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The Insulted and Injured

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

4.23 · Rating details · 14,869 ratings · 1,105 reviews

Originally published in 1915. Author: Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 1821-1881 Language: English Keywords: Literature Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwo ...more

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Paperback, 348 pages

Published February 14th 2006 by Obscure Press (first published 1861)

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Apr 07, 2013 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, russia, literature, novels, drama, fiction, psychology, 19th-century

Unizhennye i Oskorblennye = Humiliés et Offensés = The Insulted and Humiliated, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Natasha leaves her parents' home and runs away with Alyosha (prince Alexey) – the son of Prince Valkovsky. As a result of his pain, her father, Nikolai, curses her. The only friend that remains by Natasha's side is Ivan – her childhood friend who is deeply in love with her, and whom Natasha has rejected despite their being engaged.

Prince Valkovsky tries to destroy Alyosha's plans to marry Natasha, ...more

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Jun 05, 2011 Steven rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, books-i-own, dostoevsky, russian

Why is this one not as 'famous' as Crime and Punishment or The Brothers Karamazov? It may not be as deep philosophically as either of those, but trust me, it aches your heart all the more for it. Humiliated and Insulted turned my insides into a weepy mess. Characters in a book, or real people? My mind and heart could not tell, or maybe they could, but it did not make a difference. Dostoevsky is that good, and I can only thank him for this beautiful novel. ...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Amy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: so-good, favorites, books-i-wouldn-t-mind-owning, classics, classic-lit, russian

OH! What a novel! How is it possible a mere human could write something so wonderful and compelling? The Insulted and Injured is a beautiful, painful novel. It is not as complicated as War and Peace. The plot is not as philisophical as The Brother's Karamazov . It is not as well as known as Crime and Punishment. And yet...and yet it deserves a ranking alongside its more classic and well-loved brethren. The themes may be simple, but the message rings true.

Plot
Vanya is a young writer, initially ...more

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Aug 03, 2019 Chrissie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: hf, audible-uk, classics, relationships, philo-psychol, love, russia, 2019-read

The Insulted and the Injured goes also by the titles The Insulted and the Humiliated and Injury and Insult. It was first published in 1861 in the monthly magazine Vremya. It was Dostoyevsky’s first novel published after returning from his deportation to Siberia. The translation I read is by Constance Garner. I wonder how it compares to Ignat Avsey’s.

Primary Characters :
*Vanya (Ivan Petrovich) – author and narrator
*Nikolai Sergueych Ikhmenev – landlord of Ikhmenevka
*Anna Andreyevna – Nikolai' ...more

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Jun 24, 2020 Luís rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: russia, favorites, classics

A magnificent novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky which can be read by itself, with ease, with enthusiasm! We run out of steam at one point; we catch our breath at another. The story escapes us sometimes, and then we pick up on it with a lot of enthusiasm. Although the feelings kneaded with a lot of violence, and also perspicacity, the universe of madness, so pronounced in other works of the author, is not yet in embryonic phase in Humiliated and Offended, which makes this book a real treat.

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Sep 25, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, pre-1900s, borscht-and-kvass, tortured-artists

A bracing early novel from the most unflinching of the Russian Titans, (The) Humiliated & Insulted is the only Dostoevsky novel with a writer-as-narrator, but not the only based on autobiographical material. Vanya is an up-and-coming literary talent whose first novel—cough not Poor Folk cough—has been critically lauded. He is chummy with Natasha, who is overly chummy with the indecisive blithering imbecile Alyosha, who can’t choose between marrying Nat or a less-attractive Countess with a large ...more

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Jan 28, 2010 Sera rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

It has become one of my favorites from Dostoevsky. The book is focused on social classes as well as the human soul. Characters, dialogues, emotional conflicts, all those elements make the book a whole package and it is one of the most flowing novels of the writer. I also like Brothers Karamazhov but that wasn't as flowing as this book. Especially the parts about cardinals and monastery at Karamazhovs were hard to read for me.

