Demons

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Inspired by the true story of a political murder that horrified Russians in 1869, Dostoevsky conceived of Demons as a "novel-pamphlet" in which he would say everything about the plague of materialist ideology that he saw infecting his native land. What emerged was a prophetic and ferociously funny masterpiece of ideology and murder in pre-revolutionary Russia.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian novelist and short-story writer whose psychological penetration into the darkest recesses of the human heart and his unsurpassed moments of illumination, had an immense influence on 20th-century fiction. He is commonly regarded as one of the finest novelists who ever lived, penning works including four long Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov. His ideas profoundly shaped literary modernism, existentialism, and various schools of psychology, theology, and literary criticism. His works are often called prophetic because he accurately predicted how Russia’s revolutionaries would behave if they came to power. In his time, he was also renowned for his activity as a journalist.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Russia, Philosophy, Russian Literature, Literature

710 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 1995

About the author

Alternate spelling, see main profile Fyodor Dostoevsky

Reviews

[Rainer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every book that Dostoyevsky wrote after his imprisonment at the labor camp is 5/5. Ergo, all writers should be sent to a labor camp.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

“ ‘And I, perhaps, first, at the head, and we will rush, insane and raging, from the cliff down into the sea, and all be drowned, and good riddance to us, because that’s the most we’re fit for. But the sick man will be healed and “sit at the feet of Jesus” . . . and everyone will look in amazement . . . Dear, vous comprendrez après, but it excites me very much now . . . Vous comprendrez après . . . Nous comprendrons ensemble.’ “

If you were to encounter this book with no clue to its purpose and read the first of the three interior books, I would love to hear a reader’s guess as to the end. Comic, satirical, ridiculous. But book 1 has an heir, and the creature we thought unworthy of attention births a devil.

As a novel-pamphlet, Demons functions more blunt than a typical Dosty fair. And it is much of what he perpetual condemns, at least after his Siberian rebirth. It is also his darkest work even as he casts a prophetic vision of hope. I think the relating of real events with a thin veneer of fiction adds to the contemporary despair as act of warning.

Interestingly (and likely unhelpfully) I found myself contemplating stoicism as a similar materialistic demon and wondering about its offspring. They would seem so foreign, and yet I was hearing echoes. Has stoicism birthed children? It has felt impotent, which may bring one to claim its truthfulness in its lack of progeny, but materialism always moves to the end found here. These are my ramblings. Dostoevsky isn’t talking about stoicism.

[lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

holy moly. the ending.

i think, i THINK i understand this book. it was really a whole lot of slow going towards the beginning, but the last third of the book basically made it all worth it. have some upcoming class sessions which may change my rating.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Demons' was never on my radar as one of Dostoyevsky's books to read. It surpassed my expectations and was a page-turner that I was eager to read whenever I had the chance.

Dostoyevsky is a master of character and this book is filled with a myriad of uniquely compelling, complex characters. It is written from the first-person perspective of one of the characters. The narrator seems to have an omniscient understanding of everything happening within the town, but it isn't quite clear if the narrator is totally reliable. His seemingly all-knowing perspective is suspicious since the novel's central action involves a secret society's involvement in murder, arson, bribery, and planned suicide. If the narrator was truly present at all the events ongoing, then he damns himself to guilt by association. It isn't quite clear, which adds to the existential perplexity of the novel's themes.

The novel is sectioned into three books, and the first book is purposefully confusing; there is a lot of talk between the characters about events that are happening outside the novel's pages, with mention of secret letters and hushed gossip. It has an air of mystery that climaxes into an unexpected altercation between two of the primary characters. Since the story is told from the narrator's perspective of the events occurring, it seems that Dostoyevsky uses this narrative conceit purposefully to confuse and draw in the reader's interest. The second and third books diverge from the first book's voice mystery with an ongoing revelation of the complex interconnection of the relationships between the characters that culminate in chaos within the township. Many people die through murder or suicide and there is a massive fire. These events occur through planned intention to disrupt the status quo of society.

At the heart of the book lies the thematic questioning of the importance of a common faith as a foundation for society versus the nihilism and chaos of atheism. Dostoyevsky is a master of reflecting this complex worldview in the lives and actions of his characters.

[Indigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this because of Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. In spite of the grief and sadness and life I’ve experienced almost a year away from 30, in spite of trying really hard to immerse myself in the inner-workings of the English language through books (yes, I realize I read Dostoyevsky in translation), I still don’t think I’m fully qualified to weigh in on what Dostoyevsky writes about. I will say, I think he has produced some of the most powerful depictions of irony, despair, desire, grief, confusion, and rage that I’ve ever come across in literature. Maybe one day I’ll be so lucky to be old and reread Demons again. I hope then I’ll be able to see Dostoyevsky’s youth and my own, and all of our turmoil and joy, from a vantage point which offers more clarity. Probably it will make me feel very lonely and melancholy, if not filled with the sort of joy I feel from staring at the sea. Until then I will find time to read Crime and Punishment, and White Nights.

