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The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky
Der ehrliche Dieb
Ein schwaches Herz
Ein kleiner Held
Das Krokodil
Bobok
Die Sanfte
Der Traum eines lächerlichen Menschen
Ein schwaches Herz
Ein kleiner Held
Das Krokodil
Bobok
Die Sanfte
Der Traum eines lächerlichen Menschen
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1877
480 people are currently reading
7812 people want to read
About the author
Fyodor Dostoevsky
3,247 books72.2k followers
Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский
(Russian)
Works, such as the novels Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880), of Russian writer Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky or Dostoevski combine religious mysticism with profound psychological insight.
Very influential writings of Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin included Problems of Dostoyevsky's Works (1929),
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky composed short stories, essays, and journals. His literature explores humans in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century and engages with a variety of philosophies and themes. People most acclaimed his Demons(1872) .
Many literary critics rate him among the greatest authors of world literature and consider multiple books written by him to be highly influential masterpieces. They consider his Notes from Underground of the first existentialist literature. He is also well regarded as a philosopher and theologian.
(Russian: Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский) (see also Fiodor Dostoïevski)
Works, such as the novels Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880), of Russian writer Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky or Dostoevski combine religious mysticism with profound psychological insight.
Very influential writings of Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin included Problems of Dostoyevsky's Works (1929),
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky composed short stories, essays, and journals. His literature explores humans in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century and engages with a variety of philosophies and themes. People most acclaimed his Demons(1872) .
Many literary critics rate him among the greatest authors of world literature and consider multiple books written by him to be highly influential masterpieces. They consider his Notes from Underground of the first existentialist literature. He is also well regarded as a philosopher and theologian.
(Russian: Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский) (see also Fiodor Dostoïevski)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 246 reviews
July 28, 2009
White Nights: 4/5
This was written before his prison term. It's a love story. Enjoyable but nothing special.
The Honest Thief: 3/5
It was good but nothing great either. Sometimes a little draggy.
The Christmas Tree and the Wedding: 4/5
I quite like this one. It is kind of a social satire.
The Peasant Marey: 3/5
I don't quite understand this one. Or maybe there isn't much to understand about.
Notes From the Underground: 5/5
This is one of his most famous works. It is brilliant though I think I need to re-read Part 1. Interesting thoughts he presented.
My favourite quote : "Rank they mistook for brains."
A Gentle Creature: 3/5
This was boring at times, but ok at times.
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man: 5/5
This is my favourite among the lot. Absolutely brilliant. I liked it more the Underground. It has strong themes of Christianity and Existentialism.
Favourite quote: "Truth could only be attained through suffering."
This was written before his prison term. It's a love story. Enjoyable but nothing special.
The Honest Thief: 3/5
It was good but nothing great either. Sometimes a little draggy.
The Christmas Tree and the Wedding: 4/5
I quite like this one. It is kind of a social satire.
The Peasant Marey: 3/5
I don't quite understand this one. Or maybe there isn't much to understand about.
Notes From the Underground: 5/5
This is one of his most famous works. It is brilliant though I think I need to re-read Part 1. Interesting thoughts he presented.
My favourite quote : "Rank they mistook for brains."
A Gentle Creature: 3/5
This was boring at times, but ok at times.
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man: 5/5
This is my favourite among the lot. Absolutely brilliant. I liked it more the Underground. It has strong themes of Christianity and Existentialism.
Favourite quote: "Truth could only be attained through suffering."
September 8, 2012
I finally picked up Crime and Punishment and read the lengthy introduction. By the end of it, I decided to first read Notes from the Underground to get a sense of Dostoevsky's early versus later writings. In this edition, you get (published in chronological order except for The Peasant Marey):
White Nights
The Honest Thief
The Christmas Tree and a Wedding
The Peasant Marey
Notes from the Underground, which is really more of a novella than a short story
A Gentle Creature
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
As I read, I went from "Good God, why did no editor save him from verbosity and ponderousness" to the point of laughing out loud (Notes from the Underground), righteousness (A Gentle Creature), and admiring respect (The Dream of a Ridiculous Man). It's easy to see why Dostoevsky became known as a great observer of human psychology, especially with regard to how people relate to each other: the tendencies toward envy, greed, and resentment, and the need to exercise power over another person to make oneself (temporarily) feel superior. And most of all, the need to accept and forgive oneself for these human frailties. I'm looking forward to reading Crime and Punishment soon.
If you read only a couple of short things by Dostoevsky, I recommend Notes from the Underground and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man. Yay!
White Nights
The Honest Thief
The Christmas Tree and a Wedding
The Peasant Marey
Notes from the Underground, which is really more of a novella than a short story
A Gentle Creature
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
As I read, I went from "Good God, why did no editor save him from verbosity and ponderousness" to the point of laughing out loud (Notes from the Underground), righteousness (A Gentle Creature), and admiring respect (The Dream of a Ridiculous Man). It's easy to see why Dostoevsky became known as a great observer of human psychology, especially with regard to how people relate to each other: the tendencies toward envy, greed, and resentment, and the need to exercise power over another person to make oneself (temporarily) feel superior. And most of all, the need to accept and forgive oneself for these human frailties. I'm looking forward to reading Crime and Punishment soon.
If you read only a couple of short things by Dostoevsky, I recommend Notes from the Underground and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man. Yay!
May 8, 2024
Dostoevsky's beautiful inspection into the world of living and the complex range of thoughts and emotions one bears.
White Nights: 4/5 (rr)
The Honest Thief:3/5
Christmas Tree and a wedding: 3.5/5- insidious and calculative yet throws a light on the morals of our society and men from an outsider's pov.
The Peasant Marey: acts as a prequel to the next story.
A Gentle Creature: 4/5 - Women have multitudes and the man learns the hard way.
Dream of a Ridiculous Man: 3.5/5. 3 am thoughts but make it days long.
White Nights: 4/5 (rr)
The Honest Thief:3/5
Christmas Tree and a wedding: 3.5/5- insidious and calculative yet throws a light on the morals of our society and men from an outsider's pov.
The Peasant Marey: acts as a prequel to the next story.
A Gentle Creature: 4/5 - Women have multitudes and the man learns the hard way.
Dream of a Ridiculous Man: 3.5/5. 3 am thoughts but make it days long.
“How is such a repetition possible and why? I love, I can only love the earth I’ve left behind, stained with my blood when, ungrateful wretch that I am, I extinguished my life by shooting myself through the heart. But never, never have I ceased to love that earth, and even on the night I parted from it I loved it perhaps more poignantly than ever. Is there suffering on this new earth? On our earth we can truly love only with suffering and through suffering! We know not how to love otherwise. We know no other love. I want suffering in order to love. I want and thirst this very minute to kiss, with tears streaming down my cheeks, the one and only earth I have left behind. I don’t want, I won’t accept life on any other!…”
December 16, 2018
If you are like me and have not read any prior Dostoevsky this book of seven of his short stories is a great place to start.
Each story is engaging, relatively short and told in a similar style, usually featuring a male narrator who is troubled, lonely, intelligent and narcissistic.
