Devils – Dostojevskij Fjodor Michajlovič (2010)

Translated by Constance Garnett with an introduction by A.D.P. Briggs, this classic novel takes as its subject and culmination the real-life murder of a young Russian in 1869. He was strangled, shot through the head and thrown into a pond after wanting to leave a small group of violent revolutionaries. The title refers both to the young radicals and to the materialistic ideas possessing the minds of many thinkers in Russian society at the time. Dostoevsky’s satirical portraits of the revolutionaries, with their naivety, ludicrous single-mindedness and readiness for murder and destruction, might seem exaggerated until we consider their recognisable descendants in the real world. The central figure, however, stands beyond politics. Nikolay Stavrogin, another product of rationalism run wild, exercises his charisma with ruthless authority and total amorality. His unhappiness becomes clear when he confesses to a ghastly sexual crime, in a chapter long suppressed by the censor. With more than fifty characters, astonishing events and challenging ideas, this prophetic account of modern morals and politics is regarded by some critics as Dostoevsky’s masterpiece.