Review of The Idiot - Jashan Takhar

The 19th century was one of the most paramount time periods in Western literature. Russian literature from this time period produced world-renowned classic authors such as Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol, and, the center of today's review, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Book 1 of The Idiot is a classic that I had a meaningful time reading and slowly understanding. Someone who recommended me this book told me that the thing with books of the same genre as The Idiot is that embedded within the story are such deep comments of philosophical nature and such accurate representations of society that you feel like a completely different person after finally coming to terms with what the author is actually saying. 

The Idiot follows Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, a young, good-hearted yet slightly dull and gullible Russian prince who, at the start of the story, is returning from a Swiss clinic that the book suggests he has spent the last few years at for curing his idiocy and epilepsy. He arrives at St. Petersburg and stays with a distant relative Lizaveta Prokofyevna Yepanchin, wife of General Yepanchin. Myshkin falls in love with Yepanchin's youngest daughter, Aglaya. General Yepanchin's assistant, Gavril Ardalyonovich Ivolgin (nickname: Ganya) is also in love with Aglaya, though he is already expected to marry another woman, Anastassya Filippovna Barashkov, only for the money he will get from the marriage. Soon, a troublemaker named Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin appears and falls in love with Nastassya, and Myshkin himself offers to marry Natassya. Myshkin is troubled with fraudulent "long-lost" relatives demanding for his inheritance and an attempted murder by the unpredictable Rogozhin. Myshkin once again falls in love with Aglaya. Agalaya's family and eventually Agalaya disapproves of Myshkin's requests in marriage. Natassya runs off with Rogozhin, only to be stabbed by Rogozhin later (Rogozhin is then punished). Agalaya flees with a Polish count that abandons her later, and poor Myshkin returns to having epileptic seizures and has to return to his medication in the Swiss clinic. 

So what comes out of this immensely complicated tangle of events and relationships? Absolutely nothing. In fact, if anything, all of the characters took a step back. Myshkin is an even worse state than when the novel starts, Natassya is dead, and the Yepanchins are not happy with their daughter leaving Russia. Looking at the big picture, the whole story seems like it was written by just, an idiot. Everything that Dostoyevsky builds up in the story is, quite ironically, completely useless. However,  there is actually a meaning between the beginning and the end. The idiot in the novel, who is Myshkin, is shown to be an innocent man who is corrupted by the complex problems of the people around him. The novel really brings out the psychological impact on one of a nature like Myshkin in a turbulent environment. His "idiocy" is no laughing matter in The Idiot, but rather a preaching from the author of how an ideal person like Myshkin would interact with the real world and how he would affect it and be affected by it. One overarching theme of this novel is realism, and The Idiot is centered all around how the real world can be too much for an "idiot", like how Myshkin eventually has to return to his epilepsy treatment. 

As is expected from a novel written over a century ago, the language in The Idiot is at times confusing and complicated. However, I still enjoyed the vivid descriptions of characters and nature by Dostoyevsky. For example, Myshkin's hair is often described as light, just like his personality represents the good in the novel. Rogozhin, the antagonist, is always described in a dark, brooding manner, from his clothes to his hair. Natassya is also described having a dark dress throughout the story, for she is a "fallen woman." 

I think the thing I had the biggest problem with in The Idiot is the sheer utter chaos of the book. I think you can already tell from my summary that this book cannot be contemplated all at once very easily. Dostoyevsky was rushed while writing this novel (he himself had epileptic seizures at the time of writing this novel) and you can tell from some parts. There are definitely good parts in the book that have an important meaning, but other parts just felt like a string of moments and confusion. 

My entire perspective on life did not change as heavily as I had thought it would, but it was an entirely different experience for me to read something this heavy in a long time, so I did feel like a slightly different person after closing the book. 

My rating:

8/10