The longest and I think most famous story in the collection is also the most rewarding: Notes from the Underground.
In that story the narrator is a 40-year old misanthrope who is very intelligent and knows it but also loathsome, vain and over-sensitive and knows this too.
The underground man secludes himself from others with only books but occasionally emerges to experience real life.
He tells us he is oppressed by a memory from 16 years earlier, and so begins a sort of confession that is at once horrifying and revealing of human nature. Through the narration, we are invited to enter the mind of a man whom we ought to despise for his narcissism and cruelty, especially toward Lisa, a young prostitute whom he seeks to utterly demoralize and humiliate (notably only with words). He acts from a twisted motive of wanting to inflict pain on her because he himself had had his pride injured at a dinner party among friends earlier that night.
As contemptible as the underground man is, we are fascinated by his character because we see in it a reflection of our own natures.
Don’t we all live in our heads at times? Aren’t we all guilty of self-absorption? Don’t we all suffer by our thoughts and struggle to control our inner voice that fills us with self-doubt? Don’t we all struggle to cope with real life, to get along in the world? Don’t we all need to blow off steam when slighted or humiliated, and doesn’t this affect how we treat the next person we encounter?
The underground man is a magnifying glass for our consciousness, the part of human nature that sets us apart from other animals but is equally the source of so much pain and suffering. The underground man lives only in his consciousness – seldom in the society of others – and perhaps this is to remind us that though we can escape other people we we cannot run away from ourselves.
Dostoevsky is very skeptical of science and rationality as a panacea and draws attention through his writing and characters to the unlovely parts of human nature: our passion for destruction and chaos, our perennial ingratitude, our desire to tyrannize and feel morally superior to others.
Having been thus introduced to Dostoevsky, I look forward to reading some of his longer works.
Each story is engaging, relatively short and told in a similar style, usually featuring a male narrator who is troubled, lonely, intelligent and narcissistic.
The longest and I think most famous story in the collection is also the most rewarding: Notes from the Underground.
In that story the narrator is a 40-year old misanthrope who is very intelligent and knows it but also loathsome, vain and over-sensitive and knows this too.
The underground man secludes himself from others with only books but occasionally emerges to experience real life.
He tells us he is oppressed by a memory from 16 years earlier, and so begins a sort of confession that is at once horrifying and revealing of human nature. Through the narration, we are invited to enter the mind of a man whom we ought to despise for his narcissism and cruelty, especially toward Lisa, a young prostitute whom he seeks to utterly demoralize and humiliate (notably only with words). He acts from a twisted motive of wanting to inflict pain on her because he himself had had his pride injured at a dinner party among friends earlier that night.
As contemptible as the underground man is, we are fascinated by his character because we see in it a reflection of our own natures.
Don’t we all live in our heads at times? Aren’t we all guilty of self-absorption? Don’t we all suffer by our thoughts and struggle to control our inner voice that fills us with self-doubt? Don’t we all struggle to cope with real life, to get along in the world? Don’t we all need to blow off steam when slighted or humiliated, and doesn’t this affect how we treat the next person we encounter?
The underground man is a magnifying glass for our consciousness, the part of human nature that sets us apart from other animals but is equally the source of so much pain and suffering. The underground man lives only in his consciousness – seldom in the society of others – and perhaps this is to remind us that though we can escape other people we we cannot run away from ourselves.
Dostoevsky is very skeptical of science and rationality as a panacea and draws attention through his writing and characters to the unlovely parts of human nature: our passion for destruction and chaos, our perennial ingratitude, our desire to tyrannize and feel morally superior to others.
Having been thus introduced to Dostoevsky, I look forward to reading some of his longer works.
September 4, 2021
I don’t know whether this is just a bad translation or if I no longer like Dostoyevsky. I used to love Notes from Underground (oh, how wretched I must have been! Forgive me my youthful sullenness and dejection), but now all I see is a quirky meanness that I find rather distasteful. I have outgrown the pessimistic personality and find the style, at times, rather tedious. Nevertheless, some of his ideas still hold up: our consciousness is overbearing; we spend more time in dreams than actually living, but to call this collection his “best” short stories when several are rather inconsequential and dull is false advertising. I am glad, however, to have read The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, which is the positive exception to an otherwise soul-crushing and conceited negativity.
White Nights - 2.5
The Honest Thief - 0.5
The Christmas Tree and a Wedding - 0.5
The Peasant Marey - 0.5
Notes from the Underground - 1.5
A Gentle Creature - 0.5-1
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man - 3.5-4
White Nights - 2.5
The Honest Thief - 0.5
The Christmas Tree and a Wedding - 0.5
The Peasant Marey - 0.5
Notes from the Underground - 1.5
A Gentle Creature - 0.5-1
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man - 3.5-4
July 16, 2023
Uh, poprilicno sam se namucio sa ovo knjigom. Nekako sam se dokotrljao do samog kraja. Inace, ovo su prve pripovetke koje sam procitao od Dostojevskog, u ovoj knjzi ih ima ukupno 8. Ujakov san, naziv one koja mi se ubedljivo najvise dopala, pa ako negde nekad naidjete na tu moja preporuka da je procitate. Mislim da ima boljih pisaca kratke forme, ali iz nekog razloga sam pozeleo da bas ovu procitam, tako odjednom se pojavila neka zelja. Ima svega u ovim pricama, tuge, smeha, ljubavi, naglih promena raspolozenja,mnogo unutrasnjih razmisljanja, propadanja, nade.. ma svega.
February 9, 2016
As soon as I finished Tsypkin's Summer in Baden-Baden, I felt the irresistible urge to (re-)read Dostoevsky. Then I remembered that I bought this edition of his stories, solely because it included a couple that were not part of the Pevear & Volokhonsky edition that I previous read, and decided to dive right in. I have reviewed the stories individually, so I will not discuss them here again. One point of criticism, however: this edition is called The Best Short Stories of and includes Notes from Underground - which is far from a story let alone a short one (novella or short novel would be the more appropriate designation). Perhaps Modern Library preferred this small inaccuracy to the vagueness of naming the collection The Best Short Works of, or maybe that title would ask for more works to be added - who knows? They did include commentaries by André Gide and Stefan Zweig, though, which were well worth reading. Overall, this is - I am inclined to say of course - a great collection.
August 8, 2020
ugh. fyodor. so full of feelings!
September 7, 2017
Stunning. I enjoyed all of the stories even though they were not the happiest. Notes from the Underground was an indictment of how the author felt and saw mankind. Mostly negative. The cynicism, guilt and angst was a true masterpiece. A Gentle Creature was both sad and frustrating to read how someone can be so short sighted. Most of the stories were linked with power with some having it and others not. All in all I came away wanting to reread these stories in the future.
November 12, 2017
4.5 out of 5... only because of the last story, I didn't resonate with it at all. Clearly, Dostoevsky is as brilliant with his short stories as he is with his novels. As always, he delves deep into the psyche of the characters he creates and he displays the mysteries of human behaviour.
April 23, 2020
If one can ignore White Nights, this is a perfect book. 'A gentle creature' & 'The Honest thief' were best.