The Insulted and Humiliated is humanistic, psychological and thought-p ...more

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Mar 24, 2020 Baba rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classic

A fast-moving detective story of young lovers, unforgiving parents, wicked aristocrats and sordid brothel keepers. The young writer is based on Dostoyevsky himself. A highly readable, engaging and accessible 'classic' by Dostoyevsky. 6 out of 12.

...more

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Jul 29, 2014 Sotiris Karaiskos rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, russian-literature

After many fluctuations, experiments, searches, and of course many hardships, the author has finally reached a state where, having found his own voice, he was able to write his immortal masterpieces. Of course for the specialists and for many non-specialists this book is clearly inferior to his most well-known works and I'm largely bound to agree but this cannot change my perception that it is a great book. The elements that make his best works stand out are all here, perhaps in their freer but After many fluctuations, experiments, searches, and of course many hardships, the author has finally reached a state where, having found his own voice, he was able to write his immortal masterpieces. Of course for the specialists and for many non-specialists this book is clearly inferior to his most well-known works and I'm largely bound to agree but this cannot change my perception that it is a great book. The elements that make his best works stand out are all here, perhaps in their freer but more raw form, with the profound psychological analysis of characters that somehow lead to social analysis, with the emotional overflowing in a way which reinforces the dynamic of the text, with a profound humanism and clear perceptions in favor of ordinary people, and obviously many more that I imagine there are others more competent to analyze.

This very moving story is divided into two parts that are joined by the narrator's voice until they are finally connected. In the first, a woman falls in love but this love becomes her suffering because of the naivety and indecision of her beloved, the second one concerns a 13 year old girl who carries a tragic story and seeks only affection and kindness. Their common characteristic is the suffering, but in a sense that escapes the usual pattern of misfortune as our heroines, each for their own reasons, choose to suffer even more, believing that they deserve this, as a kind of remorse, drawing, in the end, a strange form of contentment, and so the author finds a reason to expand his thinking on this characteristic of human nature as in addition to these two we find corresponding cases who are tormented by their pride that does not stand insults. In the latter, the amoral aristocrat arrives who enjoys the power he has over others, and his cynical confession is one of the most intense parts of the book, revealing the author's fear of a new world coming where such personalities dominate. In the end, only the moral power of the people can provide a solution and the physical goodness of the people can confront anything evil.

All this in a very moving novel in which the writer makes us in his own unique way to become participants in the suffering of our heroes and to experience all the difficulties of their lives, with the constant humiliating situations that lead to particular psychological processes that we can understand as they are familiar to us. His writing has such an intensity, such a dramatic power that it can overwhelm the reader and move him to such an extent that an emotional burden is created that makes the reading itself a redemptive torture that he will gladly accept. But beyond that, the author's way of conveying his own opinions and perceptions so effortlessly and his own humanitarian message adds much more and this overall feeling at the end providing the certainty that there is something very important in these pages. which were followed, of course, by even more important works in the rest of this marvelous writing career.

Μετά από πολλές διακυμάνσεις, πειραματισμούς, αναζητήσεις και φυσικά πολλές κακουχίες ο συγγραφέας έφτασε επιτέλους σε μία κατάσταση που έχοντας βρει τη δική του φωνή ήταν σε θέση να γράψει τα αθάνατα αριστουργήματα του. Βέβαια για τους ειδικούς και για πολλούς λιγότερο ειδικούς αυτό το βιβλίο είναι σαφέστατα υποδεέστερο από τα πιο γνωστά του έργα και σε μεγάλο βαθμό είναι αναγκασμένος να συμφωνήσω αλλά αυτό δεν μπορεί να αλλάξει την αντίληψή μου ότι πρόκειται για ένα σπουδαίο βιβλίο. Τα στοιχεία που κάνουν το έργο του να ξεχωρίζει υπάρχουν όλα εδώ, ίσως στην πιο ελεύθερη αλλά και πιο ακατέργαστη μορφή τους, με την βαθύτατη ψυχολογική ανάλυση των χαρακτήρων που οδηγούν με κάποιον τρόπο σε μία κοινωνική ανάλυση, με το συναίσθημα να ξεχειλίζει αλλά με έναν τρόπο που ενισχύει τη δυναμική του κειμένου, με έναν βαθύτατο ανθρωπισμό και ξεκάθαρες αντιλήψεις υπέρ των απλών ανθρώπων και προφανώς πολλά άλλα που φαντάζομαι ότι υπάρχουν περισσότερο αρμόδιοι να τα αναλύσουν.

