About this title: During a time of revolution, Nikolay Stavrogin, a brilliant but alienated young aristocrat, becomes a criminal, a degenerate, and an exploiter of women because of his inability to feel genuine emotion. Dostoyevsky hoped, in this novel, to rally the Russian upper classes to turn away from their own nihilistic self-absorption and identify with the ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. 0451524861 Good condition paperback book, some creases to spine, some edge/corner rubs, may have corner crease, small edge tear or spine slant, a good book for reading. Shop & Save With US. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Signet Classics
Date Published: 1962
ISBN-13:9780451519184ISBN:0451519183
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. clean, well bound, straight and unmarked, light wear. near fine. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Perfect Bound Paper
Publisher: Signet
Date Published: 1962
Description: Very Good. Mass Market Paperback. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Light wear. A few pages have underlining/notes. PON inside front wrap and on FEP with notes on FEP. Binding tight, pages clean. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: The Modern Library, New York
Date Published: 1978
ISBN-13:9780394604411ISBN:0394604415
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. Tight spine, clean copy. Maroon boards with gilt lettering on spine, edges lightly rubbed, corners slightly bumped. Text is clean and unmarked, very nice copy. DJ-price clipped, no chips or tears, in mylar jacket. 730 Pgs. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Heritage Press
Date Published: 1987
Description: Very Good. 8vo-over 7-9 Tall. Book, slipcase and Sandcastle pamphet all without mark or tears, a very good copy. Not sunned. Black book, gray spine, black slipcase. 1987 copyright. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Signet Classics from the New American Library
Date Published: 1962
ISBN-13:9780451524867ISBN:0451524861
Description: Good. Cover is scuffed. Inside pages are without flaw. In storage 30 years. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 701 p. Audience: General/trade. "The Possessed is regarded the world over as the most shattering vision of nihilism in action to come out of Russia. Dostoyevsky is in the rank in which we set Dante, Shakespeare and Goethe. " read more
Description: Very Good. Oversized Oversize Slipcased Hardcover. Very good condition; edges, corners, and covers of book show minor wear. No underlining; no highlighting; no internal markings. Publication Year N/A. Oversized Oversize Slipcased Hardcover. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Heron, London
Date Published: 1968
Description: Octavo Size. Two [2] volume set. Very Good condition. Red imitation leather binding with gilt to face and spine, ribbon marker, 310, 307 pages "The Great Masterpieces of Russian Literature" series. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Wildside Press
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781434454393ISBN:1434454398
Description: New. BRAND NEW and ready for dispatch. Delivery normally within 4/7 days. Our reputation is built on our Speedy Delivery Service and our Customer Service Team. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Heritage Press,, NY:
Date Published: 1959
Description: Illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg. Near Fine. Translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett. A reprint edition. "Sandglass" laid in. Near fine in a near fine slipcase. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: EZreads Publications, LLC
Date Published: 2009-03-04
ISBN-13:9781615340620ISBN:1615340629
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: EZreads Publications, LLC
Date Published: 2009-03-04
ISBN-13:9781615340637ISBN:1615340637
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Wildside Press
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781434454409ISBN:1434454401
Description: New. BRAND NEW and ready for dispatch. Delivery normally within 4/7 days. Our reputation is built on our Speedy Delivery Service and our Customer Service Team. read more
""So this God exists in your opinion?" "He doesn't, yet he does. There is no pain in the stone, but there is pain in the fear of the stone. God is the pain of the fear of death. He who overcomes pain and fear will himself become God. Then there will be a new life, a new man, everything new... Then history will be divided into two parts: from the gorilla to the destruction of God, and from the destruction of God..." "To the gorilla?" "...to the physical changing of earth and man. Man will be God and will change physically. And the world will change, and deeds will change, and thoughts, and all feelings. What do you think, will man then change physically?""
"An ambitious work, the breadth of ideas, the novel's design, all were masterfully crafted by Dosotoevsky...impressive...but at that the same time it could feel rather pretentious . As in his other post-Siberian books, this one is mainly constructed on the foundation of his anti-nihilistic sentiment.
"The possessed" signifies the young generation of Russia at that time bent on destroying all the accepted social norms and values, whom Dosotoevsky accused from being incapable of forming their own original ideas, thus merely following on what was in vogue then, or, as what one of the minor character blurted out "everything is so boring,one can't be squeamish over one's amusement, as long as they are interesting", it was the case of sheer ennui and impotency that they became nihilists.
It is interesting that Dostoevsky based one of his many challenges to nihilism here on the acts of suicide. Terrifying arguments were pounced on by the ironic Kirilov and, near the end, by the delusional Trofimovitch...all were bordering on sophistry me think...
Anyway...there are plenty of characters put on use, bestowed with different levels of "being possessed", from the ultimate dilletante Stravogin to the cunning automaton Erkel, which made for a thoroughly delightful characters study...there is also a cameo appearance of a doctor, losing his job due to a quarrel with his superiors...just like in "The Idiot"...curious..."
"This might be the most tragic novel I've ever read, so much so that I have difficulty justifying recommending it to anyone at all. The number of characters presented, each burdened with his or her own ideology, and the sincerity with which their ideas are often presented only makes it more deflating when that ideology ultimately destroys each and every one of them, but the questions raised by each of them about religion, existentialism, morality, socialism, and society make Demons an unquestionable rewarding read. I'm sad to see that Dostoevsky's other, admittedly brilliant works, seem to get so much more interest than this, his seminal work on political ideology. It has all of the power of the Brothers Karamazov, all of the insight of Crime and Punishment, and the same disturbing psychology that distinguished Notes from Underground."
"Just finished this one and it was really good. (Some versions of this book are called "The Possessed" which some argue is a bad translation in Constance Garnette's translation of the text.) It is a bit slow moving at first but once you get introduced to some of the more whacky characters it picks up. Besides FD was a great psychological mind. It is full of witty zingers at some of his contemporaries and a good moral behind it. It is loosely based on a true story of some revolutionaries who commit a murder to avert being turned in to the government. FD uses the characters to express his growing concern of revolutionaries, anarchists, and other "Western Idealists" (i.e. liberals) and their influences in Russia. Some beleive that FD predicted the Russian Revolution with this book."
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