The Dream of the Ridiculous Man

By Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The first-rate collection includes "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man," "Bobok," "The Christmas Tree and the Wedding," and five other short masterpieces.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Apr 28, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061925542

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky was born in Moscow in 1821. Between 1838 and 1843 he studied at the St Petersburg Engineering Academy. His first work of fiction was the epistolary novel Poor Folk (1846), which met with a generally favourable response. However, his immediately subsequent works were less enthusiastically received. In 1849 Dostoevsky was arrested as a member of the socialist Petrashevsky circle, and subjected to a mock execution. He suffered four years in a Siberian penal settlement and then another four years of enforced military service. He returned to writing in the late 1850s and travelled abroad in the 1860s. It was during the last twenty years of his life that he wrote the iconic works, such as Notes from the Underground (1864), Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1868) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880), which were to form the basis of his formidable reputation. He died in 1881.

Reviews for The Dream of the Ridiculous Man

[crmass_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A nice little compilation of stories that show the evolution of Dostoyevsky's worldview using different lonely men who don't interact well with people. I got this book for "Notes from the Underground", but in the end, enjoyed "The Dreams of a Ridiculous Man" most. "White Nights" is also good, but I admit I didn't read the selections from "The House of the Dead". I don't like reading pieces of a larger work.

[chriswildman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Like hedilove this was also my first Russian read. I was so taken by Whte Nights walked the streets of central London one white summer night reading it as i walked. That was 40 year ago!

[hagelstein_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dostoyevsky's characters are complex, lively, sympathetic, and quotable. The short story "White Nights" alone has some classic quotes. Whether it's the narrator's view of the world: "It has been a sad drizzly day, without relief - just like my future senility" or his unrequited love's grasp of reality when it comes to career planning: " You know what? Perhaps I'll give private lessons. First I'll learn something myself, then I'll teach it," their words reveal their true nature.Despite long philosphical discourses, the writing shines. The language, or at least the translation, is current enough that it is jarring to read a reference to the ongoing American Civil War. Dostoyevsky's characters are tormented in various ways. The same narrator that says "I'm suspicious and easily offended, like a dwarf or a hunchback" and claims "The trouble with man is that he's stupid. Phenomenally stupid," also believes in marriage, children, and that "Love is a divine mystery."

[meh_ssdd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I understand that Crime and Punishment is supposed to be a more important work than these, but I think that Notes From Underground and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man are far more accessible for people who aren't well read in Dostoyevsky or his thoughts.