The Idiot , by Fyodor Dostoevsky , is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics :

All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influencesbiographical, historical, and literaryto enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. Just two years after completing Crime and Punishment, which explored the mind of a murderer, Dostoevsky produced another masterpiece, The Idiot. This time the author portrays a truly beautiful soula character he found difficult to bring to life because, as he wrote, beauty is the ideal, and neither my country, nor civilized Europe, know what that ideal of beauty is.” The result was one of Dostoevsky’s greatest charactersPrince Myshkin, a saintly, Christ-like, yet deeply human figure.

The story begins when Myshkin arrives on Russian soil after a stay in a Swiss sanatorium. Scorned by St. Petersburg society as an idiot for his generosity and innocence, the prince finds himself at the center of a struggle between a rich, kept woman and a beautiful, virtuous girl, who both hope to win his affection. Unfortunately, Myshkin’s very goodness seems to bring disaster to everyone he meets. The shocking denouement tragically reveals how, in a world obsessed with money, power, and sexual conquest, a sanatorium is the only place for a saint. 0in 0in 0pt"> Joseph Frank is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Princeton University and Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature and Slavic Languages and Literature at Stanford University. He is the author of a five-volume study of Dostoevsky’s life and work. The first four volumes received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, two Christian Gauss Awards, two James Russell Lowell Awards of the Modern Language Association, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and other honors. Frank is also the author of Through the Russian Prism: Essays on Literature and Culture, The Widening Gyre, and The Idea of Spatial Form. He also wrote the introduction to the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of Dostoevsky’s The House of the Dead and Poor Folk.

陀思妥耶夫斯基（Ф.М.Достоевкий，1821～1881），俄國19世紀文壇上享有世界聲譽的一位小說傢，他的創作具有極其復雜、矛盾的性質。

陀思妥耶夫斯基生於醫生傢庭，自幼喜愛文學。遵父願入大學學工程，但畢業後不久即棄工從文。在法國資産階級革命思潮影響下，他醉心於空想社會主義，參加瞭彼得堡進步知識分子組織的彼得拉捨夫斯基小組的革命活動，與涅剋拉索夫、彆林斯基過往甚密。

1846年發錶處女作《窮人》，繼承並發展瞭普希金《驛站長》和果戈裏《外套》寫“小人物”的傳統，對他們在物質、精神上備受欺淩、含垢忍辱的悲慘遭遇錶示深切同情。喚醒他們抗議這個不閤理的社會製度。

《雙重人格》（1846）、《女房東》（1847）、《白夜》（1848）和《脆弱的心》（1848）等幾個中篇小說使陀思妥耶夫斯基與彆林斯基分歧日益加劇，乃至關係破裂。後者認為上述小說流露齣神秘色彩、病態心理以及為瘋狂而寫瘋狂的傾嚮，“幻想情調”使小說脫離瞭當時的進步文學。

1849～1859年陀思妥耶夫斯基因參加革命活動被沙皇政府逮捕並流放西伯利亞。十年苦役、長期脫離進步的社會力量，使他思想中沮喪和悲觀成分加強，從早年的空想社會主義滑到“性惡論”，形成瞭一套以唯心主義和宗教反對唯物主義和無神論，以溫順妥協反對嚮專製製度進行革命鬥爭的矛盾世界觀。

他流放迴來後創作重點逐漸轉嚮心理悲劇。長篇小說《被傷害與被侮辱的人們》（1861）繼承瞭“小人物”的主題。《窮人》裏偶爾還能發齣抗議的善良的人，已成瞭聽任命運擺布的馴良的人；人道主義為宗教的感傷主義所代替。《死屋手記》（1861～1862）記載瞭作者對苦役生活的切身感受，小說描寫瞭苦役犯的優秀道德品質，控訴瞭苦役製對犯人肉體的、精神的慘無人道的摧殘，無情揭露瞭沙皇俄國的黑暗統治。

《罪與罰》（1866）是一部使作者獲得世界聲譽的重要作品。

《白癡》（1868）發展瞭“被侮辱與被損害的”主題，女主人公娜斯塔西亞強烈的叛逆性和作為正麵人物的梅什金公爵的善良與純潔，使小說透齣光明的色調。但一些用以攻擊革命者的“虛無主義者”形象，削弱瞭小說的揭露力量。

在《鬼》（1871～1872）中已沒有被傷害與被侮辱者的形象，而隻有對革命者的攻擊瞭。

最後一部作品《卡拉馬佐夫兄弟》（1880）是作者哲學思考的總結。作者以巨大的藝術力量描寫瞭無恥、卑鄙的卡拉馬佐夫傢族的墮落崩潰。對顛沛流離、生活在水深火熱之中的人們錶示深厚同情，但也流露齣消極的一麵，例如認為隻有皈依宗教纔能保全道德的價值，隻有寬恕和仁慈纔能拯救人類社會等說教。

陀思妥耶夫斯基擅長心理剖析，尤其是揭示內心分裂。他對人類肉體與精神痛苦的震撼人心的描寫是其他作傢難以企及的。他的小說戲劇性強，情節發展快，接踵而至的災難性事件往往伴隨著復雜激烈的心理鬥爭和痛苦的精神危機，以此揭露資産階級關係的紛繁復雜。矛盾重重和深刻的悲劇性。陀思妥耶夫斯基的善惡矛盾性格組閤、深層心理活動描寫都對後世作傢産生深刻影響。