The Adolescent
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
List Price:
Our Price: $8.96
You Save: $7.99 (47%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $8.21 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Fyodor DostoevskyTranslator: Richard Pevear
Translator: Larissa Volokhonsky
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-12-07
ISBN: 0375719008
Number of pages: 608
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of The Adolescent
Book Review: Minor Dostoevsky but Worthwhile
Summary: 4 Stars
The Adolescent, previously translated as A Raw Youth, came after all of Fyodor Dostoevsky's great novels except his masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov yet has long been considered minor. Indeed, it not only failed to enter the world canon but had long been hard to find in English before this recent translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the Russian to English translators now most in vogue. Pevear's Introduction seems determined to rescue the book from the critical gutter; he has legitimate points and argues well but is not quite convincing, though he and his wife did at least succeed in getting renewed readership. In the view of this long-time Dostoevsky fan, the novel does deserve more readers and acclaim but is clearly below his major work. Fans will of course want it, as his genius was simply too great to be held back, and those not normally fond of him may be pleasantly surprised by this generally uncharacteristic work.
The novel is essentially a bildungsroman and is quite successful on this front - is indeed one of the popular genre's most underrated entries. Even its many critics have long praised its believably detailed and forcefully presented picture of adolescence, and Arkady, the troubled nineteen-year-old intellectual protagonist, has particular verisimilitude. It has often been said that this was the most convincing adolescence depiction before The Catcher in the Rye, which is truly high praise. Arkady was a more or less representative young Russian male, and many initial readers no doubt found him very relatable. However, since so much of adolescence is universal, his experience still speaks to many across decades and cultures; few cannot relate to his doubts and uncertainties, and even fewer will be unable to sympathize. He is essentially like any young man struggling to find an identity and place in the world. That he is not put on a pedestal makes him easy to relate to and gives much of his appeal. Arkady has many conventionally admirable qualities, not least intelligence and ambition, but is also often impulsive and reckless in a way very familiar to anyone who has dealt with promising but undisciplined youth. However, he learns much in the course of the book and comes to a sort of equilibrium after the dramatic climax, rounding out the classic bildungsroman pattern. That Dostoevsky was able to write all this so plausibly despite being well past middle age and not having such an upbringing himself is a true testament to his artistry.
Many will see the similarities between Arkady and Crime and Punishment's more famous Raskolnikov, and the book is in many ways a less serious version of Crime. Like that novel, it is highly influenced by Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, particularly its dramatization of the intellectual conflict and larger generation gap between Arkady and his father. They symbolize their generations, making the discussion relevant to Russia in a larger sense. This is now of course mostly of historical interest, but associated domestic issues like responsibility of fathers toward children will surely always be relevant and also hinted at what was to come in The Brothers.
The weakness is primarily in the plot - or lack of one. The bildungsroman format gives a framework of sorts, but much of the action is essentially episodic, which is fine with some but rankles many. Execution is also less than deft, with an overreliance on coincidences, chance meetings, etc. Above all, though, much of what happens is simply uninteresting in itself, though Arkady's thoughts and the greater significance usually make it worthwhile. Finally, the more conventionally exciting bits - e.g., the mysterious letter - are so highly wrought as to be melodramatic. It is very possible that this is intentional - Dostoevsky's way of showing Arkady's, and thus youth's, exaggerated self-absorption -, but most will be unconvinced as to its artistry.
As all this suggests, the novel is considerably less serious than usual. There is a certain lightness to much of the material and significantly more humor than one would expect - though, being Dostoevsky, the humor is very black. This may disappoint some fans but could well be a surprising delight to others, while it is one of several factors that could attract those usually averse to Dostoevsky. Less debatable is the lack of philosophical dramatization that is one of his hallmarks; this certainly does not tackle the weighty issues of thought and theology that his best works do. His other hallmark - psychological perspicuity - is here in full force, which atones to a large degree, but it is hard not to miss the heavier elements.
All told, anyone who likes Dostoevsky should read this, though all his major works should be read first, while those who have read a novel or two and not been particularly thrilled may wish to skip to it.
Summary of The Adolescent
The narrator and protagonist of Dostoevsky?s novel The Adolescent (first published in English as A Raw Youth) is Arkady Dolgoruky, a na?ve 19-year-old boy bursting with ambition and opinions. The illegitimate son of a dissipated landowner, he is torn between his desire to expose his father?s wrongdoing and the desire to win his love. He travels to St. Petersburg to confront the father he barely knows, inspired by an inchoate dream of communion and armed with a mysterious document that he believes gives him power over others. This new English version by the most acclaimed of Dostoevsky?s translators is a masterpiece of pathos and high comedy.Classics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Classics Books
Native sonby Richard Wright
Perennial Library; Published: 1987; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Native Son: And How Bigger Was Bornby Richard Wright
Perennial; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $60.00
Raphael and the Noble Taskby Catherine Salton
Harper; Published: 2000-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Island (Perennial Classics)by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
A Tree Grows in Brooklynby Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.78
Price in other shops:
The Great Divorce CDby C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $12.90
Price in other shops:
Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Black Coffee (Poirot)by Agatha Christie
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $68.32
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s)by Joan Didion
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.25
Similar Books and other products
Memoirs from the House of the Dead (Oxford World's Classics)by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.10
Price in other shops:
The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogolby Nikolai Gogol
Random House; Vintage; Published: 1999-06-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Poor Folk and Other Stories (Penguin Classics)by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Penguin Classics; Published: 1989-04-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.75
Price in other shops:
The Brothers Karamazovby Fyodor Dostoevsky
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2002-06-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.36
Price in other shops:
Crime and Punishmentby Fyodor Dostoevsky
Vintage; Published: 1993-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.10
Price in other shops:
The Eternal Husband and Other Storiesby Fyodor Dostoevsky
Bantam Classics; Published: 2000-09-05; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.95
Price in other shops:
The Double and The Gamblerby Fyodor Dostoevsky
Vintage; Published: 2007-01-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.06
Price in other shops:
Notes from Undergroundby Fyodor Dostoevsky
Vintage; Published: 1994-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.72
Price in other shops:
The Idiotby Fyodor Dostoevsky
Vintage; Published: 2003-07-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Demons: A Novel in Three Partsby Fyodor Dostoevsky
Vintage; Published: 1995-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.70
Price in other shops: