Demons (Penguin Classics)

Product Information

Varvara Petrovna, insulted by too obvious desire of Stepan Trofimovich to marry and his too frank letter to his son Peter complaining that they want him to marry "in the sins of others", assigns a pension, but at the same time announces about breaking up. Many of the other characters are deeply affected by one or other of the two aspects of Stavrogin's psyche. The nihilist Pyotr Verkhovensky is in love with the cynical, amoral, power-seeking side, while Shatov is affected by the ardour of the feeling, spiritually-bereft side. Shatov "rose from the dead" after hearing Stavrogin's uncompromising exhortation of Christ as the supreme ideal (an assertion made in a futile effort to convince himself: he succeeds in convincing Shatov but not himself). [64] Conversely, Kirillov was convinced by Stavrogin's exhortation of atheism—the supremacy of Man's will, not God's—and forges a plan to sacrifice himself to free humanity from its bondage to mystical fear. But Stavrogin himself does not even believe in his own atheism, and as Shatov and Tikhon recognize, drives himself further into evil out of a desire to torture himself and avoid the truth. Kirillov sums up Stavrogin's dilemma thus: "If Stavrogin believes, then he doesn't believe that he believes. But if he doesn't believe, then he doesn't believe that he doesn't believe." [65] Suicide [ edit ] Frank, Joseph (2010). Dostoevsky A Writer in his Time. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691128191.

The first plot-related suicide is that of Kirillov. Kirillov is a kind of philosopher of suicide and, under questioning from several interlocutors (the narrator, Stavrogin, Pyotr Verkhovensky), expounds his ideas on the subject, mostly as it relates to him personally but also as a general phenomenon. According to him there are two types of people who commit suicide: those who do it suddenly upon being overwhelmed by an unbearable emotion, and those who do it after much thought for good reason. He thinks that everyone could fall into the latter category if it were not for two prejudices: fear of pain, and fear of the next world. "God" he says, "is the pain of the fear of death. Whoever conquers pain and fear will himself become God." In his mind he is the man who, by his own intentional death, will demonstrate to humanity the transcendence of pain and fear and free them of the need to invent God. [68]Around Verkhovenskii grouped a local liberal-minded youth. He is enough intelligent and shrewd. He was the teacher of many heroes of the novel. First beautiful, now he dropped, is playing cards, and indulges in champagne. But the nihilist/anarchist portion of the novel, though undoubtedly the best part of it, only takes up about a quarter of the book, if that. A troubled Varvara Petrovna has just returned from Switzerland where she has been visiting Nikolai Vsevolodovich. Burnett, Leon (2000). "Dostoevskii". In Olive Classe (ed.). Encyclopedia of Literary Translation Into English. Vol.A–L. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p.66. Devils is harrowing, darkly funny, brilliantly told. It is a masterpiece. I wouldn’t have felt such brutal pain otherwise. It is recommended to all who want to understand the strange patterns of sexual, political and ritual power that charismatic men exert over dependent people - even to this day!

Stepan Trofimovich also has a son from a previous marriage but he has grown up elsewhere without his father's involvement. Darya Pavlovna (Dasha) is Shatov's sister, the protégé of Varvara Petrovna, and for a short time the fiancée of Stepan Trofimovich. She is the reluctant confidant and "nurse" of Stavrogin. With Dostoevsky, one becomes a participant. One reads on, actively involved. (In The Brothers Karamazov, there’s the “test of the child” experienced by one after another of the chief characters.) The reader makes judgments about this character or that, and then has to revise that judgment, likely as not. How the Hell do I adequately review this? Once someone hits a certain genius with writing (or other forms of art), it is impossible to really grade their art. How could one grade Beethoven's great symphonies? Is Demons/Devils/the Possessed better than Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot? Tell me, do you prefer Matthew, Mark, Luke or John? Matters are further complicated by the arrival of a mysterious "crippled woman", Marya Lebyadkina, to whom Nikolai Vsevolodovich is also rumoured to be connected, although no-one seems to know exactly how.to develop the characters that are essential later in the novel. ( Refer to "Character Analysis" for more details). Demons is an allegory of the potentially catastrophic consequences of the political and moral nihilism that were becoming prevalent in Russia in the 1860s. [3] A fictional town descends into chaos as it becomes the focal point of an attempted revolution, orchestrated by master conspirator Pyotr Verkhovensky. The mysterious aristocratic figure of Nikolai Stavrogin—Verkhovensky's counterpart in the moral sphere—dominates the book, exercising an extraordinary influence over the hearts and minds of almost all the other characters. The idealistic, Western-influenced intellectuals of the 1840s, epitomized in the character of Stepan Verkhovensky (who is both Pyotr Verkhovensky's father and Nikolai Stavrogin's childhood teacher), are presented as the unconscious progenitors and helpless accomplices of the "demonic" forces that take possession of the town. First of all, a little note. I’ve read the book in Russian, and normally I would review it in Russian as well. But I think the Demons are unjustifiably overshadowed in the West by other Dostoevsky novels. So I wanted to write something to change the situation a bit. Dostoevsky, Fyodor (1947). Stavrogin's Confession. Translated by Virginia Woolf; S. S. Koteliansky. In the afterword a psychoanalytic study of the author by Sigmund Freud. Lear Publishers. ASIN B000LDS1TI.

