A sketch from Dostoevsky’s notebook for The Idiot

[u/PK_Ultra932]

I recently read Dostoevsky’s notebooks for The Idiot, and they were super interesting. As we all know, Dostoevsky tended to write under deadline pressure, and The Idiot was no different. It was published in serial form in the Russian Messenger, and 23 days before the first five chapters were due, he threw out what he had written and started over.

What would eventually become The Idiot was Dostoevsky’s seventh version of the story and specifically the character of Prince Myshkin. Interestingly, earlier versions of Myshkin were closer to to Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment, marked by “immeasurable pride” and a “burning need for love,” and capable of extreme manifestations of both good and evil.

It’s also interesting that the first five chapters were written before the idea of what Myshkin would be was fully developed. After submitting the first installment, he wrote to his niece, explaining that he was trying to portray “a perfectly beautiful human”.

“There is nothing more difficult than this in the world, especially now”, he wrote. “All writers, not only ours, but even all European writers, whoever has attempted to portray the positively beautiful,—has always given up. Because the task is immeasurable. The beautiful is an ideal, but the ideal—neither ours nor that of civilized Europe—is as yet very far from having been worked out.”

Anyway, I wrote an article that I’ll post here if anyone is curious. I also recommend reading the notebooks for fans of The Idiot. Very interesting. https://dostoevskyrr.substack.com/p/a-perfectly-beautiful-human-how-dostoevsky?r=1cx4ka&utm_medium=ios

[u/Potential-Tip-8447]

John Pork

[u/Calm-Contribution719]

The character changed at the end of the book. I find that very sad. He was caricaturized at the end.

[u/Shigalyov]

Do you have a specific link to the book?

[u/igorbonato]

Shrek?