Uncle’s Dream by Fyodor Dostoyevsky was written following his five year exile to Siberia where he was sent to serve in a hard labor camp. Following what could only have been a harrowing and harsh existence in Russia’s infamous prison for political and social prisoners, one would expect Dostoyevsky’s work to have been dark and bitter. Rather, Uncle’s Dream is a humorous and yet scathing commentary on Russian provincial high-society. The story of elderly Prince K. who comes to visit the town of Mordasoff, lorded over by the imperious Maria Alexandrovna, is one of love, hate, deceit and greed. Standing reluctantly at Maria Alexandrovna’s side is her haughty daughter, Zina, who has few friends of her own. The prince’s companion and distant relative is Paul Mosgliakoff, suitor to Zina. Maria Alexandrovna and Zina are the central characters in the charade to lure the senile prince into a marriage of convenience (not for him but for Maria Alexandrovna and Zina). They, and a host of lesser characters, are brought to life in full color by Dostoyevsky’s masterful wordsmithing. Uncle’s Dream is a must listen for any fan of not only Dostoyevsky, but of Russian literature and the “goings-on” of the Russian “upper crust.” (Summary by Greg Giordano)     [chương_files]  

The extraordinary child-adult Prince Myshkin, confined for several years in a Swiss sanatorium suffering from severe epilepsy, returns to Russia to claim his inheritance and to find a place in healthy human society. The teeming St Petersburg community he enters is far from receptive to an innocent like himself, despite some early successes and relentless pursuit by grotesque fortune-hunters. His naive gaucheries give rise to extreme reactions among his new acquaintance, ranging from anguished protectiveness to mockery and contempt. But even before reaching the city, during the memorable train journey that opens the novel, he has encountered the demonic Rogozhin, the son of a wealthy merchant who is in thrall to the equally doomed Natasha Filippovna: beautiful, capricious and destructively neurotic, she joins with the two weirdly contrasted men in a spiralling dance of death… (Summary by Martin Geeson) This project is Part 1 & 2 of the 4 part novel Parts 3 & 4 of the novel     [chương_files]  

Belye Nochi ”White Nights” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. In this small story (though author states this is a sentimental novel) author describes in his traditional and particular way the internal world of one young lonely person. The hero’s 26 years old man, who is oriented into his internal world, who’s rather shy, and thus is in real demand of a soulful conversations and love. The action takes place in the city of a real and deep sentiments and romance — Saint Petersburg, the most romantic and European city in Russia. Not only the location is important, but also a time of a day: all actions in the story take place in evening and night time — the famous time of white nights. Once, hero is going out to have a little daily promenade alone and he occasionally meets an attractive and lovely woman on evening streets of Saint Petersburg. Can he fell in love with her? Can they estimate the value of this relationship? Can they lead a happy life in this city of lonely hearts? You will know the answers on all these questions if you read or listen to a story. (Summary written by Yakovlev Valery)     [chương_files]