The Possessed (novel)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Title The Possessed
(aka "The Devils" or "Demons")

Pevear & Volokhonsky Translation of Demons
Author	Fyodor Dostoevsky
Original title	Бесы
Translator	Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
Cover artist	Lynd Ward (from Gods' Man)
Country	Russia
Language	Russian; English
Genre(s)	Philosophical novel
Publisher	Vintage Classics
Released	August 1995
Media type	Paperback
Pages	733 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-679-73451-1

For the theatrical adaptation by Albert Camus, see The Possessed (play).

The Possessed (In Russian: Бесы, tr. Besy), also translated as The Devils or Demons, is an 1872 novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. For an explanation of the marked difference in the English-language title, please see the section "Note on the title" below.

An extremely political book, The Possessed is a testimonial of life in Imperial Russia in the late 19th century.

As the revolutionary democrats begin to rise in Russia, different ideologies begin to collide. Dostoevsky casts a critical eye on both the left-wing idealists, exposing their ideas and idealogical foundation as demonic, ^[1] and the conservative establishment's ineptitude in dealing with those ideas and their social consequences.

This form of intellectual conservativism tied to the Slavophil movement of Dostoevsky's day is seen to have continued on into its modern manifestation in individuals like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. ^[2]

The book has four primary ideological characters: Verkhovensky, Shatov, Stavrogin and Kirilov. Through their philosophies, Dostoevsky describes the political chaos arising in pre Communist Revolution Russia in the late 1800s.

Contents 1 Note on the title 2 Historical Origins 3 Characters 3.1 Ideologies 4 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations 5 References 6 See also 7 External links 8 Notes

[edit] Note on the title

An ongoing source of confusion among readers unfamiliar with the work has been regarding the title. There are at least three popular translations: The Possessed, The Devils, and Demons. This is largely a result of Constance Garnett's earlier translation which popularized the novel and gained it notoriety as The Possessed among English-speakers; however, later Dostoevsky scholars began to question the original translation as being inaccurate. These scholars have argued that The Possessed "points in the wrong direction," and have interpreted the original Russian title Бесы (Besy) as referring not to those who are "possessed" but rather to those who are doing the possessing. Some might see the discrepancy as mere semantics; however, others more closely acquainted with the text insist that the difference is crucial to a full understanding of the novel:

“

It would be simpler if the title were indeed The Possessed, as it was first translated into English (and into French -- a tradition to which Albert Camus contributed in his dramatization of the novel). This misrendering made it possible to speak of Dostoevsky's characters as demoniacs in some unexamined sense, which lends them a certain glamour and even exonerates them to a certain extent. We do see a number of people here behaving as if they were 'possessed.' The implications of the word are almost right, but it points in the wrong direction. And in any case it is not the title Dostoevsky gave his novel. Discovering that the Russian title Besy refers not to possessed but to possessors, we then apply this new term 'demons' to the same set of characters in the same unexamined way -- a surprising turnabout, if one thinks of it.[3]

”

As a result, newer editions of the novel are rarely or never rendered under Garnett's earliest title.

[edit] Historical Origins

The Possessed is a combination of two separate novels that Dostoevsky was working on. One was a commentary on the real-life murder in 1869 by the socialist revolutionary group ("People's Vengeance") of one of its own members (Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov). The character Pyotr Verkhovensky is based upon the leader of this revolutionary group, Sergey Nechayev, who was found guilty of this murder. Sergey Nechayev was a close confidant of Mikhail Bakunin who had direct influence over both Nechayev and the "People's Vengence". The other novel eventually melded into The Possessed was originally a religious work. The most immoral character Stavrogin was to be the hero of this novel, and is now commonly viewed as the most important character in The Possessed.

[edit] Characters

• Nicolas Vsevolodovich Stavrogin is the main character of the novel. A complex figure, he has several inhuman traits about him that resemble a vampire in literature.

• Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky is the philosopher and intellectual that is partly to blame for the revolutionary ideas that fuel the destruction that occurs in the book. He served as a father figure to Nicolas when Stavrogin was a child.

• Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky is the son of Stepan and the cause of much of the destruction. He plays at being a true believer revolutionary though his only goal is to have power.

