A Gentle Creature and Other Stories: White Nights; A Gentle Creature; The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (Oxford World's Classics)

This is the first book I read specifically to know more about Dostoevksy's writing style. I could identify with the protagonist in White Nights.Perhaps I'll take on more of his more popluar works, but his writings like these are good to me.

Looked like new.

Gentle Creature 5; White Nights 5; Dream of a Ridiculous Man 2 - disappointingly didactic and single voiced while first two are Dostoevsky at the top of his polyphonic art

Perfect

Dostoevsky is a phenomenal writer and deserves to be added to any classic literature lover's shelf. The book contains his major short stories, which provide excellent insight into and before reading his bigger pieces, such as "Crime and Punishment." (Pardon the quotations, I cannot italicize or underline here.) This book is reasonable, the translation is good, and he is a great author to read.

This excellent collection has three of Dostoevsky's best short works: "White Nights," "A Gentle Creature," and "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man." Ranging from great to masterful, they are essential for anyone even remotely interested in Dostoevsky and a good starting point before tackling his mammoth novels. However, as they are available in collections with additional stories -- such as The Best Short Stories of Dostoevsky --, this is not the best choice. That said, anyone who comes across it and has not read the stories would do well to get it."White" is one of Dostoevsky's most intensive love meditations and, indeed, one of the most profoundly searching and affecting - not to mention thorough and honest - investigations of the perennial subject. He shows many of its sides, including those most writers and people ignore, with such realism and emotion that they come across as powerfully as ever - and surely always will. Though missing some of his later depth, this is in many ways one of Dostoevsky's most timeless works. It is also interesting in his canon in that the narrator prefigures some of his more famous characters, especially the Underground Man."A Gentle" may be Dostoevsky's best short story, a masterpiece in many ways as great as his novels. Moving well beyond his early short works' directness, it is a complex, multi-layered piece that can be legitimately interpreted in many ways. The psychological depth for which his novels are so justly famous is here in full force, as is his strong first-person voice. The narration is indeed one of the highlights, as Dostoevsky uses several techniques - unreliable narrator, stream of consciousness, etc. - not common until about half a century later. This shows his vast originality and influence, but the story also has many core strengths, especially a focus on perennial Dostoevsky themes: suicide, mental instability, love's dark side, egotism's evils, and other heavy psychological, philosophical, and social themes."The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" is one of Dostoevsky's best, most original, and most influential short stories. It epitomizes several of his defining preoccupations - alienation, Christian charity, etc. - and is a preeminent example of his characteristic psychological realism. A first-person tour de force, it shows yet again that no one matches him for psychological verisimilitude. It is also heavy on his core philosophical concerns and, perhaps most notably, pioneered important concepts that had not even been defined, namely psychoanalysis and solipsism. One can easily see why Freud frequently cited Dostoevsky, as this story essentially prefigured much of his work on dreams by several decades. Fantastic as the story is in some ways - recalling the wilder flights of Paradise Lost and arguably even being almost a science fiction precursor -, it is one of Dostoevsky's most moving and deeply human works.Wherever one chooses to read them, these stories are required reading.

came in amazing condition; the cover and finish look so good.

Dostojevski ein Klassiker.

Good translation, for me it captured the essence of the story.

I came to these stories as a fan of the novels, having heard about "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man". However I found "White Nights" and "A Gentle Creature" no less interesting, and overall I enjoyed them at least as much as all but perhaps the best of the novels. I think the format of the short story allows Dostoevsky to vividly portray one or two characters and really get inside their heads in the almost hypnotic way he explores much more thoroughly and at greater length in "Crime and Punishment". Regardless, these are thought-provoking and engaging reads, and I heartily recommend them to any fan of Dostoevsky's other books.

absolutely loved reading this - and would highly recommend to those new to dostoevsky, before tackling some of the longer and more complex novels.