Αυτή η πολύ συγκινητική ιστορία χωρίζεται σε δύο σκέλη που τα ενώνει η φωνή του αφηγητή μέχρι που στο τέλος συνδέονται. Στο πρώτο μία γυναίκα ερωτεύεται αλλά αυτός ο έρωτας γίνεται το βάσανο της εξαιτίας της αφέλειας και της αναποφασιστικότητας του αγαπημένου της, το δεύτερο αφορά ένα κορίτσι 13 ετών που κουβαλάει μία τραγική ιστορία και αναζητάει μόνο στοργή και καλοσύνη. Κοινό χαρακτηριστικό τους είναι τα βάσανα αλλά με μία έννοια που ξεφεύγει από το συνηθισμένο μοτίβο της κακοτυχίας καθώς οι ηρωίδες μας, η καθεμία για δικούς της λόγους, επιλέγουν να βασανίζονται ακόμα περισσότερο, πιστεύοντας ότι κάτι τέτοιο αξίζουν, σαν ένα είδος μεταμέλειας, αντλώντας στο τέλος μία παράξενη μορφή ικανοποίησης και κάπως έτσι ο συγγραφέας βρίσκει τη δική του αφορμή για να επεκτείνει τη σκέψη του πάνω σε αυτό το χαρακτηριστικό της ανθρώπινης φύσης καθώς εκτός από αυτές τις δύο συναντάμε και αντίστοιχες περιπτώσεις ανθρώπων που βασανίζονται εξαιτίας της περηφάνιας τους που δεν σηκώνει προσβολές. Σε αυτό το τελευταίο κάνει την εμφάνισή του ο αμοραλιστής αριστοκράτης που απολαμβάνει την δύναμη που έχει πάνω στους άλλους και η κυνική ομολογία του είναι ένα από τα πιο έντονα μέρη του βιβλίου και αποκαλύπτει το φόβο του συγγραφέα για ένα νέο κόσμο μου έρχεται όπου κυριαρχούν τέτοιες μορφές, από τις οποίες πηγάζει οτιδήποτε σάπιο. Στο τέλος μόνο η ηθική δύναμη των ανθρώπων μπορεί να δώσει κάποια λύση και η φυσική καλοσύνη των ανθρώπων να αναμετρηθεί με το κακό.

Όλα αυτά σε ένα ιδιαίτερα συγκινητικό μυθιστόρημα στο όποιο ο συγγραφέας μας κάνει με το δικό του μοναδικό τρόπο να γινόμαστε συμμέτοχοι των βασάνων των ηρώων μας και να νιώθουμε όλες τις δυσκολίες της ζωής τους, με τις συνεχόμενες ταπεινωτικές καταστάσεις που οδηγούν σε ιδιαίτερες ψυχολογικές διεργασίες με τις οποίες μπορούμε να συμπάσχουμε καθώς πάντα μας είναι οικείες. Ο τρόπος γραφής του έχει μία τέτοια ένταση, μία τέτοια δραματική δύναμη που μπορεί να πλημμυρίσει τον αναγνώστη και να τον συγκινήσει σε τέτοιο βαθμό που να του δημιουργήσει ένα συναισθηματικό βάρος που κάνει την ανάγνωση να είναι από μόνη της ένα λυτρωτικό βασανιστήριο που με ευχαρίστηση θα το αποδεχτούμε. Αλλά και πέρα από αυτό ο τρόπος του συγγραφέα να μας μεταφέρει τόσο αβίαστα τις δικές του απόψεις και αντιλήψεις και το δικό του ανθρωπιστικό μήνυμα προσθέτει πολλά περισσότερα και αυτή η συνολική αίσθηση είναι στο τέλος που προσφέρει τη βεβαιότητα ότι υπάρχει κάτι πολύ σπουδαίο σε αυτές τις σελίδες που ακολουθήθηκε φυσικά από ακόμα σπουδαιότερα έργα στη συνέχεια αυτής της θαυμαστής συγγραφικής πορείας. ...more

