Bobok (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- First Published: 1873
- Type of Plot: Fantasy
- Time of Work: The 1870's
- Setting: St. Petersburg
- Principal Characters: Ivan Ivanovich, Pyotr Petrovich Klinevich, Vasily Vasilevich Pervoedov, Avdotya Ignatyevna, Tarasevich, Catiche Besetova, Platon Nikolaevich, Semyon Evseich Lebezyatnikov, An engineer, A shopkeeper, A youth
- Genres: Short fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: Gambling, Authors or writers, Death or dying, Corruption, Theft, Fraud, Cemeteries
- Locales: St. Petersburg, Russia
The Story
The narrator, Ivan Ivanovich, is a disgruntled, unsuccessful writer who has had one novel and numerous journalistic columns rejected. He earns his living by translating from French and by writing advertisements. He is proud, resents his lack of success, and broods about his rejection. His anguished mental condition brought about by his intense feelings of inferiority leads others to regard him as insane. He himself acknowledges that something strange is happening to him. He complains of headaches and sees and hears strange visions and sounds. He is haunted by an...
[The entire page is 1563 words long]
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