Poor Folk - Softcover

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1592244319 ISBN 13: 9781592244317

Publisher: Wildside Pr, 2003

Synopsis

Poor Folk is an epistolary novel -- that is, a tale told as a series of letters between the characters. And oh, what characters these are! Makar Dievushkin Alexievitch is a copy writer, barely squeaking by; Barbara Dobroselova Alexievna works as a seamstress, and both face the sort of everyday humiliation society puts upon the poor. These are people respected by no one, not even by themselves. These are folks too poor, in their circumstances, to marry; the love between them is a chaste and proper thing, a love that brings some readers to tears. But it isn't maudlin, either; Fyodor Dostoevsky has something profound to say about these people and this circumstance. And he says it very well. When the book was first published a leading Russian literary critic of the day -- Belinsky -- prophesied that Dostoevsky would become a literary giant. It isn't hard to see how he came to that conclusion, and in hindsight, he was surely was correct.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

This is the first new translation of Dostoevsky's first novel since Constance Garnett's. Mr. Dessaix is not only more accurate than Garnett, but also makes an effort to deal with the sharply different styles in the epistolary novel in a consistent way. Dostoevsky made a point of saying that the style of the work was not his, but that of his letter writers--Devushkin and Varvara--and the reader will now be able to get some idea of these different styles. The translator's introduction focuses on the history of styles which Dostoevsky used in his very selfconsciously literary debut.

Written in 1845 and publised in 1846, Poor Folk is the natural beginning point for anyone who reads Dostoevsky. The novel occupies a position of particular interest and importance in both the history of Russian literature and Dostoevsky's work as a whole. Several lines of development in Russian prose intersect: sentimentalism, naturalism, the physiological sketch, and the phenomenon of Gogol, with whom Dostoevsky maintains a dialogue throughout the novel.

Robert Dessaix is the translator of The Mysterious Tales of Ivan Turgenev. He is Professor of Russian literature at the University of New South Wales.

About the Author:

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821 - 1881), sometimes transliterated Dostoevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher. Dostoyevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social and spiritual atmosphere of 19th-century Russia and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. He began writing in his 20s and his first novel, Poor Folk, was published in 1846 when he was 25. Dostoevsky's major works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). His oeuvre consists of 11 novels, three novellas, 17 short novels and numerous other works. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychologists in world literature. His 1864 novella Notes from Underground is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wildside Pr
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1592244319
• ISBN 13: 9781592244317
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 172