The Idiot question

An amazing, compassionate book that deserves to be as widely read as Brothers Karamazov. I picked it up after hearing Allen Ginsburg talk about it's importance to Beat writers like Kerouac.

While I agree with the above praise of The Idiot, I don't think it compares in quality to The Brothers K, Crime and Punishment, The Devils or even House of the Dead.

A Christ-metaphor and perhaps an exploration of what the Christian message achieves if divorced from the concept of eternal life/the fall. With no eternal consequence, no ultimate goal behind the innate goodness and selflessness of Myshkin, he is cut adrift and can't comprehend either the origins of his own "idiocy" (obviously 'Idiot' refers to a medical condition rather than the modern usage for someone stupid), other people's reasoning, or the existence of a value set outside of his own.

I think, as with Brothers Karamazov, this is at least partly Dostoevsky exploring his own faith, testing it against the progressive Christianity being practiced elsewhere/schools of theology that divorced eternal life from the christian message.

Bloody good story too.

I think, this book has had so much influence on Russian culture and people that the first time I've visited Russia, I've never actually met a single person who would be kind to another. Maybe, they are all afraid of being tagged as an "idiot" for this.
The book itself has so many layers, it's practically impossible to write them all down. But well, the idea for me was that people can ruin a spirit. Don't do that.

Wonderful book, the best of Dostoevsky, for me, after Crime and punishment. I love prince Myskin.

I found it to be somewhat of a frightening book - at times the events about to befall Prince Myshkin were so awful, I had to put the book down. I believe it expresses much of Dostoyevsky's strong religious feelings and his pessimism about society. I found it very emotional, Dostoyevsky's preface in my copy said it all: I recall something to the effect of I am trying to create a Christ-like figure and to show how impossible it would be to live that way today. He told us again in the incredible Grand Inquisitor digression.

I read the book as a young man and was completely enthralled by it. I do plan on re-reading it. I consider it the finest Russian novel ever written.

I actually enjoyed this book more than Brother's K. It was beautiful. It needs a re-read since i read than ten years ago.

i believe whatever is written by Dostoevsky would be great, so The Idiot is a "Great Book"! but i also think Crime and Punishment is way better than The Idiot.

When I get a chance I mean to reread Dostoyevsky because I've never come across anyone who writes with the same urgency - I always get the impression that he's somehow battling with his material, trying to steer it to a conclusion before the characters break loose and go careering off the rails. It makes for a fascinating read.

It might be strange but somehow I can relate it to THE ALCHEMIST...Myshkin like the protagonist in the alchemist has always been on a journey of new experiences and continuously trying to figure out how the world works. Myshkin's innocence is remarkable which justifies him to be "THE IDIOT"

i didnt think the idiot was that great . i did like the part about how cruel the guillotine actually is , in that youre surely to die without a single chance of some kind of last minute debacle. i think Hugo was the first to bring that fact to readers.

I LOVE this book and Prince Mishkin. So compassionate, so vulnerable, and such a heartbreaking tale of human nature. My 2nd favorite Dostoevsky novel after Crime & Punishment. Dostoevsky really knows how to get at the crux of human nature and explores why we do what we do and feel the way that we do.

I recommend this book. If you’re looking for really great literature, read “Crime and Punishment” though.

One of my favorite novels, well worth reading twice.

Prince Myshkin is one of the most compelling and fascinating characters in world literature. Consciously, he only wants to love and be loved, but he remains so blind to his hidden feelings and impulses--and especially his repressed traumas--that this well-meaning man leaves nothing but destruction and devastation in his wake.

For a brilliant analysis of the novel, see:
Unconscious Structure In The Idiot: A Study In Literature And Psychoanalysis by Elizabeth Dalton.

A pureness of heart nowhere to be found. It's an amazing story, slow paced description of what would happen if a person was human. Brilliant.

I remember reading it's Chinese version when I was very young ... one line was so impressive, though it's exact meaning being not so clear to a young boy, that it has never been forgotten, that is, "Such beauty is real power," said Adelaida. "With such beauty as that one might overthrow the world." She returned to her easel thoughtfully.

I really found it a strange and different tragedy novel, but I really felt great for reading it, especially it was the first Russian lit. novel I have ever read, this author really attract me to read more Russian novels especially for him.
Really like it and I gave it a rate of 4/5.

I think he is exactly what he is called, an idiot. Someone without the ability to look at the different layers of a situation, but purely bases his emotions and ideas off of the feelings he receives from another person. The saying that "Ignorance is bliss" Defines Myshkin. I loved his character, wanted to be like him, laughed at him, yet came away from the book itself thinking, my word that man truly was an idiot.

prefect man <3 want to be as him
when i think of that i determine to be like him but life ............................

I think of the idiot as Christ-like, nearly ego-less, who tried to do good and ended up having no effect whatsoever.

A horrible book written by a horrible man.