Notes from the House of the Dead: A New Translation

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2013

Overview

Long before Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago came Dostoevsky’s Notes from the House of the Dead, a compelling account of the horrific conditions in Siberian labor camps. First published in 1861, this novel, based on Dostoevsky’s own experience as a political prisoner, is a forerunner of his famous novels Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.

The characters and situations that Dostoevsky encountered in prison, were so violent and extraordinary, that they changed his psyche profoundly. Through that experience, he later said, he was resurrected into a new spiritual condition—one in which he would create some of the greatest novels ever written.

This volume includes an illuminating introduction by James Scanlan on Dostoevsky’s prison years. The totally new translation by Boris Jakim captures Dostoevsky’s semi-autobiographical narrative—at times coarse, at times intensely emotional, at times philosophical—in rich American English.

In the Logos edition, Notes from the House of the Dead is enhanced by amazing functionality. Scripture citations link directly to English translations, and important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Powerful searches help you find exactly what you’re looking for. Take the discussion with you using tablet and mobile apps. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.

Key Features

• Chronicles a transformative period in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s life
• Accounts the horrific conditions in Siberian labor camps
• Offers a translation of a neglected Russian classic into English

Contents

• The House of the Dead
• First Impressions
• First Impressions (continued)
• First Impressions (continued)
• The First Month
• The First Month (continued)
• New Acquaintances. Petrov
• Determined Men. Luchka
• Isay Fomich. The Bathhouse, Baklushin’s Story
• Christmas
• The Show
• The Hospital
• The Hospital (continued)
• The Hospital (continued)
• Akul’ka’s Husband (A Story)
• Summertime
• Prison Animals
• The Complaint
• Comrades
• The Escape
• Release From Prison

Praise for the Print Edition

As usual, Boris Jakim offers a fluent and accessible translation, giving us a new opportunity to encounter one of Dostoevsky’s most seminal works. So much of the vision and insight of the great novels, have their roots here in his nightmare experience in the Siberian penal camps. Here we have a first-class new rendering of this unique chronicle.

—Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury

This startling book was a sensation in its day and became the source of all of Dostoevsky’s mature fictions. . . . Leo Tolstoy wrote that he did not know ‘a better book in all modern literature.’ 150 years later, Notes from the House of the Dead still retains the quality of a literary experiment capable of shocking and moving its readers. Boris Jakim’s new translation vividly and sensitively communicates the sense of discovery the work had for its first readers.

—Robert Bird, associate professor, The University of Chicago

Jakim captures Dostoevsky’s voice with an immediacy and power that is perhaps a little uncanny. This should by all rights become the standard English edition of this book.

—David Bentley Hart, philosopher; and cultural commentator

Product Details

• Title: Notes from the House of the Dead: A New Translation
• Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Translator: Boris Jakim
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2013
• Pages: 344

About Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky (November 11, 1821 – February 9, 1881) was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov. Dostoyevsky’s literary works explored human psychology in the troubled political, social and spiritual context of 19th-century Russian society.