The Devils – Fyodor Dostoevsky

“I think the devil doesn’t exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness.”

The Devils, a novel by renowned Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, was first published in the journal The Russian Messenger in 1871–72. This classic was written after Dostoevsky returned from Siberian exile. Dark and violent, this political satire shines the light on the nihilism rampant in Russia in the 1860s. The drama begins when a fictional town becomes the site of a botched revolution set off by master conspirator Pyotr Verkhovensky. A mysterious aristocratic figure called Nikolai Stavrogin plays a major role in the plot, exercising a great deal of influence over the thoughts and actions of all the characters. The idealistic generation of the 1840s, influenced by Western thought is represented by a character called Stephan Verkhovensky (Verkhovensky’s father and Nikolai Stavrogin’s childhood teacher). These idealists are labelled the creators as well as helpless accomplices of the dark forces that take control of the town.