The House of the Dead

De: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Narrado por: Walter Covell

The House of the Dead was published in 1862 by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It is very different from Dostoevsky's more famous and intricately plotted novels, like Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.

The book is a loosely-knit collection of facts and events connected to life in a Siberian prison, organized by "theme" rather than as a continuous story. Dostoevsky himself spent four years as a political prisoner in such a camp. This experience allowed him to describe with great authenticity the conditions of prison life and the characters of the convicts. Thus, though presented as a work of fiction, The House of the Dead is actually a thinly veiled autobiography of one portion of the author's life.

Although not Dostoevsky's greatest work, The House of the Dead is still a fascinating portrait of life in a Siberian prison camp - a life of great hardship and deprivation, yet filled with simple moments of humanity showing mankind's ability to adapt and survive in the most extreme of circumstances.

Dostoevsky tells his story in a chronological order, from his character's arrival and his sense of alienation to his gradual adjustment to prison and the return of hope as he realizes that he can survive and will have a life after the completion of his term. The book is universally acknowledged as a classic and is a fascinating story, especially for those familiar with Dostoevsky and his other works.

Public Domain (P)1986 Jimcin Recordings

LITERARY GENIUS

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s writing and psychological insight seduces admirers into reading or listening to his lesser known works. Seduction comes from wanting to know the source of Dostoevsky’s human insight and literary genius.

Dostoevsky spent time in a Siberian prison, was scheduled for execution by firing squad, received a last-minute reprieve, suffered from a gambling addiction, and lived to write two of the greatest masterpieces of all time, “Crime and Punishment” and “Brothers Karamazov”. Long before Freud’s theories of the unconscious mind, Dostoevsky understood and wrote about subconscious human motivation. (He also wrote a lesser known work, “The Idiot”, that rivals his masterpieces in character development.)

Prison is sometimes home to the innocent that are victimized by life because of their pacific nature. The innocents seek to please everyone. They are like Prince Myskin in “The Idiot”, or Alyosha in “The Brothers Karmazov”. These innocents are drawn to violent or dominant characters, either as supplicants or enablers. The Prince Myskins become servants to intellectuals in the prison. The Alyoshas are the intellectuals, the aristocrats, the educated, the wise men; in some respects the enablers, that are sought by the insecure for advice, guidance, knowledge, or forgiveness.

“The House of the Dead” is not a well written book but it is a useful primer on character development in literature. It shows that great writers develop over time and that their development is based on experience recollected, and disciplined observation in quietude; i.e. in prisons of their own making.

Honor chapter breaks!

I enjoyed this early novel/chronicle by one of my favorite writers, and the narrator was fine, except for one thing. His hurrying through chapter breaks, sometimes as if he was trying not breathe during them, was, for me, irritating because a longer pause (in fact, there wasn't a pause most of the time) would have set off the different topics that Dostoevsky was approaching, approximating the space chapter breaks in the book itself.

The sound quality is not as bad as some reviews say.

I had concerns about the quality of the recording based on other reviews, but thought it was not as bad as they claimed and that it actually helped to illustrate the scenery described in a Siberian prison in the 19th century.

A good book

It is a fun book when I was slightly depressed. but I recovered at last one third of this book, it is not too much fun anymore.

In the Prison House

Dostoyevsky imparts his experiences from a Siberian prison camp, and during this narrative, we find out again why this writer is regarded as the best in fiction. Through his techniques in presentation and methods of characterization, Dostoyevsky delivers another great read.