Product Description

Dostoevsky's short novel is told in the first person by a young man, Alexei, who is addicted to gambling. Its story of passion and despair is based on Dostoevsky's own experience as a compulsive gambler--but Dostoevsky was able to break away, whereas Alexei vows to quit as soon as he breaks evenan event, it is clear, that will never happen. Like so many other characters in Dostoeveky's novels, Alexei is trying to break through the wall of the established order and the human condition itself. But instead he is drawn into the roulette wheel's vortex.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #294087 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 180 pages

Amazon.com
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.

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

Download Description
Narrated by the character Alexei, who is addicted to gambling, this short novel is based on Dostoevsky's own experiences as a compulsive gambler. Like so many characters in Dostoevsky's novels, Alexei is trying to break through the wall of the established order and the human condition itself but instead he is drawn into the vortex of the roulette wheel.

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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.

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.