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The Possessed is a highly political novel and Dostoevsky's reaction to socialist/communist revolution in Russia. It is relentlessly dark and lacks the optimism and humanism that his other novels had. There are no Jesus characters here, only a character representing Satan (Pyotr) and one representing the anti Christ (Nikolay). The Possessed is remarkable in how much more accurate it portrayed what communist leaders were like and what a true communist revolution would look like than the optimistic Marx. Dostoevsky forecast the brutal crimes of the Bolsheviks during the Red Terror and Stalin during the Great Purge decades before these events happened. Nikolay is also one of the most evil and influential villains of literature. He is the original anarcho-nihilist villain who does evil things simply for the hell of it and has no grand plan or care for his own well being. Smerdyakov from Brothers and to a lesser extant Svidrigailov from Crime and Punishment are like this, but Nikolay takes the cake. He describes himself as a moral masochist and the more guilt something would cause a normal person, the more pleasurable it is for him. He sexually seduces a 12 year old girl and convinces her to commit suicide, in his spare time, just for fun! Nikolay's evil lives on in characters ranging from The Joker in Dark Knight to Johan Liebert from the comic Monster. For me, Nikolay will always remain the nastiest character in all of literature.
I didn`t think the POSSESSED was as well written as his other novels. It was poorly edited by D. himself, IMHO. I likewise found it unpalatable.
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Ian
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Oct 26, 2013 08:42AM
The Possessed is a highly political novel and Dostoevsky's reaction to socialist/communist revolution in Russia. It is relentlessly dark and lacks the optimism and humanism that his other novels had. There are no Jesus characters here, only a character representing Satan (Pyotr) and one representing the anti Christ (Nikolay). The Possessed is remarkable in how much more accurate it portrayed what communist leaders were like and what a true communist revolution would look like than the optimistic Marx. Dostoevsky forecast the brutal crimes of the Bolsheviks during the Red Terror and Stalin during the Great Purge decades before these events happened. Nikolay is also one of the most evil and influential villains of literature. He is the original anarcho-nihilist villain who does evil things simply for the hell of it and has no grand plan or care for his own well being. Smerdyakov from Brothers and to a lesser extant Svidrigailov from Crime and Punishment are like this, but Nikolay takes the cake. He describes himself as a moral masochist and the more guilt something would cause a normal person, the more pleasurable it is for him. He sexually seduces a 12 year old girl and convinces her to commit suicide, in his spare time, just for fun! Nikolay's evil lives on in characters ranging from The Joker in Dark Knight to Johan Liebert from the comic Monster. For me, Nikolay will always remain the nastiest character in all of literature.
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I didn`t think the POSSESSED was as well written as his other novels. It was poorly edited by D. himself, IMHO. I likewise found it unpalatable.
