The Idiot is a novel written by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published serially in The Russian Messenger between 1868 and 1869. The Idiotis ranked beside some of Dostoyevsky’s other works as one of the most brilliant literary achievements of the ‘Golden Age’ of Russian literature. The 26-year-old Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin returns to Russia after spending several years at a Swiss sanatorium. Scorned by the society of St. Petersburg for his trusting nature and naiveté, he finds himself at the center of a struggle between a beautiful kept woman and a virtuous and pretty young girl, both of whom win his affection. Unfortunately, Myshkin’s very goodness precipitates disaster, leaving the impression that, in a world obsessed with money, power, and sexual conquest, a sanatorium may be the only place for a saint. Since The Idiot was first published in Russian, there have been a number of translations into English over the years. Several filmmakers have produced adaptations of the novel, among them L’idiot (Georges Lampin; 1946), a 1951 version by Akira Kurosawa, a 1958 version by Russian director Ivan Pyryev, the Bengali film Aparichito (Salil Dutta; 1969), and a 1992 Hindi version by Mani Kaul.
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