{"product_id":"the-idiot-paperback-2","title":"The Idiot - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eFyodor Dostoyevsky\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eConstance Garnett\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator), \u003cb\u003eAnne Hruska\u003c\/b\u003e (Introduction by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"My intention is to portray a truly beautiful soul.\" --Dostoevsky\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDespite the harsh circumstances besetting his own life--abject poverty, incessant gambling, the death of his youngest child--Dostoevsky produced a second masterpiece, \u003ci\u003eThe Idiot, \u003c\/i\u003e after completing\u003ci\u003e Crime and Punishment.\u003c\/i\u003e In it, a saintly man, Prince Myshkin, is thrust into the heart of a society more concerned with wealth, power, and sexual conquest than with the ideals of Christianity. Myshkin soon finds himself at the center of a violent love triangle in which a notorious woman and a beautiful young girl become rivals for his affections. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eExtortion, scandal, and murder follow, testing Myshkin's moral feelings, as Dostoevsky searches through the wreckage left by human misery to find \"man in man.\" \u003ci\u003eThe Idiot \u003c\/i\u003eis a quintessentially Russian novel, one that penetrates the complex psyche of the Russian people. \"They call me a psychologist,\" wrote Dostoevsky. \"That is not true. I'm only a realist in the higher sense; that is, I portray all the depths of the human soul.\"\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy intention is to portray a truly beautiful soul. -- Dostoevsky \u003cbr\u003eDespite the harsh circumstances besetting his own life -- object poverty, incessant gambling, the death of his firstborn child -- Dostoevsky produced a second masterpiece, The Idiot, just two years after completing Crime and Punishment. In it, a saintly man, Prince Myshkin, is thrust into the heart of a society more concerned with wealth, power and sexual conquest than with the ideals of Christianity. Myshkin soon finds himself at the center of a violent love triangle in which a notorious woman and a beautiful young girl become rivals for his affections. Extortion, scandal and murder follow, testing Myshkin's moral feelings as Dostoevsky searches through the wreckage left by human misery to find \"man in man.\" The Idiot is a quintessentially Russian novel, one that penetrates the complex psyche of the Russian people. \"They call me a psychologist,\" wrote Dostoevsky. \"That is not true. I'm only a realist in the higher sense; that is, I portray all the depths of the human soul.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e'The chief thing is that they all need him' -thus Dostoyevsky described Prince Myshkin, the hero of perhaps his most remarkable novel. As the still, radiant center of a plot whose turbulent action is extraordinary even for Dostoyevsky, Myshkin succeeds in dominating through sheer force a personality a cast of characters who vividly and violently embody the passions and conflicts of the 19th century Russia.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFyodor Mikailovich Dostoevsky's life was a dark and dramatic as the great novels he wrote. He was born in Moscow in 1821, the son of a former army surgeon whose drunken brutality led his own serfs to murder him by pouring vodka down his throat until he strangled. A short first novel, \u003ci\u003ePoor Folk \u003c\/i\u003e(1846) brought him instant success, but his writing career was cut short by his arrest for alleged subversion against Tsar Nicholas I in 1849. In prison he was given the \"silent treatment\" for eight months (guards even wore velvet soled boots) before he was led in front a firing squad. Dressed in death shroud, he faced an open grave and awaited execution, when suddenly, an order arrived commuting his sentence. He then spent four years at hard labor in a Siberian prison, where he began to suffer from epilepsy, and he only returned to St. Petersburg a full ten years after he had left in chains. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHis prison experiences coupled with his conversion to a conservative and profoundly religious philosophy formed the basis for his great novels. But it was his fortuitous marriage to Anna Snitkina, following a period of utter destitution brought about by his compulsive gambling, that gave Dostoevsky the emotional stability to complete \u003ci\u003eCrime and Punishment\u003c\/i\u003e (1866), \u003ci\u003eThe Idiot \u003c\/i\u003e(1868-69), \u003ci\u003e The Possessed \u003c\/i\u003e(1871-72), \u003ci\u003e and The Brothers Karamazov \u003c\/i\u003e(1879-80). When Dostoevsky died in 1881, he left a legacy of masterworks that influenced the great thinkers and writers of the Western world and immortalized him as a giant among writers of world literature.\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 720\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.21 x 6.96 x 4.22 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e July 01, 1983\u003c\/div\u003e\n                \u003cdiv\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAccelerated Reader:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n                \n                \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eQuiz Name:\u003c\/strong\u003e Idiot\u003c\/div\u003e\n                \n                \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInterest Level:\u003c\/strong\u003e Upper Grades, 9-12\u003c\/div\u003e\n                \n                \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReading Level:\u003c\/strong\u003e 10.7\u003c\/div\u003e\n                \n                \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePoint Value:\u003c\/strong\u003e 56\u003c\/div\u003e\n                ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42688070615103,"sku":"9780553213522","price":8.34,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/55cd464ee5f289af35e00ae393ed7dc6.webp?v=1764980753","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/the-idiot-paperback-2","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}