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Jul 12, 2016 Ana Leão rated it liked it · review of another edition

Drinking game suggestion: have a shot every time a woman faints.

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Jun 13, 2009 Meg rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lit, borrowed, 2009

This book would have only gotten 3 stars if it weren't for its final page, which was awesome and changed the book for me entirely. I started off really enjoying the read and the dramatic style of 19th C writers, but I tired of it by the end. I kept thinking of Dickens and all the other 19th C writers who left no plot line hanging and no character, however minor, without an end, or a solution, even if it consisted of a brief sentence in parentheses explaining what had come of so and so. Dostoevsk ...more

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Dec 25, 2016 Beatrice Apetrei rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, classics, historical, adult

So far, I’ve only read 4 novels written by Mr. Dostoyevsky, the fourth being The Insulted and Humiliated ( the others : The Eternal Husband, Notes from Underground and The Adolescent). The first three books written by him that I’ve read made me feel a lot of sadness, regret, helplessness, and so every time I felt like picking up a book written by him, I decided not to. I was scared of having my good mood ruined or of being induced into a certain mood that I could not stand.
A few weeks ago I de ...more

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Feb 22, 2021 Dustin Lovell rated it it was ok

Dostoevsky's first full novel after his release from the Siberian labor camp and his subsequent attempts to reenter the Russian literary scene, The Insulted and Injured incorporates many of the motifs and tropes popular in the roman-feuilltons of the time. Think Dickens at his most heartstrings-pullingly sympathetic, pathetic, and bathetic; often I found myself remembering Nicholas Nickelby, among others, though often without Dickens's ironic humor.

A romantic narrator willing to sacrifice himsel Dostoevsky's first full novel after his release from the Siberian labor camp and his subsequent attempts to reenter the Russian literary scene, The Insulted and Injured incorporates many of the motifs and tropes popular in the roman-feuilltons of the time. Think Dickens at his most heartstrings-pullingly sympathetic, pathetic, and bathetic; often I found myself remembering Nicholas Nickelby, among others, though often without Dickens's ironic humor.

A romantic narrator willing to sacrifice himself and his love for a young woman (Natasha), who, herself, is in love with another man (see Dostoevksy's pre-Siberian "White Nights," among others, for a similar love triangle plot), a poor gentry father who has cut off his daughter for indecently eloping with a neighboring aristocrat, that aristocrat's princely father cravenly aiming, from his position of power and wealth, to ruin the honest and innocent around him, and a little girl of unknown heritage brought up in penury—Dostoevsky incorporates all these elements into the novel. With all this, the novel distills the popular trends of the time into a set of dual plotlines—the marriage quadrangle between the narrator, Natasha, the aristocrat Alyosha, and his intended Katerina, and the parentage plot of thirteen-year-old Nellie Smith—that, it is discovered by the end of the novel, are connected in more ways than merely through the narrator.

