Other editions of book Idiot, The

Prince Myshkin, the title character, has finally returned to St. Petersburg after several years of exile in a Swiss sanitarium. As he resumes life in regular society, he is quickly drawn into a elaborate web of relationships driven by money, power and romance. Although his actions are well-intentioned, the Prince finds himself caught in a love triangle between the beautiful young Aglaia and Nastasya, a notorious kept woman. As the tale unfolds, others take advantage of the Prince s altruistic nature and he is ever more deeply entwined in the complexities of the society around him. He survives an attempt on his life, but must answer to Aglaia and Nastasya who force him to choose between them. In the end, Myshkin s honesty, goodness, and integrity are shown to be unequal to the moral emptiness of those around him.

This nineteenth-century Russian classic investigates the path of a character held to the highest ideals—those of true Christian love. Prince Myshkin, returning to Russia after being treated for severe epilepsy, discovers that he does not truly fit into a society obsessed with wealth, political power, and greed. As Myshkin attempts to integrate himself into the lives of those around him, he finds that this path might lead him to one of his own demises.

Prince Myshkin having spent some time in Switzerland recovering from his illness is now returning to Russia. He is the central character of the novel, a young man whose goodness, open-hearted simplicity and guilelessness lead many of the more worldly characters he encounters to mistakenly assume that he lacks intelligence and insight. In the character of Prince Myshkin, Dostoevsky set himself the task of depicting the positively good and beautiful man and consequences of placing such a unique individual at the centre of the conflicts, desires, passions and egoism of worldly society, both for the man himself and for those with whom he becomes involved.

Prince Myshkin, the title character, has finally returned to St. Petersburg after several years of exile in a Swiss sanitarium. As he resumes life in regular society, he is quickly drawn into a elaborate web of relationships driven by money, power and romance. Although his actions are well-intentioned, the Prince finds himself caught in a love triangle between the beautiful young Aglaia and Nastasya, a notorious kept woman. As the tale unfolds, others take advantage of the Prince s altruistic nature and he is ever more deeply entwined in the complexities of the society around him. He survives an attempt on his life, but must answer to Aglaia and Nastasya who force him to choose between them. In the end, Myshkin s honesty, goodness, and integrity are shown to be unequal to the moral emptiness of those around him.

Prince Myshkin has just returned to Russia after several years in a Swiss sanitarium and soon finds himself in a complicated love triangle. Myshkin's honesty, goodness, and integrity are shown to be unequal to the moral emptiness of those around him.This new abridgement was completed exclusively for Mission Books by Russian Studies scholar Thomas Beyer to keep the important religious themes of the novel intact. This edition of The Idiot is an excellent way for the admirer of Dostoevsky to refresh himself, or to introduce Dostoevsky to a friend who has yet to experience the joy of reading his works.