Bobók

by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Paulo Bezerra (Translator)

A obra do escritor russo Fiódor Dostoiévski sempre despertou reações inflamadas da crítica. Aclamado já em seu primeiro romance, Gente pobre, incompreendido com o segundo, O duplo, nenhuma outra obra sua, porém, lhe rendeu ataques tão violentos quanto Os demônios, de 1871. É nesta situação que, em janeiro de 1873, ele assume o cargo de redator-chefe do Grajdanin, semanário de política e literatura de propriedade do reacionário príncipe Miescherski, o que compromete ainda mais sua imagem junto aos meios intelectuais e literários. Primeiro texto de ficção publicado no Diário de um escritor, que então estreava como seção do Grajdanin, o conto Bobók, mais do que uma resposta genial do autor a seus críticos, é uma peça-chave do universo dostoievskiano - aquela que concentra, como numa cápsula, as principais aspirações criativas do escritor. Com prefácio de Paulo Bezerra, que verteu a obra para o português, e um texto esclarecedor do ensaísta russo Mikhail Bakhtin, esta edição conta ainda com oito desenhos magistrais de Oswaldo Goeldi, um dos raros artistas a criar um universo plástico à altura da obra excepcional de Dostoiévski.

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Russian Literature, Russia, Literature, Philosophy

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1873

About the author

Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский (Russian)

Works, such as the novels Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880), of Russian writer Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky or Dostoevski combine religious mysticism with profound psychological insight.

Very influential writings of Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin included Problems of Dostoyevsky's Works (1929),

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky composed short stories, essays, and journals. His literature explores humans in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century and engages with a variety of philosophies and themes. People most acclaimed his Demons(1872) .

Many literary critics rate him among the greatest authors of world literature and consider multiple books written by him to be highly influential masterpieces. They consider his Notes from Underground of the first existentialist literature. He is also well regarded as a philosopher and theologian.

(Russian: Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский) (see also Fiodor Dostoïevski)

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

im 100% convinced that dostoyevsky was drunk while writing this

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smelly Souls


What a delicious witty tale 👍
Is this the Dostoyevsky we all know?!... The one from Crime and Punishment?!... Or a shrewdly disguised Gogol?! 😉
It seems to me that our usually so dramatic Fyodor is sounding much more like the sarcastic Nicolai in this one! ...

Bobok is somewhere between a cartoon and a classical short story. Dostoyevsky makes fun of the russian society, comparing it with a bunch of smelly souls! 🤪

I always thought of humour and Dostoyevsky as oil and water, but... literature is full of pleasant surprises and Bobok, joshing Bobok, is definitely one of those!

---------------------------------------

Almas que Fedem


Delicioso, este Bobok 👍

Uma caricatura surreal e divertida da sociedade russa, retratada como um grupo de Almas Fedorentas! 😉

Sempre imaginei que Dostoyevsky e humor fossem tipo azeite e água!
Foi uma surpresa daquelas!!!🥰

[هدى يحيى · Rating 5 out of 5]

بوبوك... بوبوك
لا تحاول فهم هذه الكلمة
فيمكن ببساطة استبدالها ب"هراء" أو "جنون" أو أي كلمة تريد

إنها نداء الموت بكل بساطة

هيا معا نتخيل قامة مثل دوستويفسكي تكتب قصة أبطالها موتى..
كيف ستكون هذه القصة برأيك..؟
بديعة .. مدهشة .. ممتعة ..؟
هي كل ذلك وأكثر

ستجد جنرال يلعب الورق مع جاره
وسيدة مجتمع تتشاجر مع جارها الحانوتي لكلماته النابية
طفلة شقية تصر على التدخل في أي حوار
أناس يتعارفون ويمرحون ويتجادلون بشأن رائحتهم الكريهة بينما يتفسخون ويتحللون
!
عالم بأكلمه يحيا فيه الموتى على ما يبدو بطريقة جديدة
!!

