“A CLASSIC OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE”: VERY SCARCE FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF DOSTOEVSKY’S THE POSSESSED

DOSTOEVSKY, Fyodor. The Possessed. A Novel in Three Parts… From the Russian by Constance Garnett. London: William Heinemann, 1913. Octavo, original red cloth.

First edition in English, first issue, of The Demons, here titled The Possessed in the famed translation of Constance Garnett, one of Dostoevksy's greatest novels, "a testament of Dostoevsky’s unparalleled genius."

Deeply disturbed by the murder of a Russian student in 1869, "Dostoevsky saw at once that he had been given his life's calling. For many years now he had been struggling against the sickness of nihilism… In Crime and Punishment he had unmasked nihilism at a personal level. Now it was time to take issue with it as a social evil" (Kjetsaa, 251). The culmination of his further exploration into nihilism was The Possessed, first published in Russian in St. Petersburg in 1873. It is a striking "reflection of Dostoevsky's belief that revolutionists possessed the soul of Russia and that, unless exorcised… they would drive his country over the precipice. It has become a classic of Russian literature for its searing examination of human evil" (Encyclopedia of Literature). The Possessed, containing "the structural coherence of a tragedy of Aeschylus or Euripides, is a testament of Dostoevsky's unparalleled genius. It has always been known that he is a marvelous creator of character—he is the equal of Dickens, and perhaps even the equal of Shakespeare, in this regard. But that he is a genius as a craftsman is perhaps less well known" (Joyce Carol Oates). Volume III in The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky containing the translation of Dostoevsky into English by "Constance Garnett put Russian literature on England's literary map" (Kaye, Dostoevsky, 16). First issue with The Possessed listed third in"The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky" opposite title page. followed by "Crime and Punishment (shortly)" and "The House of the Dead (in progress)," no further titles in series. "Although it has been referred to in the critical writing of the 19th century as The Demons [or The Devils], Garnett resolved upon the Possessed in her title in order to bring out the Dostoevskiian subtext (Matthew 8:28) 'there met him two possessed with devils'" (Encyclopedia of Literary Translations:A-L, 367). As issued without dust jacket. Encyclopedia of Literary Translations into English: A-L, 366.

Rear inner paper hinge split, a bit of wear and toning to extremities. An exceptionally good copy.