Varvara Petrovna suddenly conceives the idea of forming an engagement between Stepan Trofimovich and Dasha.France, Peter (2000). "Dostoevsky". In Peter France (ed.). The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation. Oxford University Press. p.598. In a letter to his friend Apollon Maykov, Dostoevsky alludes to the episode of the Exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac in the Gospel of Luke as the inspiration for the title: "Exactly the same thing happened in our country: the devils went out of the Russian man and entered into a herd of swine... These are drowned or will be drowned, and the healed man, from whom the devils have departed, sits at the feet of Jesus." [9] Part of the passage is used as an epigraph, and Dostoevsky's thoughts on its relevance to Russia are given voice by Stepan Verkhovensky on his deathbed near the end of the novel. Gladkov, Alexander (1977). Meetings with Pasternak: A memoir. Edited, translated and with an introduction by Max Hayward. San Diego CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p.34. ISBN 9780151585908.

It is not good. It just is. Period. Once I have dumped my connection between ethics and religion, and accepted the reality of the characters, I can read on. Stavrogin's suicide at the end of the novel is only fully understood with reference to the censored chapter. The enormity of his crimes, the desolation of his inner being, the madness born of his "sacrilegious, proto-Nietzschean attempt to transcend the boundaries of good and evil", are hidden realities that only become visible in the confession and dialogue with Tikhon. [69] Despite this 'madness', it is 'rationality' that is emphasized in the narrator's description of the suicide itself. The efficiency of the procedure, the brief, precise note, and the subsequent medical opinion of his mental state emphatically ruling out madness, all point to his 'reasonable' state of mind at the time of the act. A chapter called “At Tikhon’s” or “Stavrogin’s Confession” was omitted from the original Russian edition (and subsequent editions) because Dostoevsky’s editor objected to the rather dark subject matter. Demons was serialized in Russian from 1871 to December 1872. The complete novel was published in Russian in 1873.By the time of the events in the novel Shatov has completely rejected his former convictions and become a passionate defender of Russia's Christian heritage. Shatov's reformed ideas resemble those of the contemporary philosophy Pochvennichestvo (roughly: "return to the soil"), with which Dostoevsky was sympathetic. Like the broader Slavophile movement, Pochvennichestvo asserted the paramount importance of Slavic traditions in Russia, as opposed to cultural influences originating in Western Europe, and particularly emphasized the unique mission of the Russian Orthodox Church. Shatov goes further by describing that mission as universal rather than merely Russian. [39] Generally awkward, gloomy and taciturn, Shatov becomes emotional and loquacious when aroused by an affront to his convictions. [40] In the chapter 'Night' he engages in a heated discussion with Stavrogin about God, Russia and morality. As a younger man Shatov had idolized Stavrogin, but having seen through him and guessed the secret of his marriage, he seeks to tear down the idol in a withering critique. [41] Stavrogin, though affected, is certainly not withered, and answers by drawing attention to the inadequacy of Shatov's own faith, something Shatov himself recognizes. [42] Shatov's relationship with Pyotr Verkhovensky is one of mutual hatred. Verkhovensky conceives the idea of having the group murder him as a traitor to the cause, thereby binding them closer together by the blood they have shed. If Raskolnikov hypnotised me, and Myshkin made me curse, the Devils have a slower, yet even more powerful impact on my mental equilibrium. While I was reading the previous novels in a frenzy, without any interruptions, I had to take a prolonged break in the middle of this one. I just could not stomach the account of the rape of a child, and the subsequent “confession” of the crime by Stavrogin to a monk. The position of the monk regarding the situation was of such evil that I felt I couldn’t read on. I thought I could deal with the Russian nationalist and orthodox mindset by now, but that was too much. The girl committed suicide out of a religious panic, believing she had “killed God” by being raped. Dostoevsky wrote to Maykov that the chief theme of his novel was "the very one over which, consciously and unconsciously, I have been tormented all my life: it is the existence of God." [56] Much of the plot develops out of the tension between belief and non-belief, and the words and actions of most of the characters seem to be intimately bound to the position they take up within this struggle.