June 7, 2024
RIP underground man you would’ve loved Reddit
May 25, 2013
I had been looking forward to having a chance to read some of Dostoyevsky's short stories, as I am more familiar with his novels. So I am pleased to say that I was not disappointed, and that I immensely enjoyed this collection! First of all, from an organizational perspective, I appreciated the editor's choice to arrange the stories in chronological order. In this way, one can note Dostoyevsky's progress as a writer throughout his life. I find it fascinating to see which themes changed, and which ones persist throughout each of the pieces.
I don't have time to write about each story, but I will comment on a few that made the strongest impact on me. I was impressed with Dostoyevsky's forward-thinking attitude in "A Christmas Tree and a Wedding";though the story itself is brief, it has quite a bit to say.Satirical in tone,the piece protests several conventions of 19th century society, most notably the forcing of young girls into marriages for the sake of money and power. Dostoyevsky depicts the girl's intended fiance as an incredibly-shady figure who literally calculates the interest that the girl's dowry will accumulate in the next few years. Like a man betting on a racehorse, he adds up the sum that his "winnings" will total by the time the unfortunate young lady turns 16 and marries him. Such blatant contempt on Dostoyevsky's part for this practice must have caused quite a scandal in its day!
The most persistent theme throughout the later stories in this collection is a favorite of Dostoyevsky's, and that is the necessity for compassion among human beings. In "A Gentle Creature", a lack of understanding and sympathy between people is shown to destroy lives. And most powerfully in "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man", Dostoyevsky illustrates the ways in which an increasingly-individualistic society leads to war, suffering, and an inability to recall that we are not so different from one another. These issues resonate just as deeply today as they did when Dostoyevsky wrote about them, and I suppose there is a reason why the Russians call him a prophet.
Perhaps the most powerful passage in this book comes from "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man": "I have beheld it and know that people can be happy and beautiful without losing their ability to live on earth. I will not and cannot believe that evil is the normal condition among men. And yet they all laugh at this faith of mine. But how can I help believing it?" (284).
I think this sums up Dostoyevsky's philosophy quite well, and it is why he will always be my favorite author. Because no matter how much cruelty he saw and endured, he still believed quite unshakably in the inherent goodness of humanity. And he didn't care if others called such a mindset naive, because it was the only way he knew how to live.
I don't have time to write about each story, but I will comment on a few that made the strongest impact on me. I was impressed with Dostoyevsky's forward-thinking attitude in "A Christmas Tree and a Wedding";though the story itself is brief, it has quite a bit to say.Satirical in tone,the piece protests several conventions of 19th century society, most notably the forcing of young girls into marriages for the sake of money and power. Dostoyevsky depicts the girl's intended fiance as an incredibly-shady figure who literally calculates the interest that the girl's dowry will accumulate in the next few years. Like a man betting on a racehorse, he adds up the sum that his "winnings" will total by the time the unfortunate young lady turns 16 and marries him. Such blatant contempt on Dostoyevsky's part for this practice must have caused quite a scandal in its day!
The most persistent theme throughout the later stories in this collection is a favorite of Dostoyevsky's, and that is the necessity for compassion among human beings. In "A Gentle Creature", a lack of understanding and sympathy between people is shown to destroy lives. And most powerfully in "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man", Dostoyevsky illustrates the ways in which an increasingly-individualistic society leads to war, suffering, and an inability to recall that we are not so different from one another. These issues resonate just as deeply today as they did when Dostoyevsky wrote about them, and I suppose there is a reason why the Russians call him a prophet.
Perhaps the most powerful passage in this book comes from "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man": "I have beheld it and know that people can be happy and beautiful without losing their ability to live on earth. I will not and cannot believe that evil is the normal condition among men. And yet they all laugh at this faith of mine. But how can I help believing it?" (284).
I think this sums up Dostoyevsky's philosophy quite well, and it is why he will always be my favorite author. Because no matter how much cruelty he saw and endured, he still believed quite unshakably in the inherent goodness of humanity. And he didn't care if others called such a mindset naive, because it was the only way he knew how to live.
September 18, 2020
Personal preference, but I don't like short stories as much because I have less time to get to know the characters.
I don't know why, but I love nature imagery. White Nights, the first short story here, opens with, "The sky was so bright and starry that when you looked at it the first question that came into your mind was whether it was really possible that all sorts of bad-tempered and unstable people could live under such a glorious sky." Gorgeous. Perfect.
Dostoyevsky gets what makes the written form special. In this age of technology, authors shouldn't bother with explosions or car chases, since they will never be as splashy or breathtaking as in the movies (I skimmed through Goldfinch's shootout scene with no shame since I knew I could pull up a Fast and Furious movie any time I wanted. Same with All The Light We Cannot See's bombing scene. I've already watched Dunkirk!) And authors shouldn't bother with poetry since songwriters will beat them every time by supplementing poetry with catchy melodies and verses.
When Taylor Swift sings, "Words: how little they mean, when you're a little too late," it's beautiful. But when Wong Fu Productions says, "When people ask me what city I love the most, I say LA, the city where I loved the most," it's nauseating. I guarantee if the latter had had added a beat and some guitar, it would have worked.
Here's where books win, though: they capture thoughts better than any other medium. Scorsese does narration well in his gangster movies, but the images and music are too distracting for the narration to stick (which is right, by the way--we watch movies to watch, not to listen; thoughts take a backseat in his films, as they should). And the beats and melodies of songs constrain thought so much that nuance is near impossible. Can you imagine trying to squeeze the complexities of Huckleberry Finn into a song or movie? You can't without destroying it. And that's what makes the book great.
I'm tired of authors who mistake their screenplays for books. But Dostoyevsky has written a book--or several, rather. He gives the finger to plot and thrilling action and all those other things that get in the way of his deep dives into his characters' psyches. We get their lonely cynicism, their confusion at a dead spouse, their gratitude towards friendly strangers, their despair at unrequited love, their attempts to justify their own evil. Reading this felt like reading my own confessions. Often books let you escape into other worlds; here you get a chance to investigate your own.
I don't know why, but I love nature imagery. White Nights, the first short story here, opens with, "The sky was so bright and starry that when you looked at it the first question that came into your mind was whether it was really possible that all sorts of bad-tempered and unstable people could live under such a glorious sky." Gorgeous. Perfect.
Dostoyevsky gets what makes the written form special. In this age of technology, authors shouldn't bother with explosions or car chases, since they will never be as splashy or breathtaking as in the movies (I skimmed through Goldfinch's shootout scene with no shame since I knew I could pull up a Fast and Furious movie any time I wanted. Same with All The Light We Cannot See's bombing scene. I've already watched Dunkirk!) And authors shouldn't bother with poetry since songwriters will beat them every time by supplementing poetry with catchy melodies and verses.
When Taylor Swift sings, "Words: how little they mean, when you're a little too late," it's beautiful. But when Wong Fu Productions says, "When people ask me what city I love the most, I say LA, the city where I loved the most," it's nauseating. I guarantee if the latter had had added a beat and some guitar, it would have worked.
