The Idiot

The Idiot (Russian: Идиот; commonly rendered in English as The Idiot) is a novel Dostoevsky wrote between 1868 and 1869, and along with Crime and Punishment, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov it is counted among the major works of his mature period. The novel is set in Russia in the 1860s, after the emancipation of the serfs: Nastasya Filippovna, of noble birth and striking beauty, has since childhood been manipulated by the landowner Totsky, who has long kept her as his mistress. Totsky plans to "marry her off" with a sum of money to the base and petty clerk Ganya so that he himself can wed a young woman of good family. At Nastasya's birthday party, Prince Myshkin, newly returned from treatment in Switzerland, arrives unexpectedly. This young man, congenitally ill and regarded by Petersburg society as an "idiot," declares on the spot that he will marry her unconditionally, astonishing the whole gathering. Later, Myshkin also develops a pure affection for Aglaya, the general's daughter, while Nastasya is torn back and forth between self-abasement and self-respect; the gloomy and violent merchant Rogozhin harbors an almost mad possessiveness toward Nastasya. Interweaving four threads of love and interest, the novel unfolds a group portrait of upper-class Russian society: the money-grubbing general, the scheming official, the boastful nihilist, the sickly and embittered youth Ippolit, and others. Myshkin treats everyone around him with Christ-like gentleness, forgiveness, and compassion, yet he is powerless to prevent tragedy; his goodwill is again and again misunderstood and exploited in reality. The book unfolds in four parts, interspersed with long monologues and dialogues, pressing close to the abyss of human nature and raising the core questions of whether beauty can save the world, whether good and evil are of any use, and how love and destruction can coexist.