A Gentle Spirit          

Av Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky

A Gentle Spirit from 1876 was released in Dostoyevsky’s one-man periodical A Writer’s Diary, which was always eagerly anticipated in his contemporary Russia. The short novel is a despairing man’s monologue on the night after his young wife’s suicide, and through his incoherent speech by her deathbed the background of the tragedy slowly unfolds. The narrator is a retired officer, who now earns his living as a pawnbroker. He feels unappreciated by his peers and marries a young, poor but proud woman, whom he suppresses and dominates in an attempt to gain appreciation and love. His strict demands, however, have the opposite effect.

Title info:

• Translated from Russian by Constance Garnett
• Narrated by David Bateson
• Time: 2 h 1 min
• Download: $15.00 // €12.65
• Audio sample:

Reviews

“You simply feel like crying as you read; there are very few such jewels in all of European literature.” – Saltykov-Shchedrin, Dostoevsky

“… one of the finest and purest creations that ever came from Dostoevsky’s pen … A Gentle Spirit is also Dostoevsky’s best-rounded and most finely modulated portrait of his ‘underground man’ character type. Nowhere else is he presented so fully as a sensitive and suffering human being, whose inhumanity derives from a need for love that has become perverted and distorted by egoism and vanity.” – Joseph Frank, Dostoevsky

“A rather small book, but it is big for all of us, unattainably big.” – Knut Hamsun

A Little Hero          

By Fyodor Dostoyevsky

A Little Hero takes place during some summer days at a manor house outside of Moscow where members of the Russian upper-class enjoy themselves with lavish parties, scenic outings and various carefree pursuits. The main character is an 11-year-old boy, who becomes fascinated by and falls in love with the beautiful and melancholic Madame M, who is a grown-up, married woman. Through the boy’s clear sight we gain an insight into what is going on behind the polished surface of the manor and its guests including the unequal balance between the sexes and the grown-ups’ condescending and thoughtless behaviour towards the children. In addition, the story contains some very rich landscape and nature depictions and is first and foremost a beautiful representation of a boy’s first meeting with erotic love.

Title info:

• Translated from Russian by Constance Garnett
• Narrated by David Bateson
• Time: 1 h 44 min
• Download: $15.00 // €12.65
• Audio sample:

The story’s background

When Dostoyevsky was arrested in 1848 for revolutionary activity because of his membership of the intellectual group the Petrashevsky Circle, he was sent to the well-defended Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg, which housed the most dangerous convicts. He spent eight months here while awaiting his sentence. After three months he was allowed a candle in his cell and he immediately started writing on a story, which became A Little Hero. The lovely little story forms a sharp contrast to the grim circumstances under which it was written.