A Raw Youth (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- First Published: 1875
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The 1870’s
- Setting: St. Petersburg, with flashbacks to Moscow
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Values, Parents and children, Love or romance, Nineteenth century, Religion, Fathers, Illegitimacy, Money, Russia or Russian people, Moscow
- Locales: Moscow, Russia, St. Petersburg, Russia
Characters Discussed
Arkady Makarovitch Dolgoruky (ahr- KAH-dee mah-KAH-roh-vihch dol-goh- REW-kee), the narrator and “raw youth” of the title. He is a boy of some talents but no social polish, and his attempts to strike a course for himself in life are hampered by his confusing social position and his unorthodox family situation. He is the legal son of a servant, the natural son of an aristocrat, and a volatile character, even by the standards of Russian literature. He is an exemplar of the dual nature, combining in himself a craggy, low selfishness with high principles...
[The entire page is 756 words long]
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