Here's where books win, though: they capture thoughts better than any other medium. Scorsese does narration well in his gangster movies, but the images and music are too distracting for the narration to stick (which is right, by the way--we watch movies to watch, not to listen; thoughts take a backseat in his films, as they should). And the beats and melodies of songs constrain thought so much that nuance is near impossible. Can you imagine trying to squeeze the complexities of Huckleberry Finn into a song or movie? You can't without destroying it. And that's what makes the book great.
I'm tired of authors who mistake their screenplays for books. But Dostoyevsky has written a book--or several, rather. He gives the finger to plot and thrilling action and all those other things that get in the way of his deep dives into his characters' psyches. We get their lonely cynicism, their confusion at a dead spouse, their gratitude towards friendly strangers, their despair at unrequited love, their attempts to justify their own evil. Reading this felt like reading my own confessions. Often books let you escape into other worlds; here you get a chance to investigate your own.
January 13, 2024
This book took me way too long to read. It’s pretty dense stuff and I got a bit bored of it at times. Honestly I saw some of myself in most of the main characters, in ways that kind of scared me. Most of these stories are depressing, but the last one is about how Sin enters the world and the state of man with and without it. I don’t think Dostoyevsky is very cynical, I just think he lives in a cynical world. I’d definitely read more of his stuff.
Also people keep saying notes from the underground is some of his best work. It definitely has its moments and I should reread it some time but the guy needs an editor there.
Also people keep saying notes from the underground is some of his best work. It definitely has its moments and I should reread it some time but the guy needs an editor there.
August 16, 2022
white nights: 5/5
the honest thief: 3/5
the christmas tree and a wedding : 4/5
the peasant marey: 5/5
notes from underground: 5/5
a gentle creature: 3/5
the dream of a ridiculous man: 5/5
the honest thief: 3/5
the christmas tree and a wedding : 4/5
the peasant marey: 5/5
notes from underground: 5/5
a gentle creature: 3/5
the dream of a ridiculous man: 5/5
February 29, 2024
Enjoyable collection of short stories from one of the greatest literary minds.
With that said, the jewel in this collection is White Nights and why I bought it originally. I’ve already read Notes from Underground so I’ll separate them from this review — although on its own would likely boost this review to 5 stars.
White Nights is a romantic narrative following a lonesome character who seemingly is fated to stay that way. He suddenly finds himself enraptured by a young girl who not only entices him with her beauty, but her innocence and kindness draws him in closer. Then we following a windy few days in which our hero is essentially friendzoned and becomes the third wheel to this girl’s love story. Finally the love triangle between the hero, girl, and her distant lover becomes untangled when her lover seems to no longer be interested. Our hero seems to be spiritually lifted by this change in his fortune and frustratedly confesses the truth of his love to this girl who seems (somehow) totally unaware of his affection. As they are ready to live happily ever after, the old lover shows up and she quickly switches up and falls back into his arms — leaving our hero heartbroken and alone again. Despite the circumstances, our hero finds solace in his extremely brief moments of happiness and suggests a man can find comfort in just a few blissful minutes in his life. Even though I saw it coming, it still was an emotional stabbing and great read.
The last story, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, truly stood out to me as well. We following a prototypical nihilist full of indifference and self-abasement. On the precipice of suicide, he goes to bed and dreams of a utopian Earth that resembles the Garden of Eden prior to men sinning and discovering science/rationality/etc. There are a number of reflections on human behavior, meaning, and love. This quote stood out to me most, “On our Earth we can truly love only with suffering and through suffering! We know not how to love otherwise. We know no other love. I want suffering in order to love. I want and thirst this very minute to kiss, with tears streaming down my cheeks, the one and only earth I have left behind. I don't want, I won't accept life on any other!”
The other short stories are quite silly and simple. One revolves around a guy taking care of a homeless drunkard. At some point, he thinks the drunkard stole his pants and the drunkard proclaims his innocence. The man eventually feels bad and believes him, that is until the drunkard falls ill and confesses to stealing them on his death bed. They’re fine short stories but the only ones worth talking deeply about are White Nights, Notes from Underground, and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man.
With that said, the jewel in this collection is White Nights and why I bought it originally. I’ve already read Notes from Underground so I’ll separate them from this review — although on its own would likely boost this review to 5 stars.
White Nights is a romantic narrative following a lonesome character who seemingly is fated to stay that way. He suddenly finds himself enraptured by a young girl who not only entices him with her beauty, but her innocence and kindness draws him in closer. Then we following a windy few days in which our hero is essentially friendzoned and becomes the third wheel to this girl’s love story. Finally the love triangle between the hero, girl, and her distant lover becomes untangled when her lover seems to no longer be interested. Our hero seems to be spiritually lifted by this change in his fortune and frustratedly confesses the truth of his love to this girl who seems (somehow) totally unaware of his affection. As they are ready to live happily ever after, the old lover shows up and she quickly switches up and falls back into his arms — leaving our hero heartbroken and alone again. Despite the circumstances, our hero finds solace in his extremely brief moments of happiness and suggests a man can find comfort in just a few blissful minutes in his life. Even though I saw it coming, it still was an emotional stabbing and great read.
The last story, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, truly stood out to me as well. We following a prototypical nihilist full of indifference and self-abasement. On the precipice of suicide, he goes to bed and dreams of a utopian Earth that resembles the Garden of Eden prior to men sinning and discovering science/rationality/etc. There are a number of reflections on human behavior, meaning, and love. This quote stood out to me most, “On our Earth we can truly love only with suffering and through suffering! We know not how to love otherwise. We know no other love. I want suffering in order to love. I want and thirst this very minute to kiss, with tears streaming down my cheeks, the one and only earth I have left behind. I don't want, I won't accept life on any other!”
The other short stories are quite silly and simple. One revolves around a guy taking care of a homeless drunkard. At some point, he thinks the drunkard stole his pants and the drunkard proclaims his innocence. The man eventually feels bad and believes him, that is until the drunkard falls ill and confesses to stealing them on his death bed. They’re fine short stories but the only ones worth talking deeply about are White Nights, Notes from Underground, and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man.
April 13, 2016
There’s nothing like a bit Dostoyevsky if you feel all this optimism and cheer in life is a bit overrated, and you want to dispel it like a huge rain cloud over a beautiful summer’s day. However, few can say that his writing doesn’t resonate with you, doesn’t bare the reality of the inner barren soul. Everything looks beautiful - but is not always its true manifestation - in the sunshine.
Practically each story in this collection is a masterpiece in itself. It opens with White Nights, a love story with the trademark Dostoyevsky themes of loneliness, and the redemptive power of love and kindness.
One of his greatest skills as a writer is his ability to chronicle the entire depth and breadth of human nature: there is the pathetic, alcoholic petty thief Yemelyan who, at bottom, still has the ability to show remorse in The Honest Thief. In The Peasant Marey, a convict recalls an incident from his youth – and unforgettable act of kindness by a farmer – that resonates with him even in jail. In The Christmas Tree and a Wedding, we are reminded of man’s propensity towards greed; at a party, Mastakovich overhears the considerable net worth of a 16 year old girl and sets out to seduce her with the intention of marrying her, while coldly calculating his personal windfall from the dowry.
