Notes from the Underground » (Special Value)

His life was as dark and dramatic as the great novels he wrote. He was born in Moscow in 1821, the son of a former army surgeon whose drunken brutality led his own serfs to murder him by pouring vodka down his throat until he strangled. A short first novel, Poor Folk (1846), brought him instant success, but his writing career was cut short by his arrest for alleged subversion against the Tsar in 1849. In prison he was given the "silent treatment" for eight months, before he was led in front of a firing squad. Dressed in a death shroud, he faced an open grave and awaited execution when an order arrived commuting his sentence. He then spent four years at hard labor in a Siberian prison, where he began to suffer from epilepsy, and he only returned to St. Petersburg a full ten years after he left in chains. His prison experiences coupled with his conversion to a conservative and profoundly religious philosophy formes the basis for his great novels. But it was his fortuitous marriage to Anna Snitkina, following a period of utter destitution brought about by his compulsive gambling, that gave Dostoyevsky the emotional stability to complete Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed, and The Brothers Karamazov. When he died in 1881, he left a legacy of masterworks that influenced the great thinkers and writers of the Western world.

Darkly fascinating short novel depicts the struggles of a doubting, supremely alienated protagonist in a world of relative values. Embraces moral, religious, political, and social themes. Authoritative Constance Garnett translation. New introduction.

Library Journal

Dostoevsky's 1864 existentialist novella is a brilliant and immensely enjoyable early work by a man now considered one of the greatest Russian novelists of all time. Unfortunately, this audio edition relies on the original 1918 translation by Constance Garnett, which, by modern standards, could almost be considered an adaptation. Those interested in experiencing a more loyal rendition of this work should instead turn to more recent translations, such as that by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2004), available as a digital download from Audible. This edition, despite Audie Award winner Simon Vance's (see Behind the Mike, LJ 11/15/08) attractive narration, is not recommended.—I. Pour-El, Ames Jewish Congregation, IA