قصة الكتاب :
“The Idiot” is a novel written by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky between 1868 and 1869. Dostoyevsky had a hard time writing this novel since he left Russia to escape his many debts. He continuously travelled back and forth between the different cities of Germany, Switzerland and Italy. In his letters it was revealed that he had written eight drafts for this novel.
The “Idiot” tells the story of the 26-year-old Prince Myshkin who had a disease that forced him to seek treatment in a Swiss sanatorium, a journey that lasted 4 years. The Prince then returns back as a new person whom Dostoyevsky attempts to portray as the ideal personality or the Russian Christ who finds purification in pain, and one who does not distinguish between a friend and a foe when it comes to achieving happiness. In fact, for him, this is the source of happiness, but unfortunately, he is confronted by a reality that does not acknowledge these characteristics. He is a saint in a wicked society.
In the novel, the Prince falls in love with Nastassya Barashkov who turns his life into hell and let him experience the bitterness of this love. The relationship ends in many tragedies. The Prince then gets involved in a love story with Agláya Ivánovna Yepanchin, the beautiful and pampered girl, daughter of General Yepanchin.
Critics believe that Dostoyevsky succeeded in portraying the Russian Christ personality, or the Ideal Christ, by presenting a real and actual character. Through this character’s biography, the author criticized the Russian ruling class in a brutal and vitriolic manner. His language is filled with sarcasm and ridicule of the Russian aristocracy and its morals and habits, which also applies to all other European aristocracies.