And then you have the final 3 in the collection, each giving us an insight into the kind of mind that exists exclusively on the precipice – yes, our lovable existentialists.
To the cynical mind, Notes from the Underground can at times feel like a conversation with one’s self. We see Dostoyevsky the master psychologist at work when drawing the master protagonist: a man filled with such self-loathing and low self-esteem that he is incapable of a basic human emotion:
‘I could not possibly have loved anyone because, (I repeat), to me love meant to tyrannies and to be morally superior. I have never in my life been able to imagine any other sort of love, and I have reached the point that sometimes I cannot help thinking even now that love only consists in the right to tyrannies over the woman you love, who grants you this right of her own free will.’
A Gentle Creature has the most somber tone of all; as in Notes, the main character is on the edge, desperately trying to battle his own personal demons that stand in the way of genuine love. He eventually succeeds – but is too late?
The most deeply stirring and thought provoking of all the stories comes right at the end, in Dreams of a Ridiculous Man. The dream in question comes to the narrator when he is on the verge of suicide, and gives him a will to live again. He encounters a utopian world of inherent goodness, where people simply live and are not defined by an intellectual or material pursuits.
‘They were playful and high-spirited like children….they sang their beautiful songs, they lived on simple food….To obtain their food and clothes, they did not work very hard of long. They knew love and they begot children, but I never noticed in them those outbursts of cruel sensuality which overtake almost everybody on our earth, whether man or woman, and are the only source of almost every sin of our human race’.
At some stage – and it wouldn’t be Dostoyevsky without a cruel twist! - that this world becomes corrupted when people are taught to lie.
‘The formed alliances, but it was one against another….they came to know shame, and they made shame into a virtue. The conception of honour was born, and every alliance raised its own standard….A struggle began for separation, for isolation, for personality, for mine and thine….They came to know sorrow and they loved sorrow. They thirsted for suffering, and they said that Truth could only be attained through suffering. It was then that science made its appearance among them. When they became wicked, they began talking of brotherhood and humanity and understood the meaning of those ideas. When they became guilty of crimes, they invented justice, and drew up whole codes of law, and to ensure the carrying out of their laws they erected guillotines’.
Most disturbingly:
'They only vaguely remembered what they had lost, and they would not believe that that they were ever happy or innocent. They even laughed at the possibility of their former happiness, and called it a dream’.
They start to grasp tangible concepts such as Science, Reason and Faith, which allows them to rationalize their behaviour. As a result, people lose their instinct for goodness and self-government and claim that:
‘...we have science and with its aid we shall again discover truth, though we shall accept it only when we perceive it with our reason. Knowledge is higher than feeling, and the consciousness of life is higher than life. Science will give us wisdom’.
The craving for knowledge becomes an instrument to be better than others, and belittle them. This eventually leads to a war, where:
‘….combatants at one and the same time firmly believed that science, wisdom, and the instinct of self-preservation would in the end force mankind to unite into a harmonious and intelligent society, and therefore, to hasten matters, the “very wise” did their best to exterminate as rapidly as possible the “not so wise” who did not understand their idea, so as to prevent them from interfering with its triumph’.
In the end, the Ridiculous Man wakes up from his Dream, which has helped him discover Truth, and this Truth has suffused with a will to live.
‘For I have beheld the Truth. I have beheld it and I know that people can be happy and beautiful without losing their ability to live on earth. I will not and I cannot believe that evil is the normal conditions among men’
He sees that there is a simple panacea to the world’s ills and offers it us: preaching love, and especially love of thy neighbour.
‘The consciousness of life is higher than life, the knowledge of happiness is higher than happiness” – that is what we have to fight against!'
So-the existentialist CAN believe in happy ever after then!
Practically each story in this collection is a masterpiece in itself. It opens with White Nights, a love story with the trademark Dostoyevsky themes of loneliness, and the redemptive power of love and kindness.
One of his greatest skills as a writer is his ability to chronicle the entire depth and breadth of human nature: there is the pathetic, alcoholic petty thief Yemelyan who, at bottom, still has the ability to show remorse in The Honest Thief. In The Peasant Marey, a convict recalls an incident from his youth – and unforgettable act of kindness by a farmer – that resonates with him even in jail. In The Christmas Tree and a Wedding, we are reminded of man’s propensity towards greed; at a party, Mastakovich overhears the considerable net worth of a 16 year old girl and sets out to seduce her with the intention of marrying her, while coldly calculating his personal windfall from the dowry.
And then you have the final 3 in the collection, each giving us an insight into the kind of mind that exists exclusively on the precipice – yes, our lovable existentialists.
To the cynical mind, Notes from the Underground can at times feel like a conversation with one’s self. We see Dostoyevsky the master psychologist at work when drawing the master protagonist: a man filled with such self-loathing and low self-esteem that he is incapable of a basic human emotion:
‘I could not possibly have loved anyone because, (I repeat), to me love meant to tyrannies and to be morally superior. I have never in my life been able to imagine any other sort of love, and I have reached the point that sometimes I cannot help thinking even now that love only consists in the right to tyrannies over the woman you love, who grants you this right of her own free will.’
A Gentle Creature has the most somber tone of all; as in Notes, the main character is on the edge, desperately trying to battle his own personal demons that stand in the way of genuine love. He eventually succeeds – but is too late?
The most deeply stirring and thought provoking of all the stories comes right at the end, in Dreams of a Ridiculous Man. The dream in question comes to the narrator when he is on the verge of suicide, and gives him a will to live again. He encounters a utopian world of inherent goodness, where people simply live and are not defined by an intellectual or material pursuits.
‘They were playful and high-spirited like children….they sang their beautiful songs, they lived on simple food….To obtain their food and clothes, they did not work very hard of long. They knew love and they begot children, but I never noticed in them those outbursts of cruel sensuality which overtake almost everybody on our earth, whether man or woman, and are the only source of almost every sin of our human race’.
At some stage – and it wouldn’t be Dostoyevsky without a cruel twist! - that this world becomes corrupted when people are taught to lie.
‘The formed alliances, but it was one against another….they came to know shame, and they made shame into a virtue. The conception of honour was born, and every alliance raised its own standard….A struggle began for separation, for isolation, for personality, for mine and thine….They came to know sorrow and they loved sorrow. They thirsted for suffering, and they said that Truth could only be attained through suffering. It was then that science made its appearance among them. When they became wicked, they began talking of brotherhood and humanity and understood the meaning of those ideas. When they became guilty of crimes, they invented justice, and drew up whole codes of law, and to ensure the carrying out of their laws they erected guillotines’.
Most disturbingly:
'They only vaguely remembered what they had lost, and they would not believe that that they were ever happy or innocent. They even laughed at the possibility of their former happiness, and called it a dream’.
They start to grasp tangible concepts such as Science, Reason and Faith, which allows them to rationalize their behaviour. As a result, people lose their instinct for goodness and self-government and claim that:
‘...we have science and with its aid we shall again discover truth, though we shall accept it only when we perceive it with our reason. Knowledge is higher than feeling, and the consciousness of life is higher than life. Science will give us wisdom’.
