The Idiot
(Annotated Edition)
Description:... Having left Switzerland, Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin returns to St. Petersburg. The man is twenty-six years old, the last member of a noble family, for he was orphaned early in childhood. Suffering from severe nervous disease, he was sent by his guardian, Pavlishchev, to the Swiss resort. After four years, he returns home. He encounters Parphen Rogozhin on his way. The acquaintance mentions Nastasya Filipovna's name, mistress of a wealthy aristocrat Totskii, and the woman is in love with.Upon arrival he pays a visit to General Yepanchin, whose wife is his distant relative. The family has three daughters: the elder Alexander, Adelaide and younger, the overall favorite and pretty, Aglaia. Prince affects everyone with his spontaneity, credulity, frankness and naiveté, so extraordinary that at first he is taken very cautiously, but with great curiosity and sympathy. Here he meets an extremely proud Secretary of the General, and sees the portrait of Nastasya Filipovna. Her proud beauty and hidden suffering affect him deeply.
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