[Max Wadley · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's really only a few things to say after finishing this rapidly escalating tale of conspiracy, assassination and death: wow. It's violent and pure pandemonium. What a scathing critique of youthful, violent revolution.

I'm not super familiar with the Russian ideas pervading the country in the late 1800s but I can't help but feel Fyodor paints a turbulent if not purposefully exaggerated picture. This novel is chaotic, as all political upheavals are. Did Dostoyevsky predict the Russian political tumult to follow? Seems like it.

Ultimately an engrossing read. Highly recommend.

5/5

[Scott Milton · Rating 4 out of 5]

While technically flawed and at times cringingly melodramatic, this novel offers some of the most compelling psychological portraits I've come across in literature. There must be half a dozen or more characters I will never forget because I now see them all the more clearly. It's also an extremely funny novel--even riotous--despite its morbid plotting. But I think it is the lambasting of liberalism, a political and moral philosophy most take for granted, that ensures the enduring relevance of the work.

[Ian Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me forever to read because I've been very busy and also it's 750 pages but I liked it a lot. Translation could maybe have been better. Something about the Muzhik's speaking like they were from Alabama was putting me off lol.

[Dylan Hirshon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took a long while to finish this. I wasn’t really invested in it until roughly halfway through. Like his other major novels, the payoff is tremendous—the dominos are stacked up, only to be knocked down. It took me two months to get through the first 300 pages, and three days to get through the remaining 400.

[Olivia66 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way funnier than I expected

[Berin Softa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Dostoevsky always touches my soul; it reveals the enchantment of turning the ability to observe people into writing. Unlike his other works, this one revolves heavily around a political theme- it portrays revolutionary groups in Russia and the individuals within them. This time, instead of focusing on a specific group, Dostoevsky takes a broader look at society, and once again, he conveys his observations through literary language in a calm and clear manner.

As a side note, I must add that the most striking part of the book was undoubtedly the chapter titled “At Tikhon’s”- Nikolay’s confession- which was not published at the time of the book’s release because it was rejected by the newspapers that serialized it. Without reading that chapter, one simply cannot understand Nikolay, and as a result, several questions would remain in our minds regarding the chain of events. That unpublished final chapter affected me so deeply that, as I read the last sentence- Nikolay referring to Tikhon as a “damned psychologist”- I found myself silently directing those words toward Dostoevsky himself.

[Mikal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the Dostoyevsky novels I have read, this is my favorite. In fact, this is my favorite novel outright. The criticism of socialism/nihilism is scathing, and the characters are some of Dostoyevsky's best.

The most common criticism of the novel is that the first two to four hundred pages are slow, and there are waaay too many characters. This is completely true, but unfortunately, I would not change a word. It HAS to be what it is to succeed, and it does.

The characters and events of the novel have really stuck with me. And it comes off as prophetic, or at least currently topical. How many modern fathers are like Stepan, and how many of today's sons are like Pyotr? It's horrible to think that all of Dostoyevsky's worst fears were enacted only shortly after he died. The Soviet Union, the murder of the Romanovs, these things are Dostoyevsky's nightmares manifested, and part of me is glad he never lived to see them.

This novel is as rewarding and even exciting as it is slow and difficult (if only because of the names). It is also exceptionally disturbing. It is the long, depressing russian novel. As my favorite book, I would highly recommend it, but it is not for everyone.

[Anemona · Rating 5 out of 5]

my first dostoyevsky book. i was told to read other works, like “crime and punishment” instead, but honestly, i really enjoyed the detail and the perspectives here. i would recommend it as a first read for anyone who wants to start with russian literature/dostoyevsky.

[Evangeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to do some research to learn more about what I read, because I am not smart enough for Dostoevsky, but it was wonderful.

[Erica G · Rating 4 out of 5]

incredible but super hard to read

[Chip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must-read. Will be re-reading 2-3 times at least.

[Alana Haeuser]

keep trying to read this, but I just don't get it. Maybe I need to read some easier books first.

[Justin Dargan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great. Reminder to self if I ever re-read: my brain was mush through the 2nd third of this thing due to life, so I missed a lot. Brains amirite?

[redroses33 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halfway through reading this book I felt that I would definitely come back to it someday. Now after reading it I am sure of it. I often got lost and it was hard for me to understand the context or the views of the characters, the end of this book certainly surprised me in some way. I had heard before that Stavrogin's confession is the darkest part of the book, it was indeed astonishing, but it did not shock me as much as I suspected. For a change, Pyotr vierchoveynsky (idk how to spell the names in english😔)really interested me towards the end, especially since at the beginning of the book he presented himself as a rather simply interesting character, I did not expect that killing Shatov and waiting for Kirilov's suicide would be so coldly handled by him tho.

[f.l. · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite dostoyevsky novel. deeply funny, with insane, complex characters, and can't-look-away existential horror about extremist political ideas and moral corruption. perfect!

[Vicky Bücher lesen · Rating 3 out of 5]

和我想像的差好多，讀這本好痛苦，為什麼讀到一半發現主角換了，你們到底在搞什麼活動啊！
我是不是出問題了？為什麼會有我不喜歡的陀思妥耶夫斯基小說😵‍💫