Rather than being a mere pastiche of the literary trends of the 1860s (which, certainly, it is, though it nonetheless held the attention of its dismissive public to the last installment), The Insulted and Injured shows Dostoevsky growing and experimenting with novelistic elements in ways that presage his later works. One can find in the book embryonic versions of later characters and situations, as well as maturation of previous ones. While it lacks the prescience and depth of Dostoevsky's later works (he himself said there were only 50 pages in the novel of which he was proud), the novel nonetheless serves as an informative example of the author's transition into those works. It also serves to show his tackling of the contemporary issue of women's liberation, especially through the character of Natasha, who is disowned by her father for exercising what relationship autonomy she can; that issue, of course, would be further explored and addressed by Dostoevsky in his later works, form Notes from Underground to The Brothers Karamazov.

While The Insulted and Injured may serve as a good introduction for those coming to him from Dickens, etc, it is not Dostoevsky's most Dostoevskian work, and one should not approach it expecting similar exploration of psychology, philosophy (there's a bit of both, but not much), crime, politics, or other major elements that characterize the author's most-known masterpieces. ...more

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Apr 14, 2017 Jim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, russia, dostoyevsky

Sometimes even a minor work by a great author can endear one. In this case, it is The Insulted and the Injured by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. While it is not the first book he wrote after returning to Petersburg from his stint in Siberia -- both Uncle's Dream and The Village of Stepanchikovo were published earlier -- it is the first real hint of the greatness that was to come.

The story is about a young author (suspiciously like Dostoyevsky) named Ivan Petrovich who falls in love with a young woman who c ...more

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Sep 09, 2018 Darlene Nichols rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018

In a culture of busy-ness that bleeds into the way we read and enjoy books, the slow and steady burn of Dostoyevsky’s writing does the soul good. With rich writing and proper character development, The Insulted and Injured displays the glories of love and heartbreak, of pride and forgiveness, of selfishness and selflessness. The feeling of accomplishment and increased intelligence is an added bonus of reading Russian literature!

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Jan 21, 2012 Bryn Hammond rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novelists-or-shorts

A writer at the time said the book was ‘beneath aesthetic criticism; but he acknowledged everyone had been reading what stood out as the most interesting Russian novel published in 1861.’ [Joseph Frank, Dostoevsky: The Stir of Liberation, 1860-1865] Funny, that’s how I felt: it’s awful, but it’s interesting.

It seems to be his most derivative work yet (English Dickens and the French ‘social-humanitarian’ school). D.’s obsessive urge to describe not only ‘the insulted and injured’ but the functio ...more

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Sep 03, 2009 Ferris rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this novel. Dostoevsky's characters were engaging, if melodramatic. I didn't want to put the book down! What would happen to little Nellie? Would Alyosha pick Natasha or Katya? Would the prince get what was coming to him? You'll have to read it to find out. The major theme was identified in the title, "The Insulted and Humiliated". Dostoevsky points out the cruel behavior of the aristocracy towards the "common" person, and Dostoevsky favors the ability of the downtrodden to main ...more

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Aug 12, 2017 Paul Ataua rated it liked it

'The insulted and the Injured' was Dostoevsky's first novel and an acorn from which the oaks that are 'Crime and Punishment', and 'The Brothers Karamazov' grew. It isn't as deep nor bites as hard as the later novels, and, at times, has the feel of a soap opera, but it reads well and as an interesting if ambiguous ending. Worth reading for that reason alone. ...more

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Jan 06, 2017 Aje rated it liked it · review of another edition

It ' s not as deeply as The Brother Karamazov or the other strong books of Dostoyevsky.But I'm not unhappy for reading it.Because you can see and understand the social classes in Russia in that years.In some chapters -about Nelly's life- it hurts and feels you bad . ...more

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Jul 08, 2019 Manuel Alfonseca rated it really liked it · review of another edition

ENGLISH: A typical great novel by Dostoievski, with great characters, although some of them are a little simple. Aliosha, for instance, is completelly will-less, while his father is one of the evilest characters of literature.

Natasha provides a good example of what C.S.Lewis meant in "The Four Loves" when he said that Eros (erotic love) can become a God that demands complete submission whatever the cost. Lewis illustrated this with this quote by Denis de Rougemont: When love begins to be a god, ...more

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Mar 19, 2009 Frankie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: russian

This really should be ranked among Dostoevsky's top few novels, based on character type alone. The concept he expands most here is forgiveness. The character types, especially the villain Prince Valkovsky, are complete and believable and timeless.

