The Idiot

About The Idiot

“One can't understand everything at once, we can't begin with perfection all at once! In order to reach perfection one must begin by being ignorant of a great deal. And if we understand things too quickly, perhaps we shan't understand them thoroughly.”― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The IdiotThe Idiot (1069) by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a novel that recounts the life of Prince Myshkin, a young man of twenty who comes back to Russia after having spent the past few years in Switzerland for the treatment of a severe epileptic condition. On his return, he finds himself torn between the love of two women—Nastasya and Aglaia—both involved, consecutively, with greedy and corrupt Ganya. An alien in a society obsessed with money, power, and manipulation, Myshkin eventually turns mad.