The Gambler & The Idiot (Unabridged)

Book excerpt: The Gambler is a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky about a young tutor in the employment of a formerly wealthy Russian general. The novella reflects Dostoyevsky's own addiction to roulette, which was in more ways than one the inspiration for the book: Dostoyevsky completed the novella under a strict deadline to pay off gambling debts. The Idiot is, alongside some of Dostoyevsky's other works, often considered one of the most brilliant literary achievements of the "Golden Age" of Russian literature. The 26-year-old Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin returns to Russia after spending several years in a Swiss sanatorium. Scorned by the society of St. Petersburg for his trusting nature and naivet, ̌ he finds himself at the center of a struggle between a beautiful kept woman and a virtuous and pretty young girl, both of whom win his affection.