Table of Contents

The IdiotChronology
Introduction
Further Reading
A Note on the Translation

The Idiot

Notes

About the Author

Moscow-born Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) served time in a convict prison for his political alliances, and in his later years his passion for gambling led him deeply into debt. His novels include The Devils and The Brothers Karamazov. David McDuff has translated widely from the Russian, including for Penguin Classics, Crime and Punishment and Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata. Introducer William Mills Todd III is Professor of Slavic Languages at Harvard.

Reviews

“A book that manages like no other to plunge fearlessly into suffering while at the same time illuminating the enduring, almost unspeakable beauty of the human.” —Laurie Sheck, The Atlantic
 
“One of the most excoriating, compelling, and remarkable books ever written: and without question one of the greatest.” —A. C. Grayling
 
“A masterpiece . . . a fact of world literature just as important as the densely dramatic Brothers Karamazov or the brilliantly subtle and terrifying Devils. . . . [an] excellent new translation.” —The Guardian
 
“McDuff's language is rich and alive.” —The New York Times Book Review

“[The Idiot's] narrative is so compelling.” —Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury