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The Eternal Husband and Other Stories
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The Eternal Husband and Other Stories brings together five of Dostoevsky’s short masterpieces rendered into English by two of the most celebrated Dostoevsky translators of our time. Filled with many of the themes and concerns central to his great novels, these short works display the full range of Dostoevsky’s genius. The centerpiece of this collection, the short novel The
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Paperback, 349 pages
Published
September 5th 2000
by Bantam Classics
(first published January 1st 1890)
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4.5*
Oh, Dostoyevsky. If ever I ascent to power, I’ll make him mandatory reading. No worries, just joking.
This collection, wonderfully translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, features two novellas, The Eternal Husband and The Meek One , as well as three short stories, A Nasty Anecdote , Bobok: Notes of a certain person , and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man: a fantastic story. The novellas are very strong, especially The Eternal Husband which tells the story of a man who encounters t ...more
Oh, Dostoyevsky. If ever I ascent to power, I’ll make him mandatory reading. No worries, just joking.
This collection, wonderfully translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, features two novellas, The Eternal Husband and The Meek One , as well as three short stories, A Nasty Anecdote , Bobok: Notes of a certain person , and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man: a fantastic story. The novellas are very strong, especially The Eternal Husband which tells the story of a man who encounters t ...more
One need not read extensively into Dostoevsky writings to understand that with every work he never fails to address his social climate.
The book is a collection of five different stories, which include: A Nasty Anecdote, The Eternal Husband, Bobok, The Meek One and The Dream Of A Ridiculous Man. Amongst the five, The Eternal Husband being my favorite amongst them.
In The Eternal Husband, there abound varying things that were dear to me but lay beyond my ability to express them (maybe on multiple r ...more
The book is a collection of five different stories, which include: A Nasty Anecdote, The Eternal Husband, Bobok, The Meek One and The Dream Of A Ridiculous Man. Amongst the five, The Eternal Husband being my favorite amongst them.
In The Eternal Husband, there abound varying things that were dear to me but lay beyond my ability to express them (maybe on multiple r ...more
The short stories in this book range from very dark to quite hilarious. "A Nasty Anecdote" describes a high-status man who tries to socialize with the "little people" to show them just how humane he is, but he fails and what Dostoevsky presents is an extremely awkward situation that almost hurts to read, yet is still very funny (kind of like the UK The Office, which is painfully and hilariously awkward).
"The Eternal Husband" is an amazing story. I was blown away. It is very intense; there are so ...more
"The Eternal Husband" is an amazing story. I was blown away. It is very intense; there are so ...more
The title story is a novella. That is the part I read. "The Eternal Husband" is the model for Saul Bellow's novel, THE VICTIM. Having read and liked THE VICTIM, I decided to read Dostoevsky's novella. I read it in the translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky. (That's the Bantam edition with the Magritte-like painting on the cover, with the man's back to us.) Dostoevsky's masterpiece is not only the model for Bellow's book, it is the blueprint. Bellow's genius was to introduce the theme of antisemit
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This was my first effort at Dostoyevsky's shortest-length works, and it is a series of stories ranging from the rather dull to the sublime. The central novella, The Eternal Husband, didn't hold that much appeal to me, but some of the others -- Bobok, The Meek One, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man -- are solid gold in that best, most absurd and angry and funny way that Russians write. Stories that breathe flaming fumes.
A Nasty Anecdote, also known as An Unpleasant Predicament along with every other possible translation of the words, is not as pristine of plot as D's previous stories. The paralleled figures, Pralinsky and Pseldonymov, seem to be developed fully, but many of the detailed characters like Mlekopitaev remain offstage. The main idea behind the conflict of the story is brilliant, and apropos to the subject matter of the day. Alexander II had just freed Russia from serfdom, and the intelligentsia were
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Unfortunately, I had read three of the stories in this five-story collection already. Fortunately, the two I hadn't read were the best of the lot. "Eternal Husband" is really long enough to be considered a short novel, but I imagine it's the length of modern novels that lead to it being packaged with other stories to thicken the book spine.
"Eternal Husband" infuriated me at times. I admit it - I picked the book up because I liked the title. I wanted more husband-ing, but there are very few actua ...more
"Eternal Husband" infuriated me at times. I admit it - I picked the book up because I liked the title. I wanted more husband-ing, but there are very few actua ...more
These early stories are compelling on their own, but their main interest for readers of Dostoevsky will be the way they anticipate his later, more fully realized works – in particular Notes from the Underground, Crime & Punishment, and The Brothers Karamazov. Many of the classic Dostoevskyan themes can be found here, like the idea that human freedom (especially the freedom to be immoral or to debase oneself) exposes the lie behind utopian ideals, or that human suffering (especially the suffering
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The first time I've read Dostoyevsky for many years. The first story in this collection, 'A Nasty Anecdote', is the best. Humiliation was a recurring theme for the author, and is very much the subject of this story, so it's quintessential Dostoyevsky. It's also a mini-masterpiece which will have you cringing in sympathetic embarrassment as the well-meaning protagonist makes a complete fool of himself in public in the worst way.
'The Eternal Husband' is a short novel with a strange and compelling ...more
'The Eternal Husband' is a short novel with a strange and compelling ...more
Typically, story collections can be tricky to rate because the quality can vary from piece to piece. This one is less difficult: of the novella and its accompanying 4 stories, I enjoyed exactly 0 of them. There were moments of the main tale that gave me hope, but then it would return to its muddled storytelling and characterization. I think, given the revelations at its conclusion, that it would benefit from a reread, but I just didn't like it enough to want to commit to that. The other tales ra
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I enjoyed this collection of stories.
Bad ass Russian doing his thing.
Just read the story "A Nasty Anecdote" at the moment. Was an interesting diversion, if not much to it.
A great book.
A series of great typical Dostoyevski writings. I had read most of them in other editions. What stands out is the excellent translations in this book. Strongly recommended
This is another one of those books that I ordered as a step forth in my attempt to complete Dostoyevsky's works. The name of the primary story was somewhat intriguing and Dostoyevsky is always a good bet. Hence I ordered it without much thought. The book turned out to have five short stories, two of which ("Bobok" and "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man") I had already covered in another compilation. The other three, I read with relish.
A very short note about Dostoyevsky's writing in this book : the ...more
A very short note about Dostoyevsky's writing in this book : the ...more
Dostoevsky is known for his long fiction, and for good reason; it seems that his short stories are hit-and-miss. I gave the book four stars because the stories that I did like I did so much as to counterbalance those that I did not.
A Nasty Anecdote seemed to be a super-abridged version of a Dostoevsky novel, to the point that the drama and bite inherent in his loner works is watered-down, if not absent. It was a good story, with witty, even embarrassingly hilarious moments, but altogether it fel ...more
A Nasty Anecdote seemed to be a super-abridged version of a Dostoevsky novel, to the point that the drama and bite inherent in his loner works is watered-down, if not absent. It was a good story, with witty, even embarrassingly hilarious moments, but altogether it fel ...more
Overall, a great collection of some of Dostoevsky's lesser known works. This book collects one long novella (The Eternal Husband, clocking in close to 200 pages), and four short stories. What's surprising is the amount of dark humor on display here. Dostoevsky is usually thought of as a very serious writer, and yet these stories feature some fantastically awkward comedy. Here is a breakdown of the stories:
A Nasty Anecdote (4/5): This is a hilariously cringe-inducing story that could double as a ...more
A Nasty Anecdote (4/5): This is a hilariously cringe-inducing story that could double as a ...more
Well, I have not been jumping up and down clicking my heels if that is what you are asking. Since when does a secret group of people get together and decide that they are going to make an authors book a classic of print? Personally, I have read a number of Russian authors and I do not feel that Fyodor is one of the better writers. Is that going to damn me to hell fire? These stories were difficult, not because of some deep esoteric implication, there were entire page's that just went on and on t
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Dostoevsky was clearly NOT the master of the short story in the way that he was the master of the prolonged novel of humanity, but the title story of this book (more like a short novel running in at just under 200 pages) really kept me hooked, and I kept wanting to come back to it to finish it. In the title story, a man runs into the widower of a woman he'd had an affair with years ago. With it comes all of the great Dostoevsky humor and human extremism that he is well-canoned for. The last thre
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I love anything Dostoevsky. In spite of the writing conditions he placed himself under always gambling, drinking, owing everyone money, and his distinctive experience with his hairbreadth escape from being on the receiving end of a shooting squad he maintained an amazing incite into the human condition. He spent 5 years in Siberia for his involvement with anti-government elements but rose to greatness after his death as one of the forerunners into the mind of a man tortured by his existence;he s
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In Polish edition under the title The eternal husband and and other stories there are four novellas - Honest thief, The Christmas tree and the wedding, The eternal husband and Stiepanchzikovo town and its citizens. Dostoevsky in smaller forms than Crime and Punishment or The Brothers Karamazov.
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The satire and farce of A Nasty Anecdote work to great effect. I was curiously unaffected by the Eternal Husband, and feel I am missing something. Bobok is a trifle, but brash and witty. The Meek One is an early example of "stream of consciousness" that masterfully explores how we are controlled by forces internal yet alien to us; and how knowledge can both be known and disguised, disclosed and hidden. And if we so little understand ourselves, what torment can come of our encounters with another
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I really enjoyed this collection of stories especially the first two. I found "A Nasty Anecdote" to be hilarious and "The Eternal Husband" was thoroughly fascinating and engaging. I was so completely involved in the story that when I finished I felt that I had to take a break. As I told a friend, Dostoyevsky is like red meat - very rich, very good, but very heavy and sometimes you have to take a break. The last few stories I didn't enjoy as much, but thought they were still worth reading.
The Russians continue to deliver. Crime and Punishment was a searing look into the uniquely human emotion of guilt. In this set of short novellas, Dostoevksy continues to search, extract and then dissect emotions further. Including shades of embarrassment, haughtiness, guilt (again) and revenge. It can all get quite raw and heavy, at places, but there are stories here I won't forget in a long while
I liked all these pieces. Notably, however, read this for Bobok (a funny short piece about death) and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man. As a note, I wouldn't recommend reading The Dream of a Ridiculous Man until reading most, if not all, of the major pieces by Dostoevsky: this little piece tells everything.
"No artistic salon singer could ever have achieved such an effect. In this romance, the intensity of the passion rises and grows with every line, every word; precisely because of this extraordinary intensity, the slightest falseness, the slightest exaggeration or untruth -- which one gets away with so easily in opera -- would here ruin and distort the whole meaning."
A great collection of short stories by Dostoevsky. Although "The Eternal Husband" is a bit long, it proves to be very satisfying. Within this collection my favorites were "The Meek One" and "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man." Actually the latter of my favorites provides a good description of paradise without the Fall as seen from an Eastern Christian perspective.
Don’t know where I picked up my addition, but it is only the Eternal Husband. If you have red his stories, the characters are keeping with his style and comical and painful to witness at the same time.
What if you are lonely and the only person you have to befriend is also someone you want to seek revenge on. That is the conflict of the novel and worth the read.
What if you are lonely and the only person you have to befriend is also someone you want to seek revenge on. That is the conflict of the novel and worth the read.
Dostoyevsky is amazing, even his short stories (some of them not that short at all) are great. I particularly liked "Вечный муж", "Село Степанчиково и его обитатели" and "Дядюшкин сон". As an author, he is an astonishing researcher of the human soul and likes bringing to the surface all the misery, greediness and hypocrisy mankind possesses. It's not an easy read but it's definitely worth it.
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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,
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