The craving for knowledge becomes an instrument to be better than others, and belittle them. This eventually leads to a war, where:
‘….combatants at one and the same time firmly believed that science, wisdom, and the instinct of self-preservation would in the end force mankind to unite into a harmonious and intelligent society, and therefore, to hasten matters, the “very wise” did their best to exterminate as rapidly as possible the “not so wise” who did not understand their idea, so as to prevent them from interfering with its triumph’.
In the end, the Ridiculous Man wakes up from his Dream, which has helped him discover Truth, and this Truth has suffused with a will to live.
‘For I have beheld the Truth. I have beheld it and I know that people can be happy and beautiful without losing their ability to live on earth. I will not and I cannot believe that evil is the normal conditions among men’
He sees that there is a simple panacea to the world’s ills and offers it us: preaching love, and especially love of thy neighbour.
‘The consciousness of life is higher than life, the knowledge of happiness is higher than happiness” – that is what we have to fight against!'
So-the existentialist CAN believe in happy ever after then!
September 3, 2025
I am finally free of this book!!!!! It’s so hard for me to rate authors like Dosty bc of course he is a genius, gorgeous writer, but to be honest I pick up like 50% of what’s happening because it’s so damn exhausting to read. I thought short stories would be helpful bc you don’t have to sustain focus for as long, or remember 100 different characters who have the same names for 700 pages, and to a certain extent that was helpful! Anyways, my extended family was really impressed that I was reading this so I guess my goal was achieved (making people think I’m smart).
January 23, 2021
Bir çok orta uzunlukta öykünün böyle bir kitapta toplanması güzel olmuş...
October 25, 2021
This is a wonderful little volume of short stories from Dostoevsky; I quote frequently from "Notes from the Underground" below but especially enjoyed "White Nights" and "The Peasant Marey". A book like this might be a good way for a reader intimidated by Dostoevsky's novels to get a taste of his works.
Favorite quotes....
On brotherhood, from "Notes from the Underground"
"But I used to call on him only when I was in the right mood for such a visit, when, that is, my dreams had reached such a pinnacle of bliss that I felt an instant and irresistible urge to embrace all my fellow-men and all humanity. But to do that one had at least to have one man who actually existed."
On freedom, from "Notes from the Underground":
"One’s own free and unfettered choice, one’s own whims, however wild, one’s own fancy, overwrought though it sometimes may be to the point of madness – that is that same most desirable good which we overlooked…And why on earth do all those sages assume that man must needs strive after some normal, after some rationally desirable good? All man wants is an absolutely free choice…For what is man without desires, without free will, and without the power of choice but a stop in an organ pipe?"
On history, from "Notes from the Underground":
"Monotonous? Well, I suppose it is monotonous: they fight and fight, they are fighting now, they fought before, and they will fight again – you must admit that this is rather monotonous. In short, you can say anything you like about world history, anything that might enter the head of a man with the most disordered imagination. One thing, though, you cannot possibly say about it: you cannot say that it is sensible."
On virtue, from "A Gentle Creature":
"Cheap generosity is always easy, even to give one’s life – yes, even that is easy, because it is merely the result of high spirits, of a superabundance of energy, of a passionate desire for beauty! Oh, no! You try a different kind of generosity, the really heroic kind, the difficult, calm, silent kind, without glitter, with odium, the kind that demands great sacrifices, the kind that doesn’t bring you a scrap of fame or glory, in which you – a man of shining virtue – are exhibited before the whole world as a blackguard, while you are really the most honest man of them all! Well, try that, my dear girl. Just try it."
On virtue, from "The Peasant Marey":
"I suddenly came to and sat up on my bunk and, I remember, I could still feel the gentle smile of memory on my lips. For another minute I went on recalling that incident from my childhood…now twenty years later in Siberia I suddenly remembered this meeting so distinctly that not a single detail of it was lost…I remember the tender, motherly smile of that serf, the way he made the sign of the cross over me and crossed himself, the way he nodded at me. … if I had been his own son, he could not have looked at me with eyes shining with brighter love. And who compelled him to look like that? He was one of our serfs, a peasant who was our property, and after all I was the son of his master. No one would have known that he had been so good to me, and no one would have rewarded him for it. Did he really love little children as much as that? There are such people, no doubt. Our meeting took place in a secluded spot, in a deserted field, and only God perhaps saw from above with what profound and enlightened human feeling, and with what delicate, almost womanly, tenderness the heart of a coarse, savage ignorant Russian serf was filled, a serf who at the time neither expected nor dreamt of his emancipation. … And so when I got off the bunk and looked round, I suddenly felt I remember, that I could look at these unhappy creatures with quite different eyes, and that suddenly by some miracle all hatred and anger had vanished from my heart."
On the younger generation, from "Notes from the Underground":
"Every decent man of our age is, and indeed has to be, a coward and a slave."
On the loss of youth, from "White Nights":
"For, after all, you do grow up, you do outgrow your ideals, which turn to dust and ashes, which are shattered into fragments; and if you have no other life, you just have to build one up out of these fragments. And meanwhile your soul is all the time craving and longing for something else. And in vain does the dreamer rummage about in his old dreams, raking them over as though they were a heap of cinders, looking in these cinders for some spark, however tiny, to fan it into a flame so as to warm his chilled body by it and revive in it all that he held so dear before, all that touched his heart, that made his blood course through his veins, that drew tears from his eyes, and that so splendidly deceived him!"
Favorite quotes....
On brotherhood, from "Notes from the Underground"
"But I used to call on him only when I was in the right mood for such a visit, when, that is, my dreams had reached such a pinnacle of bliss that I felt an instant and irresistible urge to embrace all my fellow-men and all humanity. But to do that one had at least to have one man who actually existed."
On freedom, from "Notes from the Underground":
"One’s own free and unfettered choice, one’s own whims, however wild, one’s own fancy, overwrought though it sometimes may be to the point of madness – that is that same most desirable good which we overlooked…And why on earth do all those sages assume that man must needs strive after some normal, after some rationally desirable good? All man wants is an absolutely free choice…For what is man without desires, without free will, and without the power of choice but a stop in an organ pipe?"
On history, from "Notes from the Underground":
"Monotonous? Well, I suppose it is monotonous: they fight and fight, they are fighting now, they fought before, and they will fight again – you must admit that this is rather monotonous. In short, you can say anything you like about world history, anything that might enter the head of a man with the most disordered imagination. One thing, though, you cannot possibly say about it: you cannot say that it is sensible."
On virtue, from "A Gentle Creature":
"Cheap generosity is always easy, even to give one’s life – yes, even that is easy, because it is merely the result of high spirits, of a superabundance of energy, of a passionate desire for beauty! Oh, no! You try a different kind of generosity, the really heroic kind, the difficult, calm, silent kind, without glitter, with odium, the kind that demands great sacrifices, the kind that doesn’t bring you a scrap of fame or glory, in which you – a man of shining virtue – are exhibited before the whole world as a blackguard, while you are really the most honest man of them all! Well, try that, my dear girl. Just try it."
