The Idiot cover

The Idiot

Original title: Идиот

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), trans. Eva Martin

Translation en 241527 words First published 1869 Russia

Dostoyevsky's 1869 novel, written abroad in poverty and ill health, and the book he loved best of his own. Prince Myshkin returns to St Petersburg from a Swiss sanatorium, a man of such unguarded goodness that society can only call him an idiot. Within days he is entangled with the beautiful and proud Nastasya Filippovna, kept as a mistress since childhood and unable to believe herself forgivable, and with Rogozhin, the merchant's son who loves her with the same force and none of the restraint. Their triangle ends in a scene of murder and madness among the most harrowing in fiction. This edition uses Eva Martin's early twentieth-century translation.

Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.

Table of Contents

  1. 001 PART I I. Towards the end of November, during a thaw, at nine o’clock… 2544 words
  2. 002 “My eyes!” said Rogojin, really surprised at last. 2657 words
  3. 003 “Wait in the next room, please; and leave your bundle here,” said the… 2587 words
  4. 004 A young fellow entered the ante-room at this moment, with a bundle of papers in his hand. 2534 words
  5. 005 Gania suddenly became so ill at ease that his face grew paler than ever. 2520 words
  6. 006 “Thank you,” began the prince; “and since you are so very kind there… 2505 words
  7. 007 Her character was absolutely changed. 2609 words
  8. 008 She became so excited and agitated during all these explanations and… 2629 words
  9. 009 “A donkey? How strange! Yet it is not strange. Anyone of us might… 2510 words
  10. 010 “I can’t understand why you always fly into a temper,” said Mrs. 2695 words
  11. 011 “She was very quiet always—and I remember once, when she had suddenly… 2977 words
  12. 012 “When I received a letter from those dear little souls, while passing… 2519 words
  13. 013 “Why are you so unhappy, mother?” asked Adelaida, who alone of all… 2502 words
  14. 014 “Oh, _curse_ Schneider and his dirty opinions! 2503 words
  15. 015 As he went out of the prince’s room, he collided with yet another visitor coming in. 2500 words
  16. 016 Gania’s irritation increased with every word he uttered, as he walked… 2500 words
  17. 017 “No, Varia, I shall sit it out to the end.” Nastasia must have… 2560 words
  18. 018 “Very well then, a _hundred_ thousand! 2515 words
  19. 019 “But Nastasia Philipovna seems to me to be such a _sensible_ woman… 2601 words
  20. 020 “You have made a mistake, general,” said he. 2521 words
  21. 021 “Ah, Gania knows nothing about it? 2509 words
  22. 022 It was extremely difficult to account for Nastasia’s strange… 2522 words
  23. 023 “I asked how it came about that the tureen had been left. 2531 words
  24. 024 “It’s all right, Katia, let them all in at once.” “Surely not _all_, ma’am? 2575 words
  25. 025 “Nastasia Philipovna, is this really you? 2502 words
  26. 026 Ptitsin bowed his head and looked at the ground, overcome by a mixture of feelings. 2563 words
  27. 027 The Rogojin gang followed their leader and Nastasia Philipovna to the… 2560 words
  28. 028 To make an end, we may say that there were many changes in the… 2529 words
  29. 029 “You are quite wrong...” began the prince. 2594 words
  30. 030 “Oh! that’s enough in all conscience! Pray for whom you choose, and… 2514 words
  31. 031 Arrived at the point where the Gorohovaya crosses the Sadovaya, he… 2563 words
  32. 032 “You told her that?” “Yes.” “Well, go on.” “She said, ‘I wouldn’t… 2679 words
  33. 033 “But how do you, how can you—” began the prince, gazing with dread and horror at Rogojin. 2526 words
  34. 034 “Don’t be afraid,” he muttered, indistinctly, “though I have taken… 2588 words
  35. 035 Yes, all this must be put straight and above-board, there must be no… 2568 words
  36. 036 This country villa pleased the prince very much in his state of… 2558 words
  37. 037 “What have I done wrong now?” cried Colia. 2503 words
  38. 038 The prince tried to say something, but he was too confused, and could… 2509 words
  39. 039 “And I also wish for justice to be done, once for all,” cried Madame… 2626 words
  40. 040 “Oh, I don’t know what this means” cried Ivan Fedorovitch, transported with indignation. 2580 words
  41. 041 “It is quite true; we had agreed upon that point,” said Lebedeff’s… 2501 words