The first scenes remind me of White Nights, dipping into (then abandoning for the remainder of the novel) a romantic intrigue with the narrator. His temporarily beloved becomes the central character, as her reputation is sullied by her fiancee's father. ...more

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Apr 02, 2016 Descending Angel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: russian, dostoevsky

A very unsung masterpiece, and judgeing by the rating it's got, alot of people agree. ...more

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Oct 04, 2020 Saleh Muhammed rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is my re-reading of "The Insulted and Injured" as part of my attempt to complete the complete work of Feydor Dostoyevsky. I had read the novel for a very long time, when I began reading Dostoevsky, and at that time I did not have the literary interest that makes me search about this novel, and I get enough for saying: It is a good novel.
I definitely knew that studying such a novel would require preparation. I did not begin it until I had finished with Henry Trouba's book “Dostoevsky: His Li This is my re-reading of "The Insulted and Injured" as part of my attempt to complete the complete work of Feydor Dostoyevsky. I had read the novel for a very long time, when I began reading Dostoevsky, and at that time I did not have the literary interest that makes me search about this novel, and I get enough for saying: It is a good novel.
I definitely knew that studying such a novel would require preparation. I did not begin it until I had finished with Henry Trouba's book “Dostoevsky: His Life - His Works,” which gives a good biography of Dostoyevsky's life and the politics of the Russian Messenger Journal, which apparently played a major role in his method, Which should have been boring when it was detailed, but it was beautiful, expressive, full of emotion and humanity.
I also benefited greatly from the study of Nicholas Trail, the literary critic, of Raskolnikov's character from Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment as well, Nicholas 'view that Dostoevsky's character with epilepsy dominated his work, and whoever reads the crime and punishment will not ask me for clarification of Nicholas' opinion, Raskolnikov is a fickle hero Strange as it sounds, he has seizures in every event, but Dostoevsky does not describe these seizures as epilepsy more than what he describes as fever, fatigue and exhaustion, except that they always come in the form of epileptic freaks.

As for this novel, it also applies to the concept of Nicholas, as the hero not only has seizures (and by the way, this time the protagonist himself has verbally confessed those seizures) but also lives the life of Dostoevsky completely and suffers from the same problems, I must mention here that Dostoevsky began This work (I mean the novel) with the beginning of his serious work after his release from prison, he had written before him the village of Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants, and it was really one of his worst works, and by his own saying, it was a vulgar comic whose only goal is to collect money after his release from prison, as well as return to the world of writing.

Our novel carried a certain seriousness that made Dostoevsky himself a hero in it. The problem of the protagonist is very similar to the problem of Raskolnikov, as well as the problem of "Basement Man", a poor, proud writer looking for a way out to get rid of his misery and misery, and in fact I see that Dostoevsky in this novel was influenced by the Victorians most influenced Especially the later ones: the coincidences he put in the novel only occur in a Victorian / classic novel, such as Oliver Dickens or Hugo's Hunchback, and this is what made Russian critics (who were very real at the time) describe the novel as "extremely fictional."

As I mentioned at the beginning, the policy of Russian magazines, especially the magazine "The Russian Messenger" and "Time" magazine has greatly influenced Dostoevsky's writings. The novel is long and not in excess. Dostoyevsky takes whole pages in some descriptions that could have been reduced to one or two words, In some absolutely insignificant dialogues he takes an entire chapter, yet (and this is what distinguishes Dostoyevsky from Tolstoy in lengthening) Dostoevsky's lengthening was a little more than a filler.

