'My God! A whole minute of bliss! Is that really so little for the whole of a man's life?' It is a poignant tale of love and loneliness from Russia's foremost writer. It is one of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.

"Il y a lieu de croire que Rogojine eprouva cette brusque sensation d'epouvante ; venant s'ajouter a tant d'autres emotions, elle l'immobilisa sur place et sauva le prince du coup de couteau qui allait inevitablement s'abattre sur lui. Rogojine n'avait pas eu le temps de se rendre compte de l'attaque qui terrassait son adversaire. Mais, ayant vu celui-ci chanceler et tomber soudainement a la renverse dans l'escalier, la nuque portant contre une marche de pierre, il etait descendu quatre a quatre en evitant le corps etendu et s'etait enfui de l'hotel presque comme un fou."

Inspired by Dostoevsky's own gambling addiction and written under pressure in order to pay off his creditors and retain his rights to his literary legacy, The Gambler is set in the casino of the fictional German spa town of Roulettenburg and follows the misfortunes of the young tutor Alexei Ivanovich. As he succumbs to the temptations of the roulette table, he finds himself engaged in a battle of wills with Polina, the woman he unrequitedly loves. With an unforgettable cast of fellow gamblers and figures from European high society, this darkly comic novel of greed and self-destruction reveals Dostoevsky at his satirical and psychological best.

As ideological ferment grips Russia, a small group of revolutionaries, led by Pyotr Verkhovensky and inspired by Nikolai Stavrogin, plan to spread destruction and anarchy throughout the country. Morally bankrupt, they are prepared to use whatever means necessary to achieve their goal, including murder and incitement to suicide. But when they are forced to test the limits of their doctrine and kill one of their own to secure the secrecy of their mission, the ragtag group breaks up in mutual recrimination. Devils is at once a compelling political statement and a study of atheism and its calamitous effect on a country that is teetering on the edge of an abyss. Seen as Dostoevsky's most powerful indictment of man's propensity to violence, this darkly humorous work, shot through with grotesque comedy, is presented here in Roger Cockrell's masterful new translation.

With an Introduction by A.D.P. Briggs, translation by Constance Garnett. In 1869 a young Russian was strangled, shot through the head and thrown into a pond. His crime? A wish to leave small group of violent revolutionaries, from which he had become alienated. Dostoevsky takes this real-life catastrophe as the subject and culmination of Devils, a title that refers the young radicals themselves and also to the materialistic ideas that possessed the minds of many thinking people Russian society at the time. The satirical portraits of the revolutionaries, with their naivety, ludicrous single-mindedness and readiness for murder and destruction, might seem exaggerated - until we consider their all-too-recognisable descendants in the real world ever since. The key figure in the novel, however, is beyond politics. Nikolay Stavrogin, another product of rationalism run wild, exercises his charisma with ruthless authority and total amorality. His unhappiness is accounted for when he confesses to a ghastly sexual crime - in a chapter long suppressed by the censor. This prophetic account of modern morals and politics, with its fifty-odd characters, amazing events and challenging ideas, is seen by some critics as Dostoevskys masterpiece. Издание на английском языке.

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil. Regarded as one of world literature's foremost novelists, Fyodor Dostoevsky's short stories are also some of the best ever written. 'White Nights' tells of love and loss on the streets of St. Petersburg, 'A Nasty Business' presents the hilarious tale of a general dropping in on the wedding of a subordinate, while 'The Meek One' is an existentialist tale of marriage and tragedy.

Returning to Russia from a sanitarium in Switzerland, the Christ-like epileptic Prince Myshkin finds himself enmeshed in a tangle of love, torn between two women the notorious kept woman Nastasya and the pure Aglaia both involved, in turn, with the corrupt, money-hungry Ganya. In the end, Myshkin s honesty, goodness, and integrity are shown to be unequal to the moral emptiness of those around him. In her revision of the Garnett translation, Anna Brailovsky has corrected inaccuracies wrought by Garnett s drastic anglicization of the novel, restoring as much as possible the syntactical structure of the original.

While his literary reputation rests mainly on such celebrated novels as Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, and The Idiot, Dostoyevsky also wrote much superb short fiction. The Double is one of the finest of his shorter works. It appeared in 1846 (his second published work) and is by far the most significant of his early stories, not least for its successful, straight-faced treatment of a hallucinatory theme. In The Double, the protagonist, Golyadkin senior, is persecuted by his double, Golyadkin junior, who resembles him closely in almost every detail. The latter abuses the former with mounting scorn and brutality as the tale proceeds toward its frightening denouement. Characteristic Dostoyevskyan themes of helplessness, victimization, and scandal are beautifully handled here with an artistry that qualifies the story as a small masterpiece. Students of literature, admirers of Dostoyevsky, and general readers will all be delighted to have this classic work available in this inexpensive, high-quality edition.

