The Idiot

Prince Myshkin, just twenty-six, returns to Russia after several years in a Swiss sanatorium, hoping to claim an inheritance and simply “live among people.” Before he even arrives, he encounters the brooding Rogozhin, the wealthy merchant’s son whose fixation on the captivating Nastasya Filippovna entangles all three in a tragic chain of events.

Once in Petersburg, Myshkin moves like an outsider through a society consumed by wealth, influence, and deceit. As scandals mount and lead ultimately to murder, Dostoevsky charts the profound and unsettling impact this “positively beautiful man” has on those around him—culminating in one of the most unforgettable final scenes in world literature.