Before reading the subject of this review, Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot, I had previously read his Notes from the Underground, Crime and Punishment, and The Brothers Karamazov. I greatly enjoyed all of these books, and can say the same for The Idiot.
The story centers on Prince Lev Nikolayevitch Myshkin, called simply prince, who returns to Russia after spending years in Switzerland under the care of a doctor for his epileptic fits. Penniless, he first makes his way to a general who is married to a woman called Princess Myshkin, a distant relative. The general is drawn to prince. Prince sees a picture of a beautiful woman named Nastasya at the general’s office–possibly soon to be the fiancee of the general’s assistant–and immediately falls in love with her image. And thus begins our tale.
Prince is the guileless hero who everyone feels drawn toward, whether with feelings of admiration or disdain. He is the titular idiot, but his heart is pure, and throughout the novel he is able to connect with people from all walks of life. As one character comments:
Well, that’s the way you completely throw a man off! Be merciful, Prince–such simplicity and such innocence as was never even heard of in the Golden Age, and at the same time you pierce a man through like an arrow, with such deep psychological insight!
Prince encounters many characters of different dispositions and classes. He is welcomed wherever he goes, although sometimes his philosophizing about religion and death causes people unease. He eventually meets Nastasya in person, and becomes entranced with her. She is a fallen woman who spurns the general’s assistant’s intentions in a callous manner. She is supremely unstable; she makes scenes, toys with men’s hearts, and often becomes hysterical, but she mesmerizes virtually every man she meets. Prince is so overcome early in the book that he asks her to marry him. Nastasya instead flees with a wealthy man named Rogozhin.
Later, prince meets the general’s daughters, the youngest of who, Aglaya, catches prince’s eye. The story that follows shows prince navigating society and turning between his love for Nastasya and his love of the immature but beautiful Aglaya.
The Idiot’s themes were a bit jumbled for me. Mostly it seemed to be a tale about human nature and the chaos of human emotions, with occasional digressions about death, faith, and Russian society. One striking thing about the book is the ferocity of characters’ reactions. Bulging eyes, trembling rage, histrionics, passion: everyone is seized with emotion. In some scenes, I envisioned everyone running around like Kermit the frog when he goes crazy and squiggles his arms in the air. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be funny sometimes, but I did find it pretty humorous in places.
Prince’s designation as an idiot is partially attributed to his illness and his innocent nature. Characters call him an idiot to his face, but they also seem to adore him. I found prince charming, if a little dopey at times due to the romantic shenanigans he gets drawn into. For much of the book, it’s just scenes with different people who have different issues, all of them thrown at prince’s feet. Occasionally prince bursts forth with ruminations that are awkwardly out of place in the social setting he’s in, but otherwise, he spends much of the book listening and being a foil for others.
I loved the book for its writing and its heart. I was over halfway into it and still wasn’t sure about the plot, but I appreciated the story. The ending is quite affecting.