On virtue, from "The Peasant Marey":
"I suddenly came to and sat up on my bunk and, I remember, I could still feel the gentle smile of memory on my lips. For another minute I went on recalling that incident from my childhood…now twenty years later in Siberia I suddenly remembered this meeting so distinctly that not a single detail of it was lost…I remember the tender, motherly smile of that serf, the way he made the sign of the cross over me and crossed himself, the way he nodded at me. … if I had been his own son, he could not have looked at me with eyes shining with brighter love. And who compelled him to look like that? He was one of our serfs, a peasant who was our property, and after all I was the son of his master. No one would have known that he had been so good to me, and no one would have rewarded him for it. Did he really love little children as much as that? There are such people, no doubt. Our meeting took place in a secluded spot, in a deserted field, and only God perhaps saw from above with what profound and enlightened human feeling, and with what delicate, almost womanly, tenderness the heart of a coarse, savage ignorant Russian serf was filled, a serf who at the time neither expected nor dreamt of his emancipation. … And so when I got off the bunk and looked round, I suddenly felt I remember, that I could look at these unhappy creatures with quite different eyes, and that suddenly by some miracle all hatred and anger had vanished from my heart."
On the younger generation, from "Notes from the Underground":
"Every decent man of our age is, and indeed has to be, a coward and a slave."
On the loss of youth, from "White Nights":
"For, after all, you do grow up, you do outgrow your ideals, which turn to dust and ashes, which are shattered into fragments; and if you have no other life, you just have to build one up out of these fragments. And meanwhile your soul is all the time craving and longing for something else. And in vain does the dreamer rummage about in his old dreams, raking them over as though they were a heap of cinders, looking in these cinders for some spark, however tiny, to fan it into a flame so as to warm his chilled body by it and revive in it all that he held so dear before, all that touched his heart, that made his blood course through his veins, that drew tears from his eyes, and that so splendidly deceived him!"
May 7, 2013
Man, I hate this type of old style language. I mean the poetic parts are tolerable, but the shit of everyday old style conversation language annoys me... For example words like, "indutiably" and shit like "I shan't say another word"; usually its located somewhere in the dialogue...They need to make an updated hip hop version with awesome slang....now theres an idea!
This stuff is hard to quote also, cause Dostoevsky doesn't write in easily, digestible quotes; but his points and ideas go on for pages creating more depth in his writing and meticulous illustration of an idea (most notably in Notes from the underground and dreams of a ridiculous man)...It takes pages to illustrate one idea, rather than being summed up in a quote or a few sentences.... I appreciate this....
"White Nights" and "Dreams of a Ridiculous man" are a great short stories.... It seems most of his stories end with a BANG!, intense climaxes at the end....The other ones were pretty good, but not as good as these twos....what the hell do I know....
Quotes:
(White Nights) FIVE STAR SHORT STORY
"For, after all, you do grow up, you do outgrow your ideals, which turn to dust and ashes, which are shattered into fragments; and if you have no other life, you just have to build one up out of these fragments. And meanwhile your soul is all the time craving and longing for something else. And in vain does the dreamer rummage about in his old dreams, raking them over as though they were a heap of cinders, looking in these cinders for some spark, however tiny, to fan it into a flame so as to warm his chilled blood by it and revive in it all that he held so dear before, all that touched his heart, that made his blood course through his veins, that drew tears from his eyes, and that so splendidly deceived him....."
(Notes from Notes from the underground) FOUR STARS.....pretty funny at some parts ex: (planning bumping in that dude to get revenge after two years and ends up falling down)....
Quotes:
"Question- who is he? Answer- A Loafer"...
"And, finally, gentleman, it is much better to do nothing at all!"
"'Now is the time to throw a bottle at them,' I thought, picked up the bottle and- poured myself out another glass."
"Why, just try, just give us, for instance, more independence, untie the hands of any one of us, widen the sphere of our activities, relax discipline, and we- yes, I assure you- we should immediately be begging for discipline to be reimposed upon us."
(A Gentle Creature)
Quotes:
"Why, then, did I accept death? Well, let me ask you in turn: of what use was life to me after a gun had been leveled against me by a human being I adored?"
(The Dream of A Ridiculous Man) FIVE STARS (sums up the development of civilization in just a few pages!!)
"the more I learned, the more conscious did I become of the fact that I was ridiculous. So that for me my years of hard work at the university seem in the end to have existed for the sole purpose of demonstrating and proving to me, the more deeply engrossed I became in my studies, that I was an utterly absurd person."
"Oh judge for yourselves: I have been concealing it all the time, but now I will tell you the whole truth. The fact is, I- corrupted them all!"
"Science will give us wisdom. Wisdom will reveal to us the laws. And the knowledge of the laws of happiness is higher than happiness."
"The main thing is to love your neighbor as yourself- that is the main thing, and that is everything, for nothing else matters."
This stuff is hard to quote also, cause Dostoevsky doesn't write in easily, digestible quotes; but his points and ideas go on for pages creating more depth in his writing and meticulous illustration of an idea (most notably in Notes from the underground and dreams of a ridiculous man)...It takes pages to illustrate one idea, rather than being summed up in a quote or a few sentences.... I appreciate this....
"White Nights" and "Dreams of a Ridiculous man" are a great short stories.... It seems most of his stories end with a BANG!, intense climaxes at the end....The other ones were pretty good, but not as good as these twos....what the hell do I know....
Quotes:
(White Nights) FIVE STAR SHORT STORY
"For, after all, you do grow up, you do outgrow your ideals, which turn to dust and ashes, which are shattered into fragments; and if you have no other life, you just have to build one up out of these fragments. And meanwhile your soul is all the time craving and longing for something else. And in vain does the dreamer rummage about in his old dreams, raking them over as though they were a heap of cinders, looking in these cinders for some spark, however tiny, to fan it into a flame so as to warm his chilled blood by it and revive in it all that he held so dear before, all that touched his heart, that made his blood course through his veins, that drew tears from his eyes, and that so splendidly deceived him....."
(Notes from Notes from the underground) FOUR STARS.....pretty funny at some parts ex: (planning bumping in that dude to get revenge after two years and ends up falling down)....
Quotes:
"Question- who is he? Answer- A Loafer"...
"And, finally, gentleman, it is much better to do nothing at all!"
"'Now is the time to throw a bottle at them,' I thought, picked up the bottle and- poured myself out another glass."
"Why, just try, just give us, for instance, more independence, untie the hands of any one of us, widen the sphere of our activities, relax discipline, and we- yes, I assure you- we should immediately be begging for discipline to be reimposed upon us."
(A Gentle Creature)
Quotes:
"Why, then, did I accept death? Well, let me ask you in turn: of what use was life to me after a gun had been leveled against me by a human being I adored?"
(The Dream of A Ridiculous Man) FIVE STARS (sums up the development of civilization in just a few pages!!)
"the more I learned, the more conscious did I become of the fact that I was ridiculous. So that for me my years of hard work at the university seem in the end to have existed for the sole purpose of demonstrating and proving to me, the more deeply engrossed I became in my studies, that I was an utterly absurd person."
"Oh judge for yourselves: I have been concealing it all the time, but now I will tell you the whole truth. The fact is, I- corrupted them all!"
