L'Idiot

Paperback, 934 pages

French language

Published by Le Livre de Poche.

ISBN:: 978-2-253-06708-5

(75 reviews)

Le prince Mychkine est un être fondamentalement bon, mais sa bonté confine à la naïveté et à l'idiotie, même s'il est capable d'analyses psychologiques très fines. Après avoir passé sa jeunesse en Suisse dans un sanatorium pour soigner son épilepsie (maladie dont était également atteint Dostoïevski), il retourne en Russie pour pénétrer les cercles fermés de la société russe, sans sou ni attache, mais avec un certificat de noblesse en poche. Il se retrouve par hasard mêlé à un projet de mariage concernant Nastassia Filippovna.

L'Idiot est l'un des romans les plus complexes et psychologiques de Dostoïevski. En effet, le récit met en scène une quarantaine de personnages qui ont tous des caractères bien distincts. L'enchevêtrement d'intrigues entre ces personnages donne lieu à des rebondissements permanents et imprévisibles. L'écriture de Dostoievski parvient avec virtuosité à rendre le lecteur anxieux dans l'attente de la réaction de chaque personnage.

16 editions

decadent_and_depraved reviewed The idiot by Фёдор Достоевский

Review of 'The idiot' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Fuck me, I am so tired of these Christ-like characters such as Prinz Myschkin. Dostoevsky's conservatism never irritates me as much as it bores me. Find redemption in Christ or be damned, and so on. Good people are treated poorly but they endure for they are Orthodox Christians, and bad people treat others poorly but eventually go mad or die terribly or suffer ineffably or kill someone, for they are atheist nihilists. Seriously, Dostoevsky's 3 most distinguished novels are more or less the same bland of moralizing drivel. I am truly perplexed that the very same man is responsible for such works as Notes from Underground and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man. Those works are something to be marveled at, yet somehow, everyone ends up reading poorly disguised Christian fan fiction.

bondolo reviewed The Idiot by Фёдор Достоевский

Review of 'The Idiot' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I re-read this because I remember really enjoying it as a teen and thinking it was quite funny at points. I sure didn't find that this time and I was frustrated by the pacing. I found the last half interminable and felt like I was missing something. I tried to read it with great attention to make sure I didn't miss some detail but still found little of importance. The contradictions and inconsistencies of the characters were confusing. It seemed not that the characters themselves were variable but that Dostoevsky had an inconsistent idea of what the character's roles.

leighelse reviewed The Idiot by Фёдор Достоевский

Review of 'The Idiot' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Tedious. Possibly an interesting character portrait if condensed, but marred by the prevailing nineteenth century attitude to the place and appropriate morality of women. I finished it, trusting to my previous enjoyment of other Dostoyevsky novels and hoping to the last to find in it some gem of...

Andrew (andrewspink@mastadon.green) reviewed The Idiot by Фёдор Достоевский

Review of 'The Idiot' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

This book was a bit of a struggle. I generally enjoy 19th-century classics, but with The Idiot it was a matter of perseverance to get the (albeit unexpected) end. There are endless similar scenes of groups of people sitting in drawing rooms having similar conversations and the conversations are not always so interesting. I was happy to reach the end.

Fionnáin reviewed The Idiot by Фёдор Достоевский

Review of 'The Idiot' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

A masterpiece. Terrific characters and dialogue, a moving and engaged fold of various plot-lines that centre round the hero, an honest and noble "idiot", as he attempts to understand the insanity of Russian high society. A beautiful book.