Rating: 
Summary: "The Devils" is the greatest political novel of all time.
Review: "The Devils" concerns a group of unscrupulous rogues who bring terror to a small town in 1870's Russia through their vicious, but pathetic activities. In the climax of the novel, they kill one of their own number who has turned away from their "devilish" socialism. (The book is loosely based upon real events.)
Dostoyevsky, by 1872 an impoverished, embittered reactionary, at no point even attempts to enter into dialogue with socialism - that is not his aim. The nihilists have no principles, they merely get drunk, argue and shout a lot, and kill each other, and the town's high society are too vain and foolish to prevent catastrophe. The characters are not sympathetic individuals, merely caricatures of various despicable traits - vapid aristocratic liberalism (Stepan Verkhovensky), or athiestic "European" modernism (his son Peter), whilst the Jews are viewed as profiteering rogues and clowns. The novel is, perhaps too long and badly structured. Much of its dialogue is stilted and parodic, although there are hilarious scenes, and some deeply moving ones.
But - this book, foreseeing the joy and despair of the Russian revolution, offers shattering insights into human nature, showing the breakdown of family / social bonds. Like all great art, it has a profound effect upon the reader. If comedy is about man with his trousers down his legs, and tragedy shows him reaching for the stars, then "The Devils", like "MacBeth", gives both to us. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: A Passionate and Prophetic Satire
Review: By the time Dostoyevsky began work on The Devils, he was a confirmed conservative who felt that he had squandered his youth paying the price for his foolish revolutionary brooding. The Devils, as a result, is a potent product of his catharsis: his emphatic howl against the fervor of revolution that was gripping his country. He proved only too prophetic.Its the height of irony that Russia's reformist Tsar, Alexander II, was assasinated by revolutionaries the same year Dostoyevsky himself died, 1881. A reckless path for Russia's future was being paved, where inhuman and beastly reactionaries were pitted against the violent, none-too-shrewd and uncompromising radicals. The road was taking them to 1917, as an undeveloped, largely medieval country completely unprepared for Soviet communism. The rest is history. Dostoyevsky's book is more than just a hilarious dark comedy about a revolutionary circle that shows up (or doesn't) in Anytown Russia. It was a stern but unheeded warning. The title rings more true than ever, recalling the pigs that drove themselves to their deaths in a fit of madness after Jesus drew demons into them. An *essential* read.
Rating:
Summary: The Possessed, or, Demons
Review: Demons opens up with a brief exposition on the two decade long relationship between the reckless, impulsive poet, Stepan Trofimovich, and the woman who keeps him, the rich, aloof, forever exasperated landowner, Varvara Petrovna. Theirs is a strange relationship, but perhaps not so uncommon then as it would be now. Stepan Trofimovich's reputation lies on the creativity of his youth, now, approaching fifty, these glory days are all but behind him. He has become little more than a celebrated scholar. Varvara loves him, but is waiting for him to declare it, something he will never do. While much given to spouting romantic phrases in both French and Russian at the drop of a hat, he is a flighty, inconsistent man. He loves her very much, but prefers to reveal his feelings to the mostly nameless narrator with moans and groans about his fate.
During this long 'Not an Introduction', we are introduced, also, to the many and varied inhabitants of the small Russian town. Most of the characters - and even many of the very minor ones - are fully fleshed out, with families, backgrounds, desires, thoughts, hopes, dreams, motives. A few in particular stand out. There is Krillov, the man who is determined to end his life not through depression or melancholy, but through a choice, allowing himself to be the first man to have free-will, and thus to become God. But he is burdened with this responsibility, endlessly philosophising with himself through sleepless nights. Shatov, the bitter student, a man who wants to fight God but cannot, who tried his luck in America and failed. Karmazinov, the once-great author, losing his talent and perhaps his mind, inflated by an unjustifiable sense of self-worth. Lebyadkin, the drunken captain with the lame sister, a secret shame he never reveals. Through these characters and more we are able to ascertain the political, philosophical and economical feelings of the times, and every one becomes a fully realised, three dimensional character.
Nikolai Vsevolodovich and Pyotr Stepanovich, a son each to the two characters mentioned above, return to the town after years of being away. Stavrogin (Nikolai) is respected and feared, he carries a dark secret. Verkhovensky (Pyotor) is a mystery, and seems able to worm his way into upper society with ease. As the book develops, the two are involved in ever more intricate schemes, always hinted at and never revealed, while all about the Russians are living their lives. Tracts are written, political meetings are held, Verkhovensky and Stavrogin seemingly the masters of this game, however, in their meetings, it is uncertain which one really knows what is going on, and who is the true power.
