“Demons” is the Dostoevsky novel for our age in fact, it is a key novel as such for an age that has come to recognize the evils of ideology-any ideology. There is also a perfectly good Russian word for devils, and it is not the word Dostoevsky chose to use. Had Dostoevsky wanted to name this work “The Possessed,” he could easily have done so, Russian having an exact equivalent. The Russian word means evil spirits, not the people possessed by them. Do we need a fifth? Given the quality of the Pevear-Volokhonsky translation, the answer is most definitely yes. A more recent translator, Andrew MacAndrew, has kept it two others, David Magarshack and Michael Katz, have-independently-called the work “The Devils.” All four versions are currently in print. “Demons,” first published in 1871-72, and Dostoevsky’s last major novel before “The Brothers Karamazov,” is the work we have commonly known in English as “The Possessed.” Such is the title Constance Garnett gave to her translation of the novel (its first, though it came out more than 40 years after the original). 07: Stepan Trofimovitch's Last Wandering (Sec.No, a new Dostoevsky novel has not been discovered. 07: Stepan Trofimovitch's Last Wandering (Sec.

By exploring their differing philosophies, Dostoyevsky describes the political chaos seen in 19th century Russia. The book has five primary characters representing different ideologies. Dostoyevsky's novels focus on the idea that utopias and positivist ideas, in being utilitarian, were unrealistic and unobtainable. This form of intellectual conservativism tied to the Slavophile movement of Dostoyevsky's day, called Pochvennichestvo, is seen to have continued on into its modern manifestation in individuals like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Dostoyevsky casts a critical eye on both the radical idealists, portraying their ideas and ideological foundation as demonic, and the conservative establishment's ineptitude in dealing with those ideas and their social consequences. As the revolutionary democrats begin to rise in Russia, different ideologies begin to collide. An extremely political book, Demons is a testimonial of life in Imperial Russia in the late 19th century. Translated by Constance Garnett (1861 - 1946)Īlthough titled The Possessed in the initial English translation, Dostoyevsky scholars and later translations favour the titles The Devils or Demons. Download cover art Download CD case insert The Possessed

Demons by fyodor dostoevsky