The Idiot: Newly Translated and Annotated (Alma Classics Evergreens)

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The allure of good manners, lack of inhibition and apparent goodwill were almost intoxicating. It never even entered his head that all these charming good manners and this graciousness, these clever remarks and the dignified, self-possessed bearing, were merely a well-rehearsed front. Looked at more closely, the majority of the guests were, never mind their imposing exterior, rather vacuous people, who in their self-delusion did not realize that much of what was positive about them was a mere veneer which they had inherited unconsciously, by proxy. It is this that the Prince, under the charming delusion of his first impression, refused even to countenance. He was bowled over, for instance, by the fact that that old man, that venerable dignitary, who in years could well have passed for his grandfather, was ready to stop in mid-flow merely to hear him out, young and inexperienced as he was, and not merely to hear him out, but to give due weight to his opinion, to respond to him warmly, with such sincere concern, never mind that they were total strangers and had met for the very first time. Perhaps it was precisely this refined cordiality which had such a radical effect on the Prince’s sensitive nature. Perhaps he was already too much predisposed towards, indeed beguiled into, forming a favourable impression.