Fedor Dostoyevsky. The Possessed (The Devils). Trans. Constance Garnett. 1916. Gutenberg.org. 14 July 2011. E-book.

Two of my all-time favorite novels are by Dostoyevsky: The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment. The Brothers is probably the greatest novel ever written. I will not quibble if you say War and Peace, Les Miserables, or even Notre Dame de Paris. But the ending of The Brothers stuns the reader with its beauty. So does The Possessed.

Just as the story of the Grand Inquisitor from The Brothers Karamazov is sometimes published as a standalone story, so the penultimate chapter, especially Part 2 of Chapter 7, of The Possessed could stand alone in its beauty and eloquence. Except here, it helps to know the events that lead up to Stepan Trofimovitch’s confession—not a confession like that of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment, but the last rites involving a dying man and a priest-confessor.

I read this book because The Meaning of Shakespeare referred to it several times. The author of that book enjoyed the numerous allusions to Shakespeare in The Possessed. The characters in The Possessed are more sophisticated than those in Crime and Punishment. A poor college student might identify with Raskolnikov. A college professor or a college benefactor would be more likely to identify with any number of characters in The Possessed.

The novel is set in Russia in the 1860s after the emancipation of the serfs. The middle and upper classes travel to other European countries, sometimes even to America, and read various socialist writings, especially those of Fourier. (N.B.—Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Brook Farm, a.k.a. “Blithedale,” became a Fourierist commune). The younger generation of such people are beginning to form socialist cells. Some cells want to reform Russia peacefully, others believe there has to be unrest and confrontation for a socialist takeover. Much of the plot involves such a cell (a “quintet” they call themselves) that hopes to get the workers and peasants in their town to start something that will resonate even in Moscow and Petersburg.

There are many great quotations in this novel which describe socialism and communism—indeed some could be called prophetic. Yes, the reader says, that is exactly what happened in Russia when it became the U.S.S.R.

[W]hy is it that all these desperate socialists and communists are at the same time such incredible skinflints, so avaricious, so keen over property, and, in fact, the more extreme they are, the keener they are over property—why is it? (1205-1207)

“[T]hey will divide history into two parts: from the gorilla to the annihilation of God, and from the annihilation of God to—”

“To the gorilla?” (1837-1839)

[W]e Russians were like little children beside the Americans, and that one must be born in America, or at least live there for many years with Americans to be on a level with them. (2223-2225)

Reason has never had the power to define good and evil, or even to distinguish between good and evil, even approximately; on the contrary, it has always mixed them up in a disgraceful and pitiful way; science has even given the solution by the fist. (4077, 4078)

Charity ought to be forbidden by law…In the new regime there will be no poor at all. (5547)

Socialism spreads principally through sensationalism.(6303)

[T]he essence of our creed [i.e., socialism] is the negation of honor, and that by an open advocacy of a right to be dishonorable a Russian can be won over more easily than by anything. (6334, 6335) [This reviewer would not limit this observation to Russians only but would apply it to all humans.]

Starting from unlimited freedom, I arrive at unlimited despotism. (6586)

Every member of the society spies on the others, and it’s his duty to inform against them. Everyone belongs to all and everyone. All are slaves and equal in their slavery. In extreme cases he advocates slander and murder, but the great thing about it is equality. To begin with, the level of education and science is only possible for great intellects, and they are not wanted. (6830-6833)

Slaves must have directors. Absolute submission, absolute loss of individuality. (6844, 6845)

Moreover, this riff-raff almost always falls unconsciously under the control of a little group of “advanced people” who do act with a definite aim, and this little group can direct all this rabble as it pleases. (7511, 7513)

One can look at a lot of these and say—that does not merely describe Russia under communists, but totalitarian trends we can clearly see in many parts of the world.

While some of these quotations stood out from a historical perspective, do not get the idea that The Possessed is a mere political tract or satire. It is an honest work of art. It includes family relationships, unrequited love, aristocrats, workers, and peasants. It begins almost like a Jane Austen or Henry James novel of social status, but it ends up raising questions not just about society and government, but man’s place in the universe, the creation, and God. As always, Dostoyevsky is taking in the big picture.

[A]ll nature cries every minute to its Creator, “Why?” (2839)

One of the main characters, Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch, is compared in an early chapter to Prince Hal in Shakespeare. Perhaps Goddard in The Meaning of Shakespeare sees the prince as a cynical Machiavellian because of The Possessed. But Nikolay does not reform the way Prince Hal does. Think more of Fyodor Karamazov (the father) or even Svidrigailov in Crime and Punishment. Raskolnikov is a destitute Nietzchean who can’t pay the rent—but what about someone “beyond good and evil” who has wealth and connections?

As Crime and Punishment has its epiphany around the reading of the New Testament when Sonia reads about the raising of Lazarus, so there is a similar epiphany in The Possessed. If anything, this is even more profoundly moving because it has the potential of hitting every heart. The Scriptures read are quite different—the seventh church in the Book of Revelation and the Gadarene demoniac. The title of the novel comes from the second story. The devils (perhaps a more literal translation of the novel’s title) go into swine and destroy the whole herd.

But the sick man will be healed and “will sit at the feet of Jesus,” and all will look on him with astonishment. (10727)

If you read The Possessed, hang in there to the end. It is worth it. You, too, will be astonished.

Postscript:
A note on the translation. I read the translation on Gutenberg.org because it is public domain and available for Kindle. The parenthetical references above are Kindle location references, not page numbers! Constance Garnett’s translation is very good, though some critics feel she should have called the book The Devils as that is a more accurate translation of the Russian word. But “the devils” of the book are people, so that is probably why she chose the title that she did. At any rate, the translation is very readable and quite artistic itself. As with War and Peace, the Russian aristocrats often speak French, and Garnett does not translate the French. If that is a problem for you, you might want to find a version that translates the French, or at least has footnotes with the interpretation.

Two last philosophical thoughts from the novel:

“The Jews lived only to await the coming of the true God and left the world to the true God. The Greeks deified nature and bequeathed the world their religion, that is, philosophy and art. Rome deified the people and the State, and bequeathed the idea of the State to the nations.” (4090-4092)

“There are no such things as ghosts nowadays, nothing but natural science. Look it up in a scientific book.”(7819)

Today, we might say, “Look it up on the Internet,” but things really have not changed that much…