The Idiot [Large Print Edition]: The Complete & Unabridged Classic Edition - Softcover

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1501029134 ISBN 13: 9781501029134

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Synopsis

This premium quality large print edition contains the complete and unabridged original classic version of The Idiot, printed on heavyweight, bright white paper in a large 7.44"x9.69" format, with a fully laminated full-color cover featuring an original design. Also included is authoritative introductory commentary discussing the life and work of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and The Idiot in particular, providing the modern reader with useful background information to enhance the enjoyment of this classic novel.

"The Idiot" is Prince Lev Nikolaievich Myshkin, returning to Russia after a long stay at a Swiss sanitorium. Prone to blackouts and learning difficulties as a youth, he has been treated with some success, but the society of St. Petersburg scorns him, viewing as idiocy his simple honesty, trustful nature and naiveté. Finding himself at the center of an increasingly complex entanglement involving a beautiful kept woman and a virtuous and pretty young girl, both of whom win his affection, and the men who love - or desire - them, Myshkin's unfettered goodness precipitates a tragic chain of events with disastrous consequences.

Beginning with the chance meeting of Myshkin, light-haired, blue-eyed, affable and unassuming and the dark and intense Rogozhin on the train to St. Petersburg, "The Idiot" is a study in contrasts, exploring themes of good and evil, honesty and deceit, passion and self-control, through the story of Myshkin, "a positively good man," thrust into a society which espouses as values the very qualities which it derides as "idiocy," and questioning whether human society has a place for the true and unflinching honesty and trust of a saintly man.

Complex and dense with rich characters and evocative questions about human nature and society, ranked among the finest of Dostoyevsky's works, "The Idiot" is often considered one of the most brilliant literary achievements of the Golden Age of Russian literature.

Like Dickens in England, Dostoyevsky was embraced by the masses about whom he wrote and to whom he spoke, despite criticism by contemporary "experts" who found his subject matter unsuitable for "literature" and his work lacking in style and technical merit. And like Dickens, Dostoyevsky has become an inextricable part of the culture of his country and the essential literature of the world.

About this title

Review:

'Acquire, read and display on your bookshelf with pride’ -- The Times

About the Author:

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821 - 1881), sometimes transliterated Dostoevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher. Dostoyevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social and spiritual atmosphere of 19th-century Russia and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. He began writing in his 20s and his first novel, Poor Folk, was published in 1846 when he was 25. Dostoevsky's major works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). His oeuvre consists of 11 novels, three novellas, 17 short novels and numerous other works. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychologists in world literature. His 1864 novella Notes from Underground is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature. --Wikipedia

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1501029134
• ISBN 13: 9781501029134
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 814
• Editor: Sheley S. M., Press Summit Classic