Dostoevsky's epileptic personality is reflected in the main characters: Ilyosha, Ivan, and Helen, and the three are psychologically misfits due to their occasional seizures, and the main character, Ivan, features Dostoyevsky's defiant character at the time. Vissarion Belinsky, a great Russian critic at the time, after Fedor wrote his first book "The Poor," which was the most beautiful opening by a writer at the time, his subsequent writing came like a dream of Uncle and others until his imprisonment, and no one expected him to produce something of value, especially Belinsky.
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Sep 10, 2007 Matthew Reed rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Doestoevsky fans

This is an early work by Dostoevsky that you don't hear much about. He wrote it after Notes from the House of the Dead and before Notes from Underground. Sometimes the title is translated "The Insulted and the Injured" but I am glad this one is translated "The Insulted and the Humiliated" because it sounds less like a soap opera. The titles comes from a memorable speech by one of the main characters:

"O Lord, I thank Thee for all, for all, for Thy wrath and for Thy mercy! ... And for Thy sun whic This is an early work by Dostoevsky that you don't hear much about. He wrote it after Notes from the House of the Dead and before Notes from Underground. Sometimes the title is translated "The Insulted and the Injured" but I am glad this one is translated "The Insulted and the Humiliated" because it sounds less like a soap opera. The titles comes from a memorable speech by one of the main characters:

"O Lord, I thank Thee for all, for all, for Thy wrath and for Thy mercy! ... And for Thy sun which is shining upon us again after the storm! For all this minute I thank Thee! Oh, we may be insulted and humiliated, but we're together again, and let the proud and the haughty who have insulted and humiliated us triumph now! Let them throw stones at us!"

If it weren't written by Dostoevsky I am not sure that it would have even been translated into English, but we should be thankful that it was written by him, because after all not all books can be masterpieces and there are probably tons of Russian novels that we simple English speakers will never have access to simply because they were not written by Tolsoy or Dostoevsky. But this was definitely written by Dostoevsky. It has everything you'd expect: epilepsy, tragic interconnected love triangles, alcoholism, idealistic radical intellectuals, murder, dreams, madness, brain fever, long passionate speeches in candlelit rooms in the dodgy parts of 19th century Petersburg.

The book has it's problems. It is melodramatic at times. The evil characters are a bit too evil, the simple minded characters a bit too simple minded. That said, there it does have a lot going for it. Like many of his other books, it is told from the perspective of a narrator who is writing notes or a diary rather than a novel as such. Unlike most of his other novels, though, this is written by a hack writer. The neat part is the hack writer is not writing a novel (or is he?) but rather recollections with a view to explain his troubles. The result is a tension between a very literary style and also a wild and almost incoherent passion to just tell the story simply. Of all his novels, this has the most literary references that I can remember (that is not to say allusions; after all this is a book by a writer, and you know how writers are with dropping names). There are constant mentions of Pushkin, Gogol, and Schiller, and then a few other guys who I didn't recognize.

I enjoyed the book, but I wish I'd picked a more soothing book to read this month. Some of it hit just a little close to home and I was on the verge of developing a brain fever myself.

...more

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Sep 15, 2019 'Izzat Radzi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, philosophical-fiction, russian, dostoyevsky

Easily became my new favourite.

This 'lost' work of his (due to either not highly renowned as his Crime and Punishment or Karamazov Brothers or mass availability) has a slightly different style.

His potrayal of betrayal, suffering in the early part is very real, that one might ask, "is this based on a true story?", as the backcover stated?
Moving further through the pages, Dostoevsky later aoapt a different style, particularly in part 4, where the story is non-linear in time with recollections fro ...more

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Feb 06, 2017 Ryan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-novels, fiction-in-translation-russian

A bit soap-opera-ish, with a touch of Dickens. Worth a read none-the-less.

The narrator, Vanya, is a novelist in the mold of the author. One of his critics says that his books border on mawkish, and are stained by Vanya's sweat and tears, who works with such febrile intensity to complete them (always under the pressure of a deadline). This weakness is apparent in Dostoevsky's characterizations as well, as nearly everyone in this novel is in a near constant state of delirious emotional upheaval, c ...more

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Feb 19, 2018 Ива Великова rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Dostoevsky, you stole my heart! You are Master of literature, my absolute favourite author and I adore your works! You never betrayed me, even with the shortets stories and novellas. I am glad I found your works!

