Demons

The novel “Demons” was published in 1872, survived several reprints, and for a long time—until the beginning of perestroika—was not issued separately. The great classic Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky wrote it from life, under the impression of a resonant murder and the mood in the revolutionary circles. The novel is called the most politicized, and not without reason: it was conceived and carried out as a recitation and an analysis of the radical ideas that dominated the minds of the intelligentsia. Critics believe that the author expressed his own ideas through the words of one of the characters—he was deeply occupied and disturbed by the events and their possible consequences.

At the core of the plot is a story about the creation of a revolutionary cell in one of the provincial cities and the subsequent murder of a student who refused ties with revolutionaries and planned to inform on them because of his fascination with nationalism. Dostoevsky was horrified by the development of ideas that occupied the minds of young people of that time. The desire to make the world better is praiseworthy—but what if a person’s actions are driven by evil, envy, and obsession? If a demon of notoriousness leads the hands of blazing fighters for justice, then even the best intentions are doomed to collapse, and people to suffering. We can rebuild the world only according to an internal model—and the revolutionary events at the turn of the century and the beginning of the 20th century convincingly proved this. The inner demonic nature erupted and flooded our country with blood, fear, and torment. “Demons” became truly prophetic. As soon as ideas begin to flourish in society that proclaim the creation of something through destruction and denial—through the supremacy of one people over another—one must remember what the Russian uprising can lead to. And nothing will help do that better than the main books of our literature.