"Science will give us wisdom. Wisdom will reveal to us the laws. And the knowledge of the laws of happiness is higher than happiness."
"The main thing is to love your neighbor as yourself- that is the main thing, and that is everything, for nothing else matters."
December 18, 2017
4 stars.
I'm deepening my reading in Russian Lit. I'm finding I really enjoy it.
I'm deepening my reading in Russian Lit. I'm finding I really enjoy it.
December 27, 2021
I’ve been fascinated with Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s writing since I was in college and took a Russian literature course. I was glad to be able to take sometime to read or reread some more of his work here. Here I wanted to share my favorite passage from each of the seven stories and my rating.
White Nights—3.5/5 stars
“Well, yes. And do, for goodness’ sake, be fair. Just think—who am I? At twenty-six—yes, I’m twenty-six—I’ve never really known anyone. So how can you expect me to speak well, cleverly, and to the point?”
An Honest Thief—4/5 stars
“After all,” thought I, “what harm can a homeless old tramp do you?”
A Christmas Tree and a Wedding—4/5 stars
“His whiskers were indeed extremely handsome. But he stroked them with such enthusiasm that one could not help feeling that his whiskers were brought into the world first, and the gentleman himself was only afterwards attached to them in order to stroke them.”
The Peasant Marey—2.5/5 stars
“Whenever I happened to come across him now and then, I never spoke to him either about the wolf or anything else, and now twenty years later in Siberia I suddenly remembered this meeting so distinctly that not a single detail of it was lost, which means of course that it just have been hidden in my mind without my knowing it, of itself and without any effort on my part, and came back to me suddenly when it was wanted.”
Notes from the Underground—5/5 stars
“I am a sick man…I am a spiteful man. No, I am not a pleasant man at all.”
A Gentle Creature—3/5 stars
“He kept shouting at me, ‘A handful of blood poured out of her mouth! A handful of blood! A handful!’ and pointing to the blood on a stone. I believe I touched the blood with my finger, smeared my finger, and looked at my finger (I remember that), while he kept shouting at me, ‘A handful! A handful!’”
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man—5/5 stars
“I will not and cannot believe that evil is the normal condition among men.”
White Nights—3.5/5 stars
“Well, yes. And do, for goodness’ sake, be fair. Just think—who am I? At twenty-six—yes, I’m twenty-six—I’ve never really known anyone. So how can you expect me to speak well, cleverly, and to the point?”
An Honest Thief—4/5 stars
“After all,” thought I, “what harm can a homeless old tramp do you?”
A Christmas Tree and a Wedding—4/5 stars
“His whiskers were indeed extremely handsome. But he stroked them with such enthusiasm that one could not help feeling that his whiskers were brought into the world first, and the gentleman himself was only afterwards attached to them in order to stroke them.”
The Peasant Marey—2.5/5 stars
“Whenever I happened to come across him now and then, I never spoke to him either about the wolf or anything else, and now twenty years later in Siberia I suddenly remembered this meeting so distinctly that not a single detail of it was lost, which means of course that it just have been hidden in my mind without my knowing it, of itself and without any effort on my part, and came back to me suddenly when it was wanted.”
Notes from the Underground—5/5 stars
“I am a sick man…I am a spiteful man. No, I am not a pleasant man at all.”
A Gentle Creature—3/5 stars
“He kept shouting at me, ‘A handful of blood poured out of her mouth! A handful of blood! A handful!’ and pointing to the blood on a stone. I believe I touched the blood with my finger, smeared my finger, and looked at my finger (I remember that), while he kept shouting at me, ‘A handful! A handful!’”
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man—5/5 stars
“I will not and cannot believe that evil is the normal condition among men.”
February 13, 2024
Loved Notes from the Underground and White Nights. I think I need to get older to appreciate A Gentle Creature as I still have the cheap generosity (leftover from young days) in me. The Dream of a Ridiculous Man was quite the thought experiment - inflamed by his fervent beliefs of later age. (Fyodor Dostoevsky-why did you have to libel Science??) It felt sort of like Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind on timelapse.
January 29, 2025
9/10
“... the more I learned, the more conscious did I become of the fact that I was ridiculous. So that for me my years of hard work at the university seem in the end to have existed for the sole purpose of demonstrating and proving to me, the more deeply engrossed I became in my studies, that I was an utterly absurd person.”
A great collection of short stories from Dostoevsky. The only experience I had with his short stories before was watching the animated adaptation of The Dream of a Ridiculous Man and the prose version did not disappoint either. Would probably say White Nights, Notes from the Underground, and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man were easily some of my favorite Dostoevsky stories ever. And The Honest Thief, The Christmas Tree and the Wedding, The Peasant Marey, and A Gentle Creature ranged from varying degrees of really good to good.
“... the more I learned, the more conscious did I become of the fact that I was ridiculous. So that for me my years of hard work at the university seem in the end to have existed for the sole purpose of demonstrating and proving to me, the more deeply engrossed I became in my studies, that I was an utterly absurd person.”
A great collection of short stories from Dostoevsky. The only experience I had with his short stories before was watching the animated adaptation of The Dream of a Ridiculous Man and the prose version did not disappoint either. Would probably say White Nights, Notes from the Underground, and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man were easily some of my favorite Dostoevsky stories ever. And The Honest Thief, The Christmas Tree and the Wedding, The Peasant Marey, and A Gentle Creature ranged from varying degrees of really good to good.
November 12, 2020
As with most of what I've read by Dostoevsky this short story collection deals primarily with people with mental disorders. It's an excellent read, beautifully written, that delves into the psychology of these people. The most obvious example of this is the short story titled Notes From the Underground in which the protagonist has fits of intense anger and acts impulsively. This is probably the best story in the book. Another favorite story for me is White Nights. In this story the protagonist is a little less obviously disturbed but he still has a problem. He is a young man who is so shy he is unable to meet girls until an incident enabled him to speak to a girl he was attracted to. This led to a strange short friendship that ended badly for him, partly due to his own actions.
May 26, 2020
DNF @ p.130... I’m calling it—as much as I have loved Dostoevsky’s novels, his ‘short stories’ are not short enough for my expectations. I adore O. Henry, that man knows a short story, but Dostoevsky’s are not the same. And someday, I would probably finish this book, because I do like him as a writer, but it belongs to the library I will no longer work at after this week, and I have to return it, and it’s just been a slog to get through. So I’m done. I’ll try to finish someday if I can get my hands on another copy and my To-Read list isn’t still 680+ books long.
April 7, 2025
Brilliantly executed subtleties and deceptions. I always find the unreliable narrator alluring. Lessons in empathy through the power of contrast. Personal tragedies cleverly realized through irony.
The stories in this volume were arranged to show Dostoevsky's growth and evolution as a writer. I enjoyed Magarshack's introduction and translation.
The stories in this volume were arranged to show Dostoevsky's growth and evolution as a writer. I enjoyed Magarshack's introduction and translation.
December 25, 2020
Not an easy read but was not bad. Would either have to pay more attention to figure out the meaning of the stories or read an analysis.
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