The Idiot (novel)

The Idiot

Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of The Idiot
Author	Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Original title	Идиот
Country	Russia
Language	Russian language
Genre	Philosophical novel
Published	1868–1869; separate edition 1874

The Idiot (Russian: Идио́т, Idiot) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published serially in the journal The Russian Messenger in 1868–9.

The title is an ironic reference to the central character of the novel, Prince (Knyaz) Lyov Nikolaevich Myshkin, a young man whose goodness and open-hearted simplicity lead many of the more worldly characters he encounters to mistakenly assume that he lacks intelligence and insight. In the character of Prince Myshkin, Dostoevsky set himself the task of depicting "the positively good and beautiful man". The novel examines the consequences of placing such a unique individual at the centre of the conflicts, desires, passions and egoism of worldly society, both for the man himself and for those with whom he becomes involved. The result, according to philosopher A.C. Grayling, is "one of the most excoriating, compelling and remarkable books ever written; and without question one of the greatest."

Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, a young man in his mid-twenties and a descendant of one of the oldest Russian lines of nobility, is on a train to Saint Petersburg on a cold November morning. He is returning to Russia having spent the past four years in a Swiss clinic for treatment of a severe epileptic condition. On the journey Myshkin meets a young man of the merchant class, Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin, and is struck by his passionate intensity, particularly in relation to a woman—the dazzling society beauty Nastassya Filippovna—with whom he is obsessed. Rogozhin has just inherited a very large fortune from his dead father and he intends to use it to pursue the object of his desire. Joining in their conversation is a civil servant named Lebedyev – an "omniscient" gentleman with a profound knowledge of social trivia and gossip. Realizing who Rogozhin is, he firmly attaches himself to him.

The purpose for Myshkin's trip is to make the acquaintance of his distant relative Lizaveta Prokofyevna Yepanchina, and to make inquiries about a matter of business. Madame Yepanchina is the wife of General Yepanchin, a wealthy and respected man in his mid fifties. When the Prince calls on them he is instructed to wait by a servant. He strikes up a conversation with the servant, treating him as an equal and expatiating, to the lackey's surprise, on the subject of the horror of capital punishment. General Yepanchin has an ambitious and vain assistant, Gavril Ardalionovich Ivolgin (Ganya), who the Prince also meets while waiting. The General and his business partner, the aristocrat Totsky, are seeking to arrange a marriage between Ganya and Nastassya Filippovna. Though herself of noble descent, Nastassya Filippovna became a ward of Totsky at the age of 7, following a family tragedy. When she was 16, Totsky had settled her in a comfortable little house in the country, provided her with tutors, a library and other cultural refinements, and for the next four years treated her as his concubine. Now a grown woman, she has made it frighteningly clear to him that she does not intend to let him off lightly. Totsky, thinking the marriage might settle her and free him to pursue his desire for marriage with General Yepanchin's eldest daughter, has promised 75,000 rubles. Nastassya Filippovna, unsure of Ganya's motives and aware that his family does not approve of her, has reserved her decision, but has promised to announce it that evening at her birthday soirée. Ganya and the General openly discuss the subject in front of Myshkin. Ganya shows him a photograph of her and he is particularly struck by her face. The Prince tells them of Rogozhin's interest in Nastassya Filippovna, and Ganya asks the Prince whether Rogozhin would marry her. The Prince replies that he might well marry her and then murder her a week later.