In typical Dostoevsky fashion, all emotions are felt perhaps too well, with people moaning and crying and fainting and falling to death from shock. This romantic touch adds greatly to the drama of the story, more so as the plots thicken, intertwine, and begin to be revealed, and as the body count increases, so too does the tension. One of the last chapters, involving Verkhovensky and Krillov, is perhaps the greatest, containing such a breadth and depth of ideas about reality and God as to make one step back and reflect on what he has read. The ideas presented, all throughout the book, are lucid, coherent, and undeniably powerful. Add to this the completely realised characters, and what is left is a brilliant book that looks at the social forces of an ideological revolt under false pretenses, and just what man is prepared to do to gain power. The only negative is that the second to last chapter is a - necessary - disappointment, flatly written and seemingly tacked on, but apart from this, it is one of the greatest books I have read.
Rating:
Summary: The Brutality of Morals
Review: Dostoyevsky encompasses both the passionate brutality of 19th century Russian society and the perpetual moral conflicts of all-time in this smashing novel. Every character is flawed to perfection, and a certain disease seems to linger around the characters. Kirilov was by far the most engaging, wrestling with his philosophy all the while knowing his fate. He was so self-abusive it was terrific!
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Study of the Revolutionary
Review: Dostoyevsky himself is a victim of youthful frenzy, of revolution's dangerous freedom, and of radicals' ruthless betrayal. A powerful work of dark messages, Demons also known as The Possessed, crowns Dostoyevsky literature before the brilliance and magnitude of The Brothers Karamazov. Written more of severe historical recounts than a lighter fiction work such as The Idiot, Dostoyevsky gained the permanent abhorrence of contemporary radicals whose presence was lushly painted with angry strokes of danger and of depravity. Base on an actual accident that took place in 1869, Demons retells the story of an ailing radical, Shatov, whose emerging faith makes him an obstacle in the way of one obscure town's intellectual circle. The murder of Shatov is by no means a beginning of Dostoyevsky's lustrous characterization going deep into the dark psyche of revolution; instead, it is marked as an ending to a period of great turmoil and of intellectual unrest that wake blinded followers as well as the observant surrounding to the painful truth of progress. At the beginning, the readers are introduced to a Nihilist father Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky, a retired lecturer and educator who has been under the patronage of a local aristocrat Varvara Petrovna Stavrogin. Stepan Trofimovich's mind of uncertainty leaves behind a tremendous mess of doubts and of hatred in his son, Pyotr Stepanovich, head of the local secret society. The true hero of the story is Nikolai Vsevolodovich Stavrogin, son of Varvara Petrovna, a troubled young man whose dubious past haunts his present in the small town. Like other heroes of Dostoyevsky, Stavrogin is handsome, rich, and dashing; unlike Raskolnikov or Dimitri Karamazov, Stavrogin commits himself to worldly evils unawarely as if in a state of dreams. The heart of Demons is the possession of unguarded intellect turning into a possessive spirit, and at the center of the dark confusions of ideas, of theories, and of rebellions, Stavrogin is chosen to unveil the face of the demons. Pyotr Stepanovich, on the other hand, is characterized by his pretentious presence in front of the weak and obsequious malice facing the powerful. His real-life counterpart being Nechaev who led his political society against Ivan Ivanov's (Shatov) struggle to break free, Pyotr is portrayed with care, shrouded in shadow, and hidden in intellectualism. With some of the most provocative suggestions on revolution, Demons seems to challenge the rigid intellect that is obsessed with replacing the old with something revolutionary. DO READ WITH AN OPEN MIND.
Rating:
Summary: Modernity and Madness as synonyms
Review: Dostoyevsky is, of course, the greatest novelist, and this great book is no let down. Though it was slow for me initially (I feared that I would be bogged down in Russian society) it soon picked up and became absolutely engrossing. Here is a continuation of Dotoyevsky's attack on the "disease" of modernism that he hints at in Raskolnokov's Siberian Dreams (from Crime and Punishment). This novel is valuble not only for it's humanity in the face of dehumanizing ideology, but also as an eye into the Russian conscience. It provides a fascinating look at how Russian intellectuals were primed for Communism. Heart Rending, fascinating, informative. The greatest!! (P.S. Given the respect given to Judiaism at one point in the novel, the 'Yid' comments are colloquial and part of a portrait. I don't believe they can be taken as genuine anti-semitic commments)!
