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The Idiot

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The Idiot

By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Narrated by: Constantine Gregory
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About this listen

Prince Lyov Nikolayevitch Myshkin is one of the great characters in Russian literature. Is he a saint or just naïve? Is he an idealist or, as many in General Epanchin's society feel, an "idiot"? Certainly his return to St. Petersburg after years in a Swiss clinic has a dramatic effect on the beautiful Aglaia, youngest of the Epanchin daughters, and on the charismatic but willful Nastasya Filippovna. As he paints a vivid picture of Russian society, Dostoyevsky shows how principles conflict with emotions - with tragic results.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2017 Naxos AudioBooks World Literature Russia
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I was frustrated with how much I got bored with this amazing story. So much enthralling ramblings of the most supreme comic order. Pure wizardry.

The most entertaining conversations.

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A very listenable translation performed perfectly by the narrator. Dostoyevsky never fails to deliver. Well done.

A very worthy translation

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My favourite of all Dostoevsky’s novels. A Great array of character studies and philosophical insights.

Love this book!

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Maybe I’m too much of an idiot to enjoy ‘the Idiot’. I found the highly heralded book dense, difficult to follow, and never got hooked.

The novel explores the Russian aristocracy from an outsiders’ perspective, loads it with too many characters, and fixates on themes that - while philosophically interesting and potentially historically relevant - have little enduring applicability to everyday life. While one could argue this all makes it a masterpiece (its failures do place you in the position of its protagonist) this is an argument too pretentious for me to peddle.

There are passages that one will pause to ponder — but most poignant moments are excursions from the central narrative rather than borne from it. That narrative is okay, bolstered by great imagery, but drags longer than necessary. Gregory's narration is applaudable given the breadth of characters present.

It’s not bad, and I’ll give Dostoyevsky another go in the future, but I just didn’t find it that interesting or enlightening.

Aptly Titled

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I enjoyed the overall story here, but there is a lot of dialogue with long names that take a while to really get familiar with. I'm not used to reading this kind of literature so that might explain my difficulty. It's like Jane Austin on steroids with Russian names.

Good story overall but not easy listening

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