Notes from a Dead House

From renowned translators Richard Pevear and Lindsay Volokhonsky comes a new translation - certain to become the definitive version - of the first great prison memoir, a fictionalized account of Fyodor Dostoevsky's life-changing penal servitude in Siberia.

Sentenced to death for advocating socialism in 1849, Dostoevsky served a commuted sentence of four years of hard labor. The account he wrote afterward (sometimes translated as The House of the Dead) is filled with vivid details of brutal punishments, shocking conditions, and the psychological effects of the loss of freedom and hope but also of the feuds and betrayals, the moments of comedy, and the acts of kindness he observed.

As a nobleman and a political prisoner, Dostoevsky was despised by most of his fellow convicts, and his first-person narrator - a nobleman who has killed his wife - experiences a similar struggle to adapt. He also undergoes a transformation over the course of his ordeal, as he discovers that even among the most debased criminals there are strong and beautiful souls. Notes from a Dead House reveals the prison as a tragedy both for the inmates and for Russia. It endures as a monumental meditation on freedom.

©2015 Originally published in Russian in 1862. Translation © 2015 by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Foreword © 2015 by Richard Pevear (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

I will listen again (and again)

Now I know where he got the inspiration for so many amazing characters in his phenomenal novels.

In a class with few others....maybe Victor Franke

This is superb work...D manages to write with great humor realism distance yet at times great warmth and always astonishing perception of human nature. I keptfeelinghe was writing about allhumanlife......a transformational masterpiece.

Narrator's voice tone, pace and accents.

Narrator's voice tone, pace and accents throughout the novel brings this story to life.

Foundational Classic

Classic account of the prison system in 19th century Russia. This story provided a glimpse of the horrific and yet human side of prisons in Siberia. One of Dostoyevsky's better novels. Being a man like Dickens with firsthand knowledge of prison life, the narrative was convincing and insightful. The narrator, Stefan Rudnicki, is as good as it gets. Discovered him when listening to the gigantic Story of Civilization series.

Wonderful writing

An honest look into the thoughts of a man in prison. The character is transparent about his own prejudice and disgust with many of the prisoners. But because of this this openness to human darkness human dignity shines through.