Jared's review of The Gambler
The Gambler (Modern Library Classics) by Fyodor Dostoevsky
There are few writers like Dostoevsky. His life was as dramatic and intense as one of the novels he authored. The circumstances behind The Gambler illustrate this perfectly. Picture Dostoevsky in late 1866, lonely and sick. His wife died in 1864, and he continuously suffered from epileptic episodes. Fyodor was in debt way over his head, from a failed publishing venture and his assumption of his brother’s debts and his bouts with gambling. He was an addict of roulette—which became a savior bon vivant to his troubles. To make matters worse, he had foolishly entered a futures contract with a local publisher for 3,000 Roubles in exchange for the rights to publish one volume of his collected works, along with a new novel by November 1, 1866. The default penalty would have ruined Dostoevsky, legally giving the conniving publisher the rights to all of Dostoevsky’s novels for 9 years.
This novel was a true gamble, but Dostoevsky triumphed yet again, with love, Christiani...more
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