Fyodor Dostoevsky, Besy [The Devils]

Derek Brower (Independent Scholar - Europe)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.1.00: Slavic and Russian Writing and Culture: Old, Medieval and Tsarist, 700-1917.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1871 - 1872

Places

Russia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Published in Russkii vestnik [The Russian Messenger] in 1871-72, Dostoevsky’s Besy [The Devils], a novel in three parts, began in the author’s imagination as a “political pamphlet” that would encapsulate his objections to the radicalism of the Russian “nihilists” of the 1860s. The novel achieved both this and more, transcending the cultural-historical debates of the period to become one of nineteenth-century literature’s most profound depictions of revolutionary activity and radical thought. Such was its force when it appeared that some critics objected to what they considered The Devils’ scurrilous depiction of the radicals. In the …

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3297 words

Citation: Brower, Derek. "Besy". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 March 2006 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11269, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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