The Idiot

File:Idiot.JPG

Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of The Idiot

The Idiot is a novel written by the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky in 1869. The original Russian title is Идиот, "Idiot", but the definite article is not used in Russian.

Dosyoevsky considered the title "Prince Myshkin" , before decideing upon the current.

Plot

Prince Lev Nikolaievich Myshkin returns to Russia after a long absence. His mental condition is unclear: as a youth, he has been prone to blackouts and learning difficulties. These have been treated with some success in Switzerland, but much of what Russian society views as idiocy is simply honesty and trustfulness. The Myshkin family line is said to end with him and his cousin.

On the train to Saint Petersburg, Myshkin meets and befriends the dark and impassioned Rogozhin. The latter tells the prince about his passion for Nastassya Filipovna, a beautiful woman with a bad reputation. Myshkin arrives at the house of General Yepantchin, who is married to the only other living member of the Myshkin line. Myshkin learns that Ganya, a young go-getter and secretary of the General, wants to marry Nastassya for her dowry. The prince feels an irresistible desire to meet her.

At Nastassya's name-day party, Myshkin sees Rogozhin arrive drunk and offer the young woman a large amount of money to follow him. The prince perceives the despair of Nastassya and proposes to her in order to save her. She, believing the prince's offer stems only from pity, flees with Rogozhin.

The two men, formerly bound by friendship, become rivals. Rogozhin even tries to kill his friend.

Over the course of the novel, Myshkin grows closer to the General's daughter, Aglaya, but he eventually gives her up to save Nastassya. On the day of the marriage, however, Nastassya again flees with Rogozhin, who then kills her.

The novel ends with Myshkin and Rogozhin lying together by the body of Nastassya: Myshkin sinks into total insanity; Rogozhin is sentenced to labor in Siberia; and Aglaya rushes into an unhappy marriage.

By making Myshkin a paragon of kindness and humility, Dostoyevsky shows what can happen when such a man is confronted by society.

Analysis

Dostoevsky's motives for The Idiot stem from his desire to depict the "positively good man". This is, of course, likened to Christ in many ways. Dostoevsky uses Myshkin's introduction to the Petersburg society as a way to contrast the nature of Russian society at the time and the isolation and innocence of this good man. This is highlighted by his conflicts and relationship with Rogozhin. Indeed, Myshkin and Rogozhin are contrasted from the outset. Myshkin is associated with light, Rogozhin with dark. For example, in their initial descriptions on the train, Myshkin is described with light hair and blue eyes, Rogozhin with dark features. Rogozhin's house is dark, with iron bars on the windows. He is not only an embodyment of darkness, but surrounded by it. The two are utterly antithetical. If Myshkin be christ, Rogozhin would be the devil. Indeed, 'rog', in Russian, means horn and this adds credence to such an assertion. However, they are both after Nastasya Fillipovna - good and bad strive for the same thing. But Rogozhin kills Nastasya. The materialistic society of Russia was one that praised the values Myshkin represents; however, Rogozhin, though he loves Nastasya, commits murder in the end. This parallels society; while it professes to be "good", it cannot accommodate Prince Myshkin. Nastasya herself has been corrupted by a depraved society. Her beauty has led to Totsky, perhaps the most repugnant of characters in the novel, keeping her as a concubine and she falls into a quasi-madness. Love itself is shown in various manifestations. While Ganya wishes to marry Nastasya in order that he might, through acquisition of a large dowry, spark some of the individuality, which he, rightly, feels he lacks, back into his life, Rogozhin loves Nastasya with a deep passion- a passion which drives him to kill her. Myshkin, however, loves her out of pity. But his love for her supersedes the romantic love he has had for Agalaya.

Adaptations

Several filmmakers have produced adaptations of the novel, among them Akira Kurosawa with Hakuchi (The Idiot), filmed in 1951.

In 2003 Russian State Television produced a 10-hour TV-series of the work, which earned very high ratings. Some critics said it was a good sign that an ideal of a positively beautiful person found such acclaim from the Russian public.

In the 2004 film The Machinist, directed by Brad Anderson and starring a disturbingly thin Christian Bale, Bale's insomniac character Trevor Reznik attempts to read The Idiot, in between delusions, blackouts and revelations. The film is not in any way a direct adaptation of The Idiot, but does explore many of the same themes of light, dark, madness and choice.

Russian comedy Down House (2001) features a parody of the novel's plot.

Translations to English

Since The Idiot was first published in Russian, there have been a number of translations to English over the years, including those by:

• Frederick Whishaw (1887)
• Constance Garnett (1913)
• David Magarshack (1955)
• Henry and Olga Carlisle (1980)
• David McDuff (1991)
• Alan Myers (1998)
• Eva Martin (2001)
• Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2002)
• Anna Brailovsky (2003)

The "Constance Garnett" translation has for many years been accepted as the definitive English translation, but more recently it has come under criticism for being prudish, archaic and making very little use of idiom. The Garnett translation, however, still remains widely available because it is now in the public domain. Some writers, such as Anna Brailovsky have based their translations on Garnett's. Since the 1990s new English translations have appeared that have brought life to The Idiot, making it more accessible to English readers. The "David McDuff" and the "Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky" translations in particular have been well received.

External links

• The Idiot - full text
• The Idiot at Project Gutenberg
• Full text of The Idiot in the original Russian