“Demons” is one of Dostoyevsky’s most controversial novels. Some see in it a prophetic pamphlet. Others treat it as a kind of literary proving ground for testing various philosophical ideas. Still others consider it an intricate psychological thriller.
The plot is based on a real event—the “Nechaev Affair,” which shook intellectual Russia in the 1970s. Revolutionaries, members of a small clandestine group, killed their comrade who decided to “get out of the business.”
However, Dostoyevsky by no means tries to present a factually accurate picture of what happened. His creation is far deeper: in a private, singular Russian tragedy, he finds something universal and profoundly human. In “Demons,” there appears—perhaps record-high for a single novel—an enormous number of characters who became landmarks of world literature and philosophy.
This includes Nikolay Stavrogin, whom later Nietzsche and Freud examined so carefully. And Kirillov, whose ideas influenced A. Camus and the philosophy of existentialists. And Pyotr Verkhovensky with his cell companions—whose images are reinterpreted by Luchino Visconti and other cultural figures of the 20th century, exploring yet another new form of “demonry”—fascism.