter, “At Tikhon’s,” that was restored and translated by Virginia Woolf.
- Poor Folk (1845): Second cousins Makar Devushkin and Varvara Dobroselova write letters to each other while living in different destitute buildings on the same street. Devushkin lives in a kitchen, from which he often overhears the hungry groans of his neighbors, the Gorshkovs. It is also revealed that Dobroselova, while living with landlady Anna Fyodorovna, once met and fell in love with a student named Pokrovsky, saving up money to purchase for him a full collection of Pushkin’s works; Pokrovsky had died of illness soon after, with Dobroselova by his side. As the two cousins continue to correspond, Dobroselova accidentally offends Devushkin by sending him a copy of Gogol’s “The Overcoat,” finding the protagonist to be similar to himself. Dobroselova is eventually proposed to by a rich widower named Mr. Bykov, abandoning Devushkin in his life of squalor by sending him a final letter saying, “All is over.” Devushkin responds that he loves her and that he will die soon after she leaves.
- “White Nights” (1848): While walking through St. Petersburg one night, an unnamed narrator saves a girl named Nastenka from being harassed by a man. After bonding over their shared feelings of isolation, the narrator tells Nastenka that he thinks of himself as a “dreamer.” Nastenka relates to him her “history,” detailing how she lives with her blind grandmother, and the year prior fell in love with a lodger who invited them to a performance of The Barber of Seville; before leaving town, the lodger told her that he would return to marry her, but has not reached out since. The narrator helps Nastenka write a letter to the lodger, but he falls in love with her; when he finally professes his love, she reciprocates. As they walk home together, however, they run into the lodger, and Nastenka embraces her found lover, leaving the narrator behind. The story ends with the narrator reading an apologetic letter from Nastenka and wondering if such a “moment of bliss” is “sufficient for the whole of a man’s life.”
- The Gambler (1866): A tutor named Alexei Ivanovich works for a family governed by the General, who sends daily telegrams to Moscow in hopes that his aunt has died so that he can collect her inheritance. At the request of the General’s stepdaughter Polina, Alexei plays roulette at the town casino and gives her his winnings. Polina then challenges Alexei to prove his love to her by insulting the Baron and Baroness Wurmerhelm. The General’s aunt appears and reveals that she knows of the General’s greedy intentions before asking Alexei to go to the casino with her. Polina also reveals that she is the mistress of the Marquis des Grieux, to whom her father is indebted, and asks Alexei to win her more money at the casino before running off with the Englishman Mr. Astley. He is further manipulated into squandering his fortune by Mademoiselle Blanche de Cominges; she thereafter leaves him for the General. Perhaps more notable than the novel’s plot are the circumstances of its creation: Dostoevsky wrote it in less than a month to satisfy an onerous contract he took on to pay off his own roulette-induced gambling debts, and did so with the help of stenographer Anna Snitkina, whom he later married.
- The Double (1846): Subtitled “A Petersburg Poem,” “The Double” follows a bureaucrat in St. Petersburg named Yakov Golyadkin, who is told by his physician Doctor Rutenspitz that he should treat his antisocial behavior by attending a party. He attempts to sneak into the birthday party of his manager’s daughter Klara Olsufyevna through a back stairwell, but is caught and kicked out; as he walks home through a snowstorm, he encounters a man who looks exactly like himself. Although initially friendly with each other, Golyadkin soon learns that his “double” is more charismatic and successful than him, watching helplessly as he charms his associates and gradually takes over his life; he even argues with his servant Petrushka over which of the two should actually be called “master.” Eventually, Golyadkin goes insane and is dragged off to an asylum by Doctor Rutenspritz.
- “An Honest Thief” (1848): An unnamed narrator takes in a lodger named Astafy Ivanovich, who, after the narrator’s coat is stolen by an unknown thief, relates to him a story about how he had once been the victim of a thief named Emelyan Ilyitch. Although Astafy wanted to help Emelyan in good faith at first, it became clear that Emelyan’s alcoholism was at the root of his financial troubles. Tensions between the two came to a head when a pair of expensive riding breeches that Astafy had tailored and planned on selling suddenly went missing; Astafy suspected Emelyan of the theft, but Emelyan denied the allegations. After an argument ensued over the missing breeches, Emelyan stormed out and disappeared for several days, only to return nearly dead from the cold. As he lay dying in Astafy’s care, Emelyan confessed with his last words that he was indeed the thief.
This article was contributed by ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ writer Wonyoung Jang.