Very Old RARE Book!! Place of Publication: St. Publisher: The publication of A. Demons (Russian: , Bésy) is a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, first published in the journal The Russian Messenger in 18712. It is the third of the four great novels written by Dostoyevsky after his return from Siberian exile, the others being Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Demons is a social and political satire, a psychological drama, and large scale tragedy. Joyce Carol Oates has described it as Dostoevsky’s most confused and violent novel, and his most satisfactorily’tragic’ work. ” According to Ronald Hingley, it is Dostoyevsky’s “greatest onslaught on Nihilism”, and “one of humanity’s most impressive achievementsperhaps even its supreme achievementin the art of prose fiction. Demons is an allegory of the potentially catastrophic consequences of the political and moral nihilism that were becoming prevalent in Russia in the 1860s. A fictional town descends into chaos as it becomes the focal point of an attempted revolution, orchestrated by master conspirator Pyotr Verkhovensky. The mysterious aristocratic figure of Nikolai StavroginVerkhovensky’s counterpart in the moral spheredominates the book, exercising an extraordinary influence over the hearts and minds of almost all the other characters. The idealistic, western-influenced generation of the 1840s, epitomized in the character of Stepan Verkhovensky (who is both Pyotr Verkhovensky’s father and Nikolai Stavrogin’s childhood teacher), are presented as the unconscious progenitors and helpless accomplices of the’demonic’ forces that take possession of the town. The original Russian title is Bésy (Russian: , singular , bés), which means “demons”. There are three English translations: The Possessed, The Devils, and Demons. Constance Garnett’s 1916 translation popularized the novel and gained it notoriety as The Possessed, but this title has been disputed by later translators. They argue that “The Possessed” points in the wrong direction because Bésy refers to an active subject rather than a passive object”possessors” rather than “the possessed”. However,’Demons’ refers not to individuals who act in various immoral or criminal ways, but rather to the ideas that possess them: non-material but living forces that subordinate the individual (and collective) consciousness, distorting it and impelling it toward catastrophe. The demons are that legion of isms that came to Russia from the West: idealism, rationalism, empiricism, materialism, utilitarianism, positivism, socialism, anarchism, nihilism, and, underlying them all, atheism. The counter-ideal to the demons (expressed in the novel through the character of Ivan Shatov) is that of an authentically Russian culture growing out of the people’s inherent spirituality and faith. In a letter to his friend Apollon Maykov, Dostoyevsky alludes to the episode of the Exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac in the Gospel of Luke as the inspiration for the title: Exactly the same thing happened in our country: the devils went out of the Russian man and entered into a herd of swine… These are drowned or will be drowned, and the healed man, from whom the devils have departed, sits at the feet of Jesus. Part of the passage is used as an epigraph, and Dostoyevsky’s thoughts on its relevance to Russia are given voice by Stepan Verkhovensky on his deathbed near the end of the novel. Has few damage but overall in good condition for its time! Please see the photos. Look all items in my store. The item “1895 Very Old RARE Book Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky Novel St. Petersburg” is in sale since Sunday, May 22, 2016. This item is in the category “Books\Antiquarian & Collectible”. The seller is “hedesso” and is located in Europe. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Original/Facsimile: Original
- Special Attributes: First Edition
- Publisher: The publication A.F. Marks
- Place of Publication: St. Petersburg
- Year Printed: 1895
- Author: Dostoevsky Fyodor
- Character Family: Demons
- Language: Old Russian
- Topic: Novels