A compulsive gambler himself at a certain period of his life, Dostoyevsky wrote this novel with real authority. Set in the appropriately named Roulettenburg, a German spa with a casino and an international clientele, it concerns the gambling episodes, tangled love affairs, and complicated lives of Alexey Ivanovitch, a young gambler; Polina Alexandrovna, the woman he loves; a pair of French adventurers, and other characters. Although not as dark as some of Dostoyevsky's other works, The Gambler nevertheless offers a grim and psychologically probing picture of the fatal attractions of gambling. Among its strengths are its well-drawn characters - Aunt Antonida, although lightly sketched in, is especially delightful - and its faithful depiction of life among the gambling set in fashionable German watering holes. This edition reprints Constance Garnett's authoritative translation.

Alexei Ivanovich is tutor to a Russian family in a German spa town. They are bankrupt and eagerly awaiting the death of their wealthy matriarch, 'Grandmother'. Alexei falls in love twice: first, with the beautiful but impossible Polina, who goads him into placing bets for her at the local casino; and second, with the game of roulette itself. His addiction turns out to be shared by Grandmother who suddenly appears, very much alive, and willing to gamble down to her last banknote. Under pressure from his publisher, Dostoevsky - a ? gambling addict himself - wrote The Gambler (1867) in less than one month.

Alexei Ivanovich is tutor to a Russian family in a German spa town. They are bankrupt and eagerly awaiting the death of their wealthy matriarch, 'Grandmother'. Alexei falls in love twice: first, with the beautiful but impossible Polina, who goads him into placing bets for her at the local casino; and second, with the game of roulette itself. His addiction turns out to be shared by Grandmother who suddenly appears, very much alive, and willing to gamble down to her last banknote. Under pressure from his publisher, Dostoyevsky - a gambling addict himself - wrote The Gambler (1867) in less than one month.

Includes pictures and an extensive section on Dostoevsky's life and works. After spending several years in a sanatorium recovering from an illness that caused him to lose his memory and ability to reason, Prince Myshkin arrives in St. Petersburg and is at once confronted with the stark realities of life in the Russian capital-from greed, murder, and nihilism to passion, vanity, and love. Mocked for his childlike naivety yet valued for his openness and understanding, Prince Myshkin finds himself entangled with two women in a position he cannot bring himself to resolve. Dostoevsky, who wrote that in the character of Prince Myshkin he hoped to portray a "wholly virtuous man," shows the workings of the human mind and our relationships with others in all their complex and contradictory nature.

Prince Myshkin returns to Russia from an asylum in Switzerland. As he becomes embroiled in the frantic amatory and financial intrigues which centre around a cast of brilliantly realised characters and which ultimately lead to tragedy, he emerges as a unique combination of the Christian ideal of perfection and Dostoevsky's own views, afflictions and manners. His serene selflessness is contrasted with the worldly qualities of every other character in the novel. Dostoevsky supplies a harsh indictment of the Russian ruling class of his day who have created a world which cannot accomodate the goodness of this idiot.

Prince Myshkin returns to Russia from an asylum in Switzerland. As he becomes embroiled in the frantic amatory and financial intrigues which centre around a cast of brilliantly realised characters and which ultimately lead to tragedy, he emerges as a unique combination of the Christian ideal of perfection and Dostoevsky's own views, afflictions and manners. His serene selflessness is contrasted with the worldly qualities of every other character in the novel. Dostoevsky supplies a harsh indictment of the Russian ruling class of his day who have created a world which cannot accomodate the goodness of this idiot.

'Es war eine wundervolle Nacht, eine solche Nacht, wie sie vielleicht nur vorkommen kann, wenn wir jung sind, lieber Leser.' Mit diesem Satz eroffnet Dostojewski seine Geschichte einer beginnenden Liebe, die aus der zufalligen Begegnung zwischen dem einsamen Erzahler und der jungen Nastenka entsteht. In vier Nachten offenbaren sich die beiden ihre Angste und Sehnsuchte. Doch Nastenkas Herz gehort einem anderen. Ebenso ergreifend wie einfuhlsam erzahlt Dostojewskis 'empfindsamer Roman' von der unerfullten Liebe.

Великий русский писатель Ф. М. Достоевский (1821-1881) известен во всем мире прежде всего благодаря "великому пятикнижию" - романам "Преступление и наказание", "Идиот", "Братья Карамазовы", "Бесы", "Подросток". Пред­лагаем вниманию англоязычных читателей повесть Достоев­ского "Дядюшкин сон" в переводе Фредерика Уишоу.