Rent Uncle's Dream; and The Permanent Husband

Synopsis

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821-81) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, and philosopher. His literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmoshpheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. His most acclaimed works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). His body of work consists of 11 novels, three novellas, 17 short stories, and numerous other writings. His 1864 novella Notes from the Underground is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature. This edition of 1888 contains English translations by Russian-born British novelist and historian Frederick Whishaw (1854-1934) of two of Dostoyevsky\'s lesser-known works. Uncle\'s Dream (1859) is an entertaining parody of small-town manners and morals tellling of how Marya Alexandrovna Moskaleva, a doyenne of local society, takes under her wing the aging Prince K when he arrives in Mordasov, with the aim of engineering his marriage to her 23-year-old daughter. However, with many rivals for the hands of both parties, events do not run smoothly, and Dostoevsky deftly captures the gossiping and rumour which pervade a small country community in a mock-heroic style. The plot of The Permanent Husband (1870, sometimes translated as The Eternal Husband) revolves around the complex relationship between Velchaninov and Trusotsky, the widowed husband of Velchaninov\'s former lover, Natalya. When Velchaninov learns that Trusotsky has a daughter he realises he is the child\'s biological father, and his subsequent well-intentioned actions have unhappy consequences. The story of these two very different men, who are both drawn to and repelled by one another, makes for a thought-provoking psychological drama.

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