• Ivan Shatov is a son of former serf at the Stavrogin, former university student and another intellectual who has turned his back on his leftist ideas. This change of heart is what attractes Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky to plot Shatov's murder.

• Alexei Nilych Kirillov is a Russian engineer who has been driven insane by the thoughts of God and life after death.

• Varvara Stavrogin is Nicolas's mother and is a rich lady who plays at being leftist.

• Captain Lebyadkin is the drunken former officer whose sister is secretly married to Nicolas.

• Fedka the Convict is a roaming criminal suspected of several thefts and murders in the novel.

• Mavriky Nikolaevich Drozdov is a visiting gentleman and guest of Ms. Stavrogin.

• Marya Timofeevna Lebyadkin is Captain Lebyadkin's sister, rumored to have some connection to Nikolai Stavrogin's past.

• Bishop Tikhon is a bishop who, in Dostoevsky's original drafts, Stavrogin visited for guidance, and revealed some of the disturbing events of his past. Their interview has little effect on Stavrogin, but provides the reader a better understanding of his background. However, this chapter was not accepted by the censors and Dostoevsky excised it from the original version, in which Bishop Tikhon is not mentioned. Most modern editions of The Possessed include this chapter, called "Stavrogin's Confession" or "At Tikhon's" in an appendix.

[edit] Ideologies

'The Possessed' is often noted for the range of clashing ideologies present in the novel. As in most Dostoevsky works, certain characters are descriptive of specific philosophies.

• Nihilism, embodied by Pyotr Verkhovensky, is an extreme ideology that demands the destruction of the current social order. A description of Verkhovensky's philosophy of political change is posited as "the method of a hundred million heads," referring to the predicted death toll.

• Shigalyovism is a philosophy specific to the book and particularly of the character Shigalyov. Very similar to barracks communism, Shigalyovism demands that ninety percent of society be reduced to a condition of inhuman slavery so the other actually useful ten percent of society is free to make progress.

• Conservatism is embodied by the provincial governor Andrei Antonovich Von Lembke, and is shown to be incapable of dealing with subversive extremism.

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

• 1969 BBC mini-series "The Possessed" adapted by Lennox Phillips starring Keith Bell; also broadcast on PBS television in 1972
  • The Possessed at the Internet Movie Database
• 1984 French drama "La femme publique"(The Public Woman) is a film inspired from the novel.
  • La femme publique at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] References

1. ^ The introduction of Demons Trans. Pevear and Volokhonsky. New York: Vintage Classics, 1995
2. ^ An Intellectual Tradition: Dostoyevsky and Alex Solzhenitsyn In an elaborately researched monograph, Russian scholar and political philosopher, Nicholas Rzhevsky, unequivocally confirms that Dostoyevsky created a unique religious synthesis and conservative intellectual tradition in late nineteenth-century Russian history (Cf. his Russian Literature and Ideology: Herzen,Dostoyevsky, Leontiev, Tolstoy , Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1983, pp. l3-14; 22; 65-95; 149-154)
3. ^ Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Demons. Trans. Pevear and Volokhonsky. New York: Vintage Classics, 1995. Page xiii.

[edit] See also

• Dostoevsky
• Russian Literature

[edit] External links

• Full Synopsis and Character Analysis
• The Possessed (The Devils), available at Project Gutenberg.
• The introduction to Demons Trans. Pevear and Volokhonsky. New York: Vintage Classics, 1995

[edit] Notes

1. ^ The introduction of Demons Trans. Pevear and Volokhonsky. New York: Vintage Classics, 1995
2. ^ An Intellectual Tradition: Dostoyevsky and Alex Solzhenitsyn In an elaborately researched monograph, Russian scholar and political philosopher, Nicholas Rzhevsky, unequivocally confirms that Dostoyevsky created a unique religious synthesis and conservative intellectual tradition in late nineteenth-century Russian history (Cf. his Russian Literature and Ideology: Herzen,Dostoyevsky, Leontiev, Tolstoy , Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1983, pp. l3-14; 22; 65-95; 149-154)
3. ^ Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Demons. Trans. Pevear and Volokhonsky. New York: Vintage Classics, 1995. Page xiii.