Completed in 1868, The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, is a novel about a "positively beautiful individual." This is what Dostoevsky set out to create in the character of Prince Myshkin, an idiot, so-called because he is such an innocent and kind person that he plays the fool within this Russian society full of liars, drunks, cheats, and murderers.Myshkin, like Dostoevsky himself, is epileptic. His epileptic fits are preceded by moments of enlightenment/clarity, in which Myshkin is ultra-receptive to the beauty of the world. In Prince Myshkin, it has been said, Dostoevsky was trying to create a new "Russian Christ." In this Russian society, obsessed with money and murder, Myshkin stands out. He is routinely lied to, tricked, and taken advantage of. One of the themes of the novel is this: how can this perfectly good human being operate within such a corrupted society?
Although the main character is a modern day saint, Dostoevsky still packs the novel with all varieties of riff-raff, his speciality. Some of the best scenes in the book involve Rogozhin, Myshkin's foil. This character represents the opposite of Myshkin, evil. He hides under dark staircases to watch people pass. He sneaks into people's rooms, sits in the dark, stares at them while they are in bed, says not a word, and slinks out again.
The novel begins with Myshkin meeting Rogozhin on a train and ends with Myshkin and Rogozhin together again for one of the most jaw-dropping endings to a novel I have yet to read. Check it out. There are many wonderful scenes. It's well worth your time.
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