  42. 042 The prince sat down, and at length prevailed upon Burdovsky’s company to do likewise. 2500 words
  43. 043 “But we do mind,” said Lebedeff’s nephew vehemently. 2721 words
  44. 044 X. After moistening his lips with the tea which Vera Lebedeff brought… 2515 words
  45. 045 “Well, good-bye,” he said abruptly. 2537 words
  46. 046 “The woman’s mad!” cried Evgenie, at last, crimson with anger, and… 2509 words
  47. 047 In the manner of one with long hours before him, he began his… 2555 words
  48. 048 The general wandered on in this disconnected way for a long time; it… 2500 words
  49. 049 “Not at all. I am only proving that you are glad about the letter.… 2700 words
  50. 050 “I shall never forgive you for all this, Ivan Fedorovitch—never! 2500 words
  51. 051 The prince reflected a little, but very soon he replied, with… 2519 words
  52. 052 “Come along, let’s go out for a walk!” cried Adelaida. 2538 words
  53. 053 But the prince was not satisfied with what he had said to Rogojin. 2518 words
  54. 054 “No—and I don’t want one,” said the prince, laughing. 2576 words
  55. 055 “As much as usual, prince—why?” “Pleasant dreams then—ha, ha!” The… 2516 words
  56. 056 “Drop that subject, Rogojin, and never mention it again. 2554 words
  57. 057 “It is not right! Half an hour ago, prince, it was agreed among us… 3058 words
  58. 058 Lebedeff had roused great indignation in some of his auditors (it… 2544 words
  59. 059 Here is the article. MY NECESSARY EXPLANATION. “_Après moi le… 2516 words
  60. 060 “Yes, that wall of Meyer’s could tell a tale if it liked. 2544 words
  61. 061 “At the table stood a man in his shirt sleeves; he had thrown off his… 2525 words
  62. 062 “‘A man I knew who had been to Siberia and returned, told me that he… 2506 words
  63. 063 “Meanwhile he continued to sit and stare jeeringly at me. 2574 words
  64. 064 Suddenly Hippolyte jumped up as though he had been shot. 2512 words
  65. 065 “Do you think he will make another attempt?” “Oh no, not he, not now! 2509 words
  66. 066 “Oh yes, I do; but it is so unnecessary. 2518 words
  67. 067 “And she is not guilty—oh God!—Every moment she bemoans and bewails… 2549 words
  68. 068 But the door opened again, and out came Colia. 2868 words
  69. 069 “Are you acquainted with her?” “Well, hardly at all. 2532 words
  70. 070 “What was the matter yesterday?” (she wrote on another sheet). 2602 words
  71. 071 This confidence of a stupid man in his own talents has been… 2514 words
  72. 072 “What did he do there? What did he say?” “They couldn’t tell me… 2515 words
  73. 073 “There, you see! Even your own son supports my statement that there… 2804 words
  74. 074 If Hippolyte and Nina Alexandrovna had, as Gania suspected, had some… 2508 words
  75. 075 “Under the chair? Impossible! Why, you told me yourself that you had… 2517 words
  76. 076 “Well, there you see!” said the general, condescendingly. 2549 words
  77. 077 The general rose. “Oh, not in the least,” said the prince. “On the… 2543 words
  78. 078 The sisters replied candidly and fully enough to their mother’s… 2554 words
  79. 079 At this moment Alexandra’s voice was heard outside the door, calling… 2600 words
  80. 080 Hippolyte flushed hotly. He had thought at first that the prince was… 2535 words
  81. 081 He awoke towards nine o’clock with a headache, full of confused ideas… 2529 words
  82. 082 The prince would never so much as suspect such a thing in the delight… 2523 words
  83. 083 “But, my goodness me,” laughed Ivan Petrovitch, “why can’t I be… 2535 words
  84. 084 The two old gentlemen looked quite alarmed. 2562 words
  85. 085 “It is not such a very dreadful circumstance that we are odd people, is it? 2506 words
  86. 086 Left alone, he lay down on the sofa, and began to think. 2565 words
  87. 087 He could remember that Vera brought him some dinner, and that he took… 2521 words
  88. 088 “Probably an honest girl living by her own toil. 2684 words
  89. 089 It was said that Elizabetha Prokofievna and her daughters had there… 2520 words
  90. 090 “How can it be foreign? You _are_ going to be married, are you not?… 2507 words
  91. 091 Hippolyte, too, was a source of some distraction to the prince at… 2502 words
  92. 092 He leaped into the carriage after Nastasia and banged the door. 2622 words
  93. 093 As before, he crossed the street and watched the windows from the… 2523 words
  94. 094 “Wait,” interrupted the prince. 2617 words
  95. 095 Lizabetha Prokofievna, when she saw poor Muishkin, in his enfeebled… 469 words