The Idiot (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

Returning from years abroad where he's been seeking treatment for mental instability, Prince Lev Nikolayevitch Myshkin enters the upper echelons of Russian society; unfortunately for this innocent, but fortunately for the reader, (see later), into a clique where many of the men are ill mannered buffoons. Myshkin's reputation and reluctance to assert himself earn him the title of the Idiot. Naïve he may be, the prince is anything but an idiot. Nor is he the ` hero' to whom the author refers; rather a foil for Dostoevsky's depiction of an amoral society in that the novelist sets Myshkin against a mixed bag of characters, their buffoonery and boorishness targets for his philosophical discourse of good versus evil. The Prince, around whom the novel revolves, endears himself to the reader in his modesty and self-effacement in the face of barefaced rudeness. His good natured handling of the contumely of those who feel the need to slanderously probe into his personal business borders on the saintly. Virtue that leads to his fall and the fall of others.

Compared to Crime and Punishment, tauter, and Devils more dramatic, The Idiot is an amorphous structure, a labyrinth where the reader may wander, confused by the ebb and flow of the various plots. And there is a hole in the middle, for at the end of Part One a chief protagonist disappears, save for a couple of very brief appearances, one `when a frightful scene took place,' only to reappear towards the end of the story when things finally wind up. In this way the reader is deprived of much of the drama generated by the scandalous behaviour and ploys of the alluring Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova, so the important influence she has needs to be in absentia. Part Two begins with a twelve page rather prosaic summary of previous events and conjecture as to the truth or not of certain rumours: and Part Three includes a thirty page monologue by the obnoxious Ippolit Terentyev (only a little of which contains any deep philosophy), plus two pages in which he debates whether or not he should read it. So the book is dull? There are passages that could well be excised without detriment. Unworthy of equal footing with Dostoevsky's other great novels? Maybe.

There are redeeming factors. The novel shares a common trait with much of the author's works, of dark malevolent powers lurking the background, menacing, frightening, demoniac; biding their time And they're subtle; no Gadarian swine here. But one never knows when the demon will strike in the form of murder, suicide or the mental derangement that drives people to act beyond themselves. Against this background Dostoevsky creates some compelling reading from a novel short of narrative substance. And there is great skill in this: he creates atmosphere, and deranged characters who engage in outrageous conduct that the author appears to find shocking, hence the `frightful scene'. Although one feels Fyodor Mikhailovitch has his tongue in his cheek here; and the humour in that today the scandal would be considered pretty mild, only seems to add to the fun.

The reviewer believes this vast novel with its loose plots and long dialogues is a feast for readers who enjoy `literature.' There are beautifully written passages and a host of unusual and entertaining incidents. However, she also believes that it will be enjoyed more by those who have already read Crime and Punishment and Devils.

This Oxford edition has a list of characters, a useful aid until the reader gets used to the patronyms, and the translation is crisp and modern.

The Idiot is not really an Idiot at all (I've met my fair share of real idiots). The man in question is Prince Myshkin who because of his epilepsy has spent time in a Swiss clinic and the start of the novel sees Myshkin return to Russia after many years. His sheltered upbringing abroad means that he doesn't understand how to truly behave in the society he finds himself in and he has a naivety and willingness to do the right thing for which he is ridiculed and labelled as an Idiot.

The main story is the competition between various suitors vying for the attentions of one Nastasya Fillipovna, a troubled beauty who has been cast off as a fallen women through no fault of her own. But that's summarising the plot in very simple terms as there are an abundance of characters, themes and general philosophising throughout.

Its a packed book and I didn't always remember which character was which (thank goodness for the character list at the front of my edition!) Sometimes while reading it I got a bit lost and became confused by some of the characters behaviour. This wasn't because it was a dense or difficult read, there was just a lot going on and lots of different characters that would suddenly appear. Sometimes a character would suddenly declare they hated another character before suddenly changing their mind again, they all seemed to be very fiery, there was a lot of people throwing their arms up in the air and I just couldn't keep up.

But I kept on with it and it all made sense in the end plot wise but really its not the story arch here that's so important but the conclusions brought up throughout during the dialogue and how characters react to the Prince's behaviour or philosophising. Pure Goodness does not always prevail it seems and the world cannot always accommodate the virtuous and what does that say?

I would recommend The Idiot but its one to take your time over due to the large amount of dialogue which tends to take centre stage over the plot elements (not a criticism)

I tried to read the Penguin Classics version of The Idiot, but the print was too small and the pages were that grubby cheep colour that Penguin tend to use. It was a struggle. This has slightly larger type, nice white paper and good margins (for notes if you like that sort of thing). It also has a list of characters, a map and a cronology of Dostoevsky; not that they're that useful, but it's nice to have something to refer to now and again. The translator's different, but I can't comment on the different translations cause I've not read them all. Basically if you're going to read the book anyway, I'd recomend this copy. Slilghtly bigger to carry around, but cheeper and nicer to read.