Murder And Revolution In Russia: Dostoevsky’s Demons

Dostoevsky's Demons (also known as The Possessed), is in some respects the darkest of his great novels. Demons tells the story of an actual murder that was committed in St. Petersburg in 1869 in order to bind together the members of a revolutionary cell, and it accordingly offers Dostoevsky's clearest vision of the approaching storm of revolution. The novel ends entirely without the hope which so strongly marks Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov. As surprising as it may sound, however, Demons is at the same time often outrageously funny.

Join us for a reading which will emphasize both Dostoevsky's bleakness and his laughter. Pevear and Volokhonsky translation recommended.

MELISSA FRAZIER teaches Russian literature and European literature at Sarah Lawrence College. She has published extensively.