I felt the pain the brothers Karamazov had, I was hiding in the darkest corners with Raskolnikov when he did his crime, I hated the society that could not understand the feelings of prince Mishkin who was called an idiot, I was in the casino with the gambler, I was with Stavrogin and wi ...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Aygul A. Baghirova rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

recently I picked up this book to read for the second time, I am not that kind of person who prefers to read one novel or a story for many times - there're plenty of them to be read and what is the purpose to re-read if the content is already clear and causes curiousity no more? - nevertheless, my first interaction with this story dated back to early teenager years, so I thought it would do no harm)) and def. not a waste of time.
great Dostoevsky is one of those really few authors whose philosoph ...more

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Jul 19, 2010 James Henderson rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: from-russia-with-love

This was the first of Dostoevsky's full-length novels. With the characteristic Dostoevskian emphasis on suffering this melodramatic story features a young writer (not unlike Dostoevsky himself) who is in love young girl who, in turn, loves another young man named Aloysha. Ivan has philosophical disputations with Aloysha's father, Prince Valkovski. The melodrama is further heightened by the presence of another girl, Nelly, who is harassed by the Prince. The melodramatic sequences reminded me of e ...more

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May 18, 2013 Nishant Nori rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is one of the few books (probably the only one) that provoked tears from my eyes. Nellie is such a moving character. And the story is so tragic and touching. This is my first book from Fyodor Dostoeyvsky and certainly not the last one. I am going to re-read it again.

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About Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born in Moscow in 1821. His debut, the epistolary novella Poor Folk (1846), made his name. In 1849 he was arrested for involvement with the politically subversive 'Petrashevsky circle' and until 1854 he lived in a convict prison in Omsk, Siberia. From this experience came The House of the Dead (1860-2). In 1860 he began the journal Vremya (Time). Already married, ...more

Books by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead

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“If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.” — 750 likes

“هل تعلم؟ ما من شئ أمتع للإنسان من أن يعيش في صخبة حمقى، ومن أن يعزف على أوتارهم: إنه يستفيد من ذلك! لا تأخذ عليَّ أنني أقيم وزناً لأراء المجتمع، وإنني أحرص على بعض المواضعات، وأنني أنشد الاعتبار والجاه. أنا أعرف أنني أعيش في مجتمع تافه .. ولكنني حتى الأن أتحمس له، وأنعق مع الناعقين؛ إنني أتظاهر بالدفاع عنه دفاعاً حاراً، ومع ذلك فمن الممكن، إذا اقتضى الأمر، أن أهجره أول من يهجره. إنني أعرف جميع أفكارهم الجديدة، رغم أنني لم أحفل بها يوماً. وعلام أحفل بها؟ إنني لم أشعر يوماً بعذاب الضمير. إنني أقبل كل شئ، متى كان لي فيه نفع. وأمثالي كثيرون، ونحن جميعاً في أحسن حال حقاً. يمكن أن يفنى كل شئ على الأرض، وأن نظل نحن وحدنا لا نفنى أبداً. إننا نوجد منذ وُجِدَ الوجود .. قد يغرق الكون كله، ونبقى نحن نطفو على وجه الماء، نطفو إلى الأبد. أنظر، بهذه المناسبة، كم تطول حياة أمثالنا. إننا نعمر كثيراً، ألم يلفت نظرك ذلك؟ إننا نعيش حتى الثمانين، حتى التسعين. فالطبيعة نفسها تحمينا إذن .. هه هه .. أريد أن أبلغ التسعين حتماً، أنا لا أحب الموت. سحقاً للفلسفة. فلنشرب، يا عزيزي. كنا نتحدث عن البنات الجميلات لماذا تقوم؟” — 113 likes

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