Product Description

Summoned to the country estate of his wealthy uncle Colonel Yegor Rostanev, the young student Sergey Aleksandrovich finds himself thrown into a startling bedlam. For as he soon sees, his meek and kind-hearted uncle is wholly dominated by a pretentious and despotic pseudo-intellectual named Opiskin, a charlatan who has ingratiated himself with Yegor’s mother and now holds the entire household under his thumb. Watching the absurd theatrics of this domestic tyrant over forty-eight explosive hours, Sergey grows increasingly furious - until at last, he feels compelled to act. A compelling comic exploration of petty tyranny, The Village of Stepanchikovo reveals a delight in life’s wild absurdities that rivals even Gogol’s. It also offers a fascinating insight into the genesis of the characters and situations of many of Dostoyevsky’s great later novels, including The Idiot, Devils and The Brothers Karamazov.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #158727 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-25
• Original language: Russian
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was a Russian novelist, journalist, short-story writer whose psychological penetration into the human soul had a profound influence on the 20th century novel. Notes from the Underground was followed by Crime and Punishment, (1866) an account of an individual's fall and redemption, The Idiot, (1868) depicting a Christ-like figure, Prince Myshkin, and The Possessed, (1871) an exploration of philosophical nihilism. Translated with an introduction by Ignat Avsey

Customer Reviews

A dominating influence in all our lives?
When I first read The Village of Stepanchikovo I saw Foma Fomich Opiskin as a detestable character and I could hardly turn the pages fast enough to see whether he would get this just deserts.

However, with the passage of time, my judgement of Foma mellowed and I thought the book could do with a second reading. Of course Foma Fomich is a caricature. To some extent, I think we all have similar characters in our own lives. It is somebody we initially give respect for fulfilling a specific role in our lives. Perhaps it's a schoolmistress or headmaster, a pop star, a football manager, a university language teacher or even an ex-prime-minister. It's somebody with whom our initial contact is quite straightforward, in a clearly defined role, but then we put him or her up onto a sort of pedestal of reverent respect. They let it go to their head and become pompous and arrogant and start making pronouncements well outside their original remit. A sort of surrogate parent-child relationship develops. If we're not careful such people can start to dominate our lives, unless we take a firm stance and let them know their limits.

Well worth a second read. Thanks to Ignat Avsey for this translation.