Going into his last pilgrimage, Stepan Trofimovich dies in a peasant hut on the hands of a rushed to him Varvara Petrovna. Before his death, a random fellow traveler, whom he tells of his entire life, reads him the Gospel, and he compares the possessed, from whom Christ cast out demons entered into the pigs, with Russia. This passage from the Gospel is taken by he reporter as one of the epigraphs to the novel.

Already have a favorite translation of Demons? Let us know which one and why in the comments! More DostoevskyOates, Joyce Carol (January 1978). "The tragic vision of The Possesed". The Georgia Review. 32 (4 - Winter 1978): 868. See also in Celestial Timepiece Blog. Pyotr Stepanovich claims to be connected to the central committee of a vast, organized conspiracy to overthrow the government and establish socialism. He manages to convince his small group of co-conspirators that they are just one revolutionary cell among many, and that their part in the scheme will help set off a nationwide revolt. Pyotr Stepanovich is enamored of Stavrogin, and he tries desperately, through a combination of ensnarement and persuasion, to recruit him to the cause. The revolution he envisages will ultimately require a despotic leader, and he thinks that Stavrogin's strong will, personal charisma and "unusual aptitude for crime" [37] are the necessary qualities for such a leader. Pyotr Verkhovensky, according to Stavrogin, is "an enthusiast". [38] At every opportunity he uses his prodigious verbal abilities to sow discord and manipulate people for his own political ends. His greatest success is with the Governor's wife, and he manages to gain an extraordinary influence over her and her social circle. This influence, in conjunction with constant undermining of authority figures like his father and the Governor, is ruthlessly exploited to bring about a breakdown of standards in society. Gladkov, Alexander (1977). Meetings with Pasternak: A memoir. Edited, translated and with an introduction by Max Hayward. San Diego CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p.34. ISBN 9780151585908. A common criticism of Demons, particularly from Dostoevsky's liberal and radical contemporaries, is that it is exaggerated and unrealistic, a result of the author's over-active imagination and excessive interest in the psycho-pathological. However, despite giving freedom to his imagination, Dostoevsky took great pains to derive the novel's characters and story from real people and real ideas of the time. According to Frank, "the book is almost a compressed encyclopedia of the Russian culture of the period it covers, filtered through a witheringly derisive and often grotesquely funny perspective, and it creates a remarkable 'myth' of the main conflicts of this culture reconstructed on a firm basis of historical personages and events." [70]

Robert Maguire was a professor of Slavic languages. He produced translations from Polish and Russian. He was an expert on Gogol. Pero aquí la cosa tiene otro tenor cada uno de los cuatro personajes centrales, Piotr Stepánovich Verjovenski, el líder y revolucionario y sobre quien gira la mayor parte de la historia, Nikólai Vsevolódovich Stavroguin, volátil y violento, Alexéi Nilich Kirilov, nihilista y existencialista puro y Shátov, el estudiante de ideales inalterables en búsqueda de Dios. Arrival of Nicholas Stavrogin - a very "mysterious and novelistic" personality is awaited. He served in the elite Guards regiment, shot in a duel, and was demoted and then plunged into the wildest licentiousness. Four years ago in his hometown he caused general indignation: had pulled by the nose a venerable man Gaganov, had bitten the ear of the governor, publicly kissed another man's wife. In the end, everything was explained as the delirium tremens. Having recovered, Stavrogin went abroad. Varvara Petrovna suddenly conceives the idea of forming an engagement between Stepan Trofimovich and Dasha.

