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The Idiot
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The Idiot Paperback - 2004

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky; David McDuff (Translator); Introduction by William Mills Todd

Inspired by an image of Christ's suffering, Fyodor Dostoyevsky set out to portray "a truly beautiful soul" colliding with the brutal reality of contemporary society. Returning to St. Petersburg from a Swiss sanatorium, the gentle and naive Prince Myshkin-known as "the idiot"-pays a visit to his distant relative General Yepanchin and proceeds to charm the General and his circle. But after becoming infatuated with the beautiful Nastasya Filippovna, Myshkin finds himself caught up in a love triangle and drawn into a web of blackmail, betrayal, and, ultimately, murder. This new translation by David McDuff is sensitive to the shifting registers of the original Russian, capturing the nervous, elliptic flow of the narrative for a new generation of readers.


Summary

Inspired by an image of Christ's suffering, Fyodor Dostoyevsky set out to portray "a truly beautiful soul" colliding with the brutal reality of contemporary society. Returning to St. Petersburg from a Swiss sanatorium, the gentle and naive Prince Myshkin—known as "the idiot"—pays a visit to his distant relative General Yepanchin and proceeds to charm the General and his circle. But after becoming infatuated with the beautiful Nastasya Filippovna, Myshkin finds himself caught up in a love triangle and drawn into a web of blackmail, betrayal, and, ultimately, murder. This new translation by David McDuff is sensitive to the shifting registers of the original Russian, capturing the nervous, elliptic flow of the narrative for a new generation of readers.
 

From the publisher

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881), one of nineteenth-century Russia’s greatest novelists, spent four years in a convict prison in Siberia, after which he was obliged to enlist in the army. In later years his penchant for gambling sent him deeply into debt. Most of his important works were written after 1864, including Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov, all available from Penguin Classics.


David McDuff was educated at the University of Edinburgh and has translated a number of works for Penguin Classics, including Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov.


William Mills Todd III is a professor of Slavic languages at Harvard.

Details

  • Title The Idiot
  • Author Fyodor Dostoyevsky; David McDuff (Translator); Introduction by William Mills Todd
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition International Ed
  • Pages 732
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Group, London
  • Date 2004-08-31
  • Features Bibliography, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780140447927 / 014044792X
  • Weight 1.22 lbs (0.55 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.78 x 5.08 x 1.4 in (19.76 x 12.90 x 3.56 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Reading level 1040
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Russian
    • Cultural Region: Western U.S.
    • Topical: Country/Cowboy
  • Library of Congress subjects Triangles (Interpersonal relations), Good and evil
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

About the author

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) was a Russian novelist, journalist, and short-story writer whose novels Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov rank among the greatest of the nineteenth century.

David McDuff (translator) has translated many works of nineteenth-century Russian literature, including works by Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Leskov for Penguin Classics.

William Mills Todd III (introducer) is a professor of Slavic languages at Harvard.

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