- Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Impression edition (27 May 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140441794
- ISBN-13: 978-0140441796
- Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 12.7 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 357,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Gambler, Bobok, A Nasty Story: WITH Bobok (Classics)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The stories in this volume demonstrate Dostoyevsky's genius for fusing caricature, irony and the grotesque to create a powerful dark humour. The Gambler is a breathtaking portrayal of an intense and futile obsession. Based on Dostoyevsky's own experience of financial desperation and the compulsive desire to win money, it focuses on the characters that take their places at the gaming tables of 'Roulettenburg': the outspoken, aristocratic 'Grandmamma', the mercenary Mademoiselle Blanche, the cool, mysterious Polina and Alex, the author's self-portrait; a man gripped by exhilaration and hopelessness. Bobok is a blackly comic satire in which a desolate writer becomes drawn into the conversations of the dead, and A Nasty Story is a humorous look at the disparity between a man's exaggerated ideal of himself and the sad reality.
About the Author
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky was born in Moscow in 1821, the 2nd of 7 children. From 1849 to 1854 he lived in a convict prison, and in later years his passion for gambling led him deeply into debt. In 1880 he delivered his famous address at theunveiling of Pushkin's memorial in Moscow; he died six months later in 1881.
Jessie Coulson has also translated Notes from Undergound for the Penguin Classics.
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First Sentence
I am back at last after my absence of two weeks. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I am back at last after my absence of two weeks. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is very easy to read. Probably the most accessible book by Dostoevsky that I have come across thus far, so a good way into his works I think.
The text is well-paced, with a good narrative and clear character structure (always one of his strengths). The storyline is interesting, with the central character encountering dark desires that seem to take him to the brink of disaster, and his companions around him also heading towards impending doom and catastrophe - there really is no time to breathe while reading this!
Dostoevsky weaves his magic by making each character have a secret side that you can only glimpse at, thereby creating the desire for the reader to want to find out more about everyone, and get to the heart of matters. A true master at work.
My one small criticism would be that although Dostoevsky finishes the book well, I felt it ended a shade early, it seemed to be somewhat unfinished to me. He was under a lot of pressure to complete this novel, and perhaps it shows near the end.
All in all, a great book though.
The text is well-paced, with a good narrative and clear character structure (always one of his strengths). The storyline is interesting, with the central character encountering dark desires that seem to take him to the brink of disaster, and his companions around him also heading towards impending doom and catastrophe - there really is no time to breathe while reading this!
Dostoevsky weaves his magic by making each character have a secret side that you can only glimpse at, thereby creating the desire for the reader to want to find out more about everyone, and get to the heart of matters. A true master at work.
My one small criticism would be that although Dostoevsky finishes the book well, I felt it ended a shade early, it seemed to be somewhat unfinished to me. He was under a lot of pressure to complete this novel, and perhaps it shows near the end.
All in all, a great book though.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The time and social structure may have changed but the gambling is the same. Dostoyevsky's magnificent description of the changing fortunes of gamblers in a 19th century spa town could just as well have been set in 20th century Las Vegas. All gamblers will recognise at least some of themselves in the logic defying behaviour of the protagonist.
Bobok and A Nasty Story nowhere near as good as The Gambler.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Some of Dostoevsky's Finest
17 Feb 2000
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Those who would read Dostoevsky but, are intimidated by the sheer magnitude of his epics, should read this collection of three great shorter works. Bobok is strikingly amusing and clever. The Gambler brilliantly depicts the all too real dynamics of a toxic relationship. My favorite, A Nasty Story, is such an hilarious and witty story. It's almost painful to read as one is compelled to sympathize with the character's best intentions gone wrong. All marvelous works from the brilliant mind of Dostoevsky.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Excellent short stories by the classic Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky
5 Aug 2009
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Mention Russian Literature and the names Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) fall trippingly off the tongue. As one who has immersed himself in the dark, verbose and philosophical novels of Dostoyevsky it was with joy I turned to three shorter works contained in this Penguin Classics Editon.
The Gambler is set in the mythical German spa "Rouletteberg" where a group of travelers play the gaming tables, seek romance and quest for fortune. The tale is told by Alexi a character based on Dostoyevsky who had a gambling obsession. Alexi is in love with the mecurial beauty Polina who will leave him for the arms and wealth of an English nobleman. The General is an old Russian roue who is courted by the mercenary French woman Blanche. The best character in the 120 page novella is Grandmama a rich Russian woman whose relatives fight over the rights to be included in her will. Grandmama loses a fortune at the gaming tables. She is plain, outspoken and wry in her comments on her ne'er do well family
members. This is a cautionary tale of the evils of gambling whose
temptations the author knew all to well.
Dostoyevsky wrote this story under pressure from his publisher to produce a sellable story. It was during its hurried writing that he obtained the services of a secretary who would become his second
wife.
Bobok is a short story about the ability of deceased persons to speak to one another from their graves! This is a macabre, witty story in which the dead comment on the foibles of the living.
A Nasty Story tells the tale of a bumptious official who by accident attends the wedding party of a clerk in his office. The official drinks too much collapsing in a drunken stupor. He spends the night in the bed which had been reserved for the newlyweds. The story is a smart smack in the face at Tsarist bureaucrats.
These stories are a good introduction to the genius who is Dostoevsky. Recommended!
The Gambler is set in the mythical German spa "Rouletteberg" where a group of travelers play the gaming tables, seek romance and quest for fortune. The tale is told by Alexi a character based on Dostoyevsky who had a gambling obsession. Alexi is in love with the mecurial beauty Polina who will leave him for the arms and wealth of an English nobleman. The General is an old Russian roue who is courted by the mercenary French woman Blanche. The best character in the 120 page novella is Grandmama a rich Russian woman whose relatives fight over the rights to be included in her will. Grandmama loses a fortune at the gaming tables. She is plain, outspoken and wry in her comments on her ne'er do well family
members. This is a cautionary tale of the evils of gambling whose
temptations the author knew all to well.
Dostoyevsky wrote this story under pressure from his publisher to produce a sellable story. It was during its hurried writing that he obtained the services of a secretary who would become his second
wife.
Bobok is a short story about the ability of deceased persons to speak to one another from their graves! This is a macabre, witty story in which the dead comment on the foibles of the living.
A Nasty Story tells the tale of a bumptious official who by accident attends the wedding party of a clerk in his office. The official drinks too much collapsing in a drunken stupor. He spends the night in the bed which had been reserved for the newlyweds. The story is a smart smack in the face at Tsarist bureaucrats.
These stories are a good introduction to the genius who is Dostoevsky. Recommended!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Great stories but get a different translation
7 April 2008
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I love Dostoyevsky and personally think these stories are some of his best, but after reading this version (as well as a public domain version of Crime and Punishment), realized there are better translations than the ones I had read. I have found that Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky seem to be the best. For the stories included in this book, they have either "The Double and The Gambler" or "The Eternal Husband and Other Stories".
One particularly annoying point is that this version does not have footnote translations for the French phrases in the Gambler.
One particularly annoying point is that this version does not have footnote translations for the French phrases in the Gambler.
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