| Text Source: |  |
| Description: | Translated from Russian. |
| Table of Contents: | Not available |
Product Description
Psychologically probing novel concerns the gambling episodes, tangled love affairs and complicated lives of Alexey Ivanovitch, a young gambler; Polina Alexandrovna, the woman he loves; a pair of French adventurers and other characters. Bleak picture of the fatal attractions of gambling with wonderful characterization, faithful depiction of gambling life at fashionable German watering holes.
Amazon.com Review
The Gambler brilliantly captures the strangely powerful compulsion to bet that Dostoyevsky, himself a compulsive gambler, knew so well. The hero rides an emotional roller coaster between exhilaration and despair, and secondary characters such as the Grandmother, who throws much of her fortune away at the gaming tables, are unforgettable. The book's publishing history is equally so: Under the pressure of a deadline from an unscrupulous publisher, and with rights to his entire oeuvre at stake, Dostoyevsky dictated the book in less than a month to the star pupil of Russia's first shorthand school. Then he married her.
Customer Review: Fast!!!!!!!!!
I bought from Brazil and it got 3 days to arrive - AWESOME!!!! Thanks buddy!
Customer Review: Intriguing Novella - Memorable Characters - Autobiographical
Dostoyevsky interrupted his work on his monumental novel, Crime and Punishment, to write this novella, The Gambler (1866). Apparently, having incurred large gambling debts himself, Dostoyevsky had in desperation for advance payment agreed to forfeit his copyrights to all of his writings if he failed to deliver a new work in a matter of weeks. Dostoyevsky completed this short novel about obsessive gambling in just thirty days, barely avoiding financial disaster. Interestingly, Dostoyevsky subsequently married the young stenographer, Anna Snitkin, to whom he had dictated this book under such pressure.
The role of the young protagonist, Alexei Ivanovich, with the General's family is not entirely clear, but he does have some responsibility for looking after the younger children. The family, on vacation at a German spa known for its casino, is having financial difficulties, and is somewhat anxiously awaiting for Aunt Antonida Vassilyevna back in Moscow to die, but this irascible lady insists on living. Worse yet, Aunt Antonida, one of Dostoyevsky's most memorable and eccentric characters, shows up unexpectedly at the spa, hale and hearty, and quickly embarks on an unconstrained gambling spree, frittering away the expected inheritance.
As Alexei is the narrator (The Gambler is supposedly an excerpt from his diary), we readers become privy to his own growing obsession with gambling as well as his emotional ups and downs with Miss Polina Alexandrovna, his other obsession. Alexei's complicated and shifting relationships with other secondary characters - The General, Mademoiselle Blanche De Cominges, Marquis De Grieux, Mr. Astley, and others - reveal his increasingly erratic behavior as he succumbs to gambling. Alexei himself calls it madness and foolery when he spends his massive winnings in just three weeks, finding himself once again without money or prospects.
The Gambler is fascinating narrative. Dostoyevsky's novella escapes the bleakness and despair common to so many accounts of addictive behavior while it also avoids being burdened by moralistic overtones. Alexei Ivanovich's obsessive behavior speaks for itself. This lesser known work may not reach the heights of Dostoyevsky's greatest works, but by any standard, The Gambler is exceptional literature.
Customer Review: Lesser known work from Dostoevsky, still with some depth of morality
One of Dostoevsky's telling attributes is his ability to let the reader conclude what happens by way of open interpretation. Nothing can be more synonymous with this idea than the last idea in this short novel, "Tomorrow! Tomorrow! It will all be over!"
For Alexei, this could mean a handful of things...
Alexei, the narrator, relates the narration of his two-folded passions: Paulina and gambling. While he seems to be smart enough to interpret all along he has a deep obsession with both, he seemingly lacks the sheer willpower to avoid either one. There is a longing to go back to either obsession, even if there is a long period of absence. With Paulina, he desperately wants to show her that he is worthy enough for love, and he does so at the most unusual price--he is willing to make a spectacle of himself and carries on to the reader about his jealousy of others who are involved with her, namely Des Grieux and Mr. Astley. Gambling has a power that comes and goes like a whirlwind, and Alexei cannot control the urge to "put everything on the table" when that urge hits him.
The issue of gambling has other connotations in the book as well. Not only is there the physical game of gambling, but many instances in which characters gamble on others for help, support or a physical or psychological need. There is the compulsiveness with which the relatives of Grandma watch over her, waiting for her to die to be able to obtain her will and inheritance, much akin to the greedy gambler who lays all the money on the roulette table. Later in the novel, Alexei himself, after a wild night of gambling and a fight with the delirious Paulina, decides haphazardly to go and live with the miserly and greedy Lady Blanche, who drains him of not only money, but self-respect. Alexei wavers back and forth with the issue of gambling, and money, and has to come to a conclusion of what it means in the larger scheme of life, and how it affects such values as pride, hope and memories.
Perhaps this work doesn't obtain the depth of other Dostoevsky works--it is a relatively easy and quick read in comparison to such novels as Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov. However, the eccentric characters and moral issues, such as the importance of moral transformation of individuals, make for an interesting tale. There are dark moments, such as Alexei's realization that he has lost control of all power, and seemingly comical and bizarre moments, such as Grandma's trip to the roulette table, when she becomes overwhelmed with the idea of the roulette table and risks.
Maybe the over all crux of the moralistic values contained in the work come from Alexei himself in the novel's final chapter, when he states that he wants to "come back to life." The idea of self-realization and that change is possible is an overpowering idea, and seems to keep our protagonist afloat when things look bleak.
If the idea of reading Dostoevsky seems a little intimidating, this is a good novel to begin with.
Customer Review: Good, But Not His Best.
I am not sure whether or not Dostoevsky actually wanted this book to center around gambling or not, but it is, nevertheless, a fantastic novel(la).
Personally, I was more concerned with the main character's relationship with Polina than anything else--but Dostoevsky always has a way with clouding up what is going on (which is why he is a fantastic surrealist).
I did appreciate his rather candid shots of the compulsive gambler, but I truly believe that the gambling takes a backseat to the family problems and mysteries throughout the novel. For those reasons, and for those reasons only, I cannot give this book five stars (it literally takes about half the book before gambling really is an issue--Polina's little bit of money is the only money lost in the beginning).
Otherwise, true to his fantastic prose and elegant story telling, this is a fantastic, short piece of Dostoevsky.
Customer Review: Compulsion
Dostoevsky dictated this book for payment during one of his many financial crises. I think the duress of his situation help him create a work that was more forthright than his other novels. In some sense, this book is much closer to the raw material of the author's life.
The Gambler is essentially a work of the narrator's self discovery. The book opens with the speaker almost entirely lost to himself. While he has employment and professes to love Paulina, he seems perplexed by his own inner-workings.
As the novel progresses, we see that he's a slave to compulsion itself in every area of his life. He confesses to the reader that he would have killed himself at the command of his would-be lover if she had asked. Shortly thereafter, on a whim, Paulina demands he carry out a socially unacceptable act to prove his love. The narrator immediately performs and his actions result in the loss of his job and his position. His entire fate, not just his financial standing, is again and again decided by his compulsion.
As the book draws to a close, he has become a gambling-addicted and nearly penniless vagabond. It is in this state, however, that he finally attains self knowledge. Although depressed at his fate, he recognizes himself.
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