Name: Notes from the Underground, and The Gambler
Rating: 3.75 (10 reviews)
ISBN: 9780192836267

Jane Kentish

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Specially commissioned for the World's Classics, this new translation includes a full editorial apparatus.

Notes from the Underground, and The Gambler

The Gambler paints a stark picture of the attractions-and addictions-of gambling. Using skillful characterization, Dostoevsky faithfully depicts life among the gambling set in old Germany. This probing psychological novel explores the tangled love affairs and complicated lives of Alexey Ivanovitch, a young gambler, and Polina Alexandrovna, the woman he loves. Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoevsky was born in Moscow, the son of a surgeon. As a member of revolutionary circles in St. Petersburg, he was condemned to death in 1849. A last-minute reprieve sent him to Siberia for hard labor. Returning to St. Petersburg in 1859, he worked as a journalist and completed his masterpiece, Crime and Punishment, as well as other works, including The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov.

The Gambler

Absolutely hilarious and chilling depictions of the functions of gambling addiction. 

Clark Louis

I confess I did not like it. Although I had made up my mind to play, I felt averse to doingso on behalf of some one else. In fact, it almost upset my balance, and I entered the gamingrooms with an angry feeling at my heart. At first glance the scene irritated me. Never at anytime have I been able to bear the flunkeyishness which one meets in the Press of the worldat large, but more especially in that of Russia, where, almost every evening, journalistswrite on two subjects in particular-namely, on the splendour and luxury of the casinos tobe found in the Rhenish towns, and on the heaps of gold which are daily to be seen lying ontheir tables. Those journalists are not paid for doing so: they write thus merely out of aspirit of disinterested complaisance. For there is nothing splendid about the establishmentsin question; and, not only are there no heaps of gold to be seen lying on their tables, butalso there is very little money to be seen at all. Of course, during the season, some madmanor another may make his appearance-generally an Englishman, or an Asiatic, or a Turk-and (as had happened during the summer of which I write) win or lose a great deal; but, asregards the rest of the crowd, it plays only for petty gülden, and seldom does much wealthfigure on the board.

Complete

Dist

I don't know whether it's the case of 'lost in translation', but this is a bit torturing in Indonesian. I haven't read it in English, so it might've been a different experience (though I'm not sure).

One of Dostoevsky’s shorter novels, "The Gambler" reflects the author’s own difficult and prolonged battles with gambling as one of his major addictions. It is the story of a young man with aspirations to see and go beyond the established order, but in reality only gets stuck deeper and deeper into addiction and degradation. Dostoevsky does a great job in painting the psychological portrait of the protagonist, Alexey, who is having difficulties finding meaning in life and himself. Fyodor Dostoevsky was a famous Russian writer of novels, short stories, and essays. A connoisseur of the troubled human psyche and the relationships between the individuals, Dostoevsky’s oeuvre covers a large area of subjects: politics, religion, social issues, philosophy, and the uncharted realms of the psychological. He is most famous for the novels "Crime and Punishment", "The Idiot", and "The Brothers Karamazov". His literary legacy was met with mixed feelings, but remains gargantuan in its influence.

Notes from the Underground, and The Gambler

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