PART I

There comes a long-awaited day of the festival. The highlight of the program is a reading of a famous writer Karmazinov his farewell "Merci", and then diatribe of Stepan Trofimovich. He passionately defends Raphael and Shakespeare from nihilists. His is booed and proudly removes from the scene. It becomes known that Lisa Tushino in daylight suddenly moved from her carriage, leaving Mauritius alone, into the Stavrogin’s carriage and drove off to his estate. Highlight of the second part of the festival is "quadrille of literature," ugly, grotesque allegorical action. The governor and his wife are beside themselves with indignation. Here is reported that the district is burning, allegedly set on fire by spies, later became known about murder of Captain Lebyadkin, his sister and the maid. Governor goes to the fire, where the log falls on him. Stavrogin's suicide at the end of the novel is only fully understood with reference to the censored chapter. The enormity of his crimes, the desolation of his inner being, the madness born of his "sacrilegious, proto-Nietzschean attempt to transcend the boundaries of good and evil", are hidden realities that only become visible in the confession and dialogue with Tikhon. [69] Despite this 'madness', it is 'rationality' that is emphasized in the narrator's description of the suicide itself. The efficiency of the procedure, the brief, precise note, and the subsequent medical opinion of his mental state emphatically ruling out madness, all point to his 'reasonable' state of mind at the time of the act. Kjetsaa claims that Dostoevsky did not regard Revelation as "merely a consolatory epistle to first century Christians during the persecution they suffered", but as a "prophecy being fulfilled in his own time". [78] Dostoevsky wrote that "Communism will conquer one day, irrespective of whether the Communists are right or wrong. But this triumph will stand very far from the Kingdom of Heaven. All the same, we must accept that this triumph will come one day, even though none of those who at present steer the world's fate have any idea about it at all." [79] Peter Verkhovenskii continues to strive. He gathers the “five” and declares that accusation is being prepared. Informer - Shatov, should imperative be removed. After some doubt they agree that common cause is the most important. Verkhovenskii accompanied with Liputin goes to Kirillov, to remind of the agreement, according to which he should before committing suicide in accordance with his idea, to take on someone else's blood. In Kirillov’s kitchen Fedka is eating and drinking. In anger Verkhovenskii grabs a gun: how dared he to disobey and to appear here? Fedka suddenly hits Verkhovenskii, and he falls unconscious, Fedka runs. Liputin, as a witness of this scene states to Verkhovenskii that Fedka has drunk vodka for the last time. In the morning it becomes known that Fedka has been found with his head smashed in seven miles from the city. Liputin, who was about to run, has now no doubt about the secret power of Peter Verkhovenskii and stays. Reading Dostoyevsky is a bit like spending time with close family members with a diametrically opposed worldview: I love them dearly, unconditionally, but I don’t LIKE them at all.

seat. ‘Yes,’ said he, ‘… yes, only that,’ he said, ‘cannot affect …’‘Affect what?’ He didn’t finish. Yes, and then he fell to thinking so Around Verkhovenskii grouped a local liberal-minded youth. He is enough intelligent and shrewd. He was the teacher of many heroes of the novel. First beautiful, now he dropped, is playing cards, and indulges in champagne. I finish with the quote from the article by Rowan Williams: “What makes it (the Demons) so well worth reading now is its unsparing vision of what destructive forces come into the world when there is a vacuum of spiritual understanding. “ I think of Demons/Devils/Possessed and BK as offering the two possibilities for Russia then, with BK offering the hopeful alternative, centered in Alyosha and the lads; and Demons showing the other (with the burning of the village).The Devils is a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, first published in the journal The Russian Messenger in 1871–2. Demons ( pre-reform Russian: Бѣсы; post-reform Russian: Бесы, tr. Bésy, IPA: [ˈbʲe.sɨ]; sometimes also called The Possessed or The Devils) is a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, first published in the journal The Russian Messenger in 1871–72. It is considered one of the four masterworks written by Dostoevsky after his return from Siberian exile, along with Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Demons is a social and political satire, a psychological drama, and large-scale tragedy. Joyce Carol Oates has described it as "Dostoevsky's most confused and violent novel, and his most satisfactorily 'tragic' work." [1] According to Ronald Hingley, it is Dostoevsky's "greatest onslaught on Nihilism", and "one of humanity's most impressive achievements—perhaps even its supreme achievement—in the art of prose fiction." [2] News of the events at Skvoreshniki spreads through society surprisingly rapidly. The main participants seclude themselves, with the exception of Pyotr Stepanovich who actively insinuates himself into the social life of the town. After eight days, he calls on Stavrogin and the true nature of their relations begins to become apparent. There was not, as some suspect, an explicit understanding between them. Rather Pyotr Stepanovich is trying to involve Stavrogin in some radical political plans of his own, and is avidly seeking to be of use to him. Stavrogin, while he seems to accept Pyotr Stepanovich acting on his behalf, is largely unresponsive to these overtures and continues to pursue his own agenda.