Rating: 
Summary: wake me when the revolution's over
Review: I love Dostoevsky's short stories, White Nights in particular, and many others to be sure. However, there remains a wide and yawning gap between those short, brilliant stories and this painfully slow and verbose tome of revolutionary Russia. I don't know much about Dostoevsky's politics following his near execution and imprisonment in Siberia, but clearly this novel was meant to lampoon the efforts of those who challenged czarist Russia. The first 50-75 pages are the worst the book has to offer. Thereafter it unquestionably improves albeit at a pace that would bore a turtle. For me Dostoevsky is never able to get into the heads of his characters quite like he does with his short(er) stories. Some may not share this view, but . . . If you want to read a much better story set in revolutionary times, with actual revolutionaries rather than the farcical group of clods Dostoevsky put together, read Andre Malraux's Man's Fate (The Human Condition). In half the time Malraux doe twice the work. But that's another review. In short, this is a "good" Dostoevsky novel, long , but that's what you know you're gonna' get with most 19th c. Russian writers. It's too bad that Dostoevsky is so long winded because otherwise this could easily be a great novel. Stick to Malraux for revolution but don't forget Dostoevsky's White Nights.
Rating: 
Summary: A hellish book
Review: I must confess I do not care for Dostoyevsky and this is probably his weakest and least probable book. This is the book that he wrote as a kind of apology for having once been a revolutionary. While I can agree that the people who populate this book are scoundrals and this probably is accurate, the ending is just horrible. Here we have the old revolutionary, "People's Will" stalwart marching through the snow having been discarded by everyone and on his deathbed crying out for the gospels. I just did not buy it and do not think anyone really can suspend disbelief to do so either.
Rating:
Summary: A hellish book
Review: I must confess I do not care for Dostoyevsky and this is probably his weakest and least probable book. This is the book that he wrote as a kind of apology for having once been a revolutionary. While I can agree that the people who populate this book are scoundrals and this probably is accurate, the ending is just horrible. Here we have the old revolutionary, "People's Will" stalwart marching through the snow having been discarded by everyone and on his deathbed crying out for the gospels. I just did not buy it and do not think anyone really can suspend disbelief to do so either.
Rating:
Summary: Politically prescient, historically significant
Review: I've always felt that fiction is like a window to the past, and with "The Devils," Dostoevsky gives us a clear glimpse at the underground politics brewing in Czarist Russia. At the same time, his propensity to write about criminals and people with criminal hearts is nowhere more emphasized among his major novels than in this one. There is not one character I could identify as a traditional hero, not even the semi-anonymous narrator, who relates the novel's events with the impartiality of a security camera; they are all antiheros -- a room full of Raskolnikovs. The novel concerns a small band of Russian intellectuals, atheists, socialists, anarchists, and various other rabble who are distributing subversive leaflets in an attempt to incite the proletariat to revolt against the government. They are a motley group, destined to fail because they lack general competence, organizational skills, a clear agenda, definite plans, and even uniform ideas. The only thing they have in common is that they don't like the way things currently are in Russia and intend to change them, violently if necessary. Among this group we meet Nicholas Stavrogin, an obnoxious, insensitive young man who is only looking out for himself and is not above having affairs with his friends' wives. The group's prime mover and instigator is Peter Verkhovensky, whose father Stepan had been Nicholas's tutor and is still living platonically with Nicholas's widowed mother, one of the wealthier citizens of the town in which the novel takes place. The group's rank-and-file who figure most prominently into the plot include the suicidal Kirilov, a former member (and potential informer) named Shatov who just wants to put it all behind him, a useless drunkard named Lebyatkin who acts as the group's stooge, and an escaped convict named Fedka who becomes the group's henchman. That many of these people are dead by the end of the novel is not as surprising as how they get that way. The plot is built around intrigues, disloyalties, and the type of drawing-room confessions and revelations that characterize the best mysteries. It's not difficult to guess that there is a juicy secret about Lebyatkin's crippled, mentally disturbed sister Mary, or that the elegant fete arranged by Julia Lembke, the Governor's wife, will culminate in a spectacular, outrageous, and perhaps deadly climax; Dostoevsky likes sensationalism and never misses a chance to use human frailty and folly as hosts upon which the morally hollow feed like parasites. Dostoevsky's description of these men as "devils" is a biblical allusion to the book of Luke, translating Christ's power to drive the devils out of a possessed man into a herd of swine to the cleansing of Russia of its nefarious political elements. It would appear that "The Devils" is Dostoevsky's effort to demonize the soulless, devilish radicals who have no moral underpinnings and who would replace everything he considers good about Russia (namely, the Eastern Orthodox Church) with Western ideas. There is an obvious parallel to the Bolshevik Revolution of nearly half a century later, which shows that such Socialist sentiment had been bubbling under the Russian mainstream for many years prior to its twentieth century emergence. In that sense, this is a prescient novel of historical and political interest.
|