لقد أحببت هذه القصة حقا فكرتها وأحداثها ونهايتها والطريقة التي كتبت بها والروح الساخرة التي تلبست صاحبها
أحببت كل شيء فيها

[BookHunter M ُH َM َD · Rating 3 out of 5]

احنا ميتين و بنتحاسب و الا ميتين بس و الا عايشين؟

فانتازيا غريبة على دوستويفسكي. و كأنها مكتوبة بعد عصره بعشرات السنين. حوار بين مجموعة من الأموات في مقابرهم بعد أن اكتشفوا عالما آخر يتاح للميت فيه كل شيء لمدة شهرين فقط و بعدها لا يصدر عنه إلا نغمة رتيبة متكررة (بوبوك بوبوك). لا يعدم هذا العالم أن يصنع السيد و الخادم. الساخر و الساذج. المتذمر و المهادن و المشاكس و الجامح و كل ألوان البشر.
قصة قصيرة جدا و مختلفة جدا لن تمر عليك مرور الكرام.

واحدة من القصص القصيرة في الجزء الثاني من رواية المراهق

[Mark André · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird. Fun. Just gets going and it ends. Silly?
9.29.25
Just reread. Same review. Silly Dostoyevsky. Hmm.

[Flo · Rating 4 out of 5]

* This review may have a little spoiler *

I love short stories and novellas. It's fascinating how a writer can say so much in a few pages. Bobok is another excellent example of this writer's talent to describe people's virtues and miseries. He wrote major works concerning the human condition, and they all seem to have been written yesterday.

The wisest of all, in my opinion, is he who can, if only once a month, call himself a fool — a faculty unheard of nowadays. In old days, once a year at any rate a fool would recognize that he was a fool, but nowadays not a bit of it.

Timeless! And kind of funny.

So, this book is about Ivan Ivanovitch, a frustrated writer that went to a funeral of some distant relative. He complained about the cemetery, the smell, green water, the smiles of the dead that haunt his dreams. Well, It's a cemetery... not a place you'd go to have a picnic, I'm guessing.

Then, he sat on a tombstone and started to think about random stuff. Deep reflections about little details, I love that. Suddenly, he began to hear a conversation. He was all alone and he heard a conversation. In the cemetery. ALONE. I'd drop dead and end up under some tombstone in a heartbeat. (The last heartbeat, I guess.)

These dead people were not quite dead. They were aware of everything that surrounded them. They played cards, they discussed among each other, they even shared anecdotes. An active conscience after death is a theme I already saw in The Dream of a Ridiculous Man. It's an interesting yet disturbing theme. However, we can't help to ask ourselves, during several moments of our lives, if death really is the final step or not. Personally, I wish it was. I don't like some people here; I can't imagine what it would be like to be in some cemetery, stuck with annoying people for three or four months and not being able to go away!

Back to the book. Yes, their consciousness was active for about three, even six months until they decomposed. That's why these dead-not-so-dead people decided to spend those months as agreeable as possible. In order to do so, they were determined to cast aside all shame and be brutally honest. Because lying is needed on Earth; when you're dead, why would you care, right? Anyway, their crazy conversations were a delight to read.

What this short story is trying to tell us—in my humble opinion—is that even dead, human beings are capable of depravity. These guys were willing to waste those months that were given to them, probably to think about their existence on Earth and find some sort of redemption. Instead, they wanted to keep partying. A party of shameless degradation they started while living! The lowness of human condition appears even after death. Or not... I mean, meditation would be the right thing to do. But these people were freaking dead. Actually, they were about to be completely dead. So, it's a tough call.



May 03, 14
* Also on my blog.

[Sidharth Vardhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title means 'little bean' and it is to be understood as 'nothing'. The premise which sounds more Gogol with its supernaturality than Dostoevsky is that recently dead and buried don't lose their consciousness but talk to each other lying in their graves during nights. What will they talk about? I guess different authors will have them behave in different ways - some will have them repent. But Dostoevsky will have them talk about their sins and take pride in their base acts, all the more now that they don't have to fear the law.

I guess there is a very profound psychological observation in it. We often say that respect is due to dead. But if such a thing as a soul, or some other form of consciousness exists, it must have the same desires as the living do, minus the ability to fulfil it. I'm pretty sure there must exist some kind of theory that what we call consciousness is nothing but awareness of our needs and desires. So, if some kind of consciousness was to survive death, it must have all those base desires as well. Why respect the dead then? If you are able to follow this reasoning till the end, than you are as insane as I am.

[Gaurav Sagar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The readers are straight away thrown into interior monologues of a struggling author, Ivan Ivanych, a literary man, who frustrates to write his bits-and-pieces of his muddled and rambling thoughts, as if he is under the influence of alcohol, forcing an acquaintance of his to ask if he will ever be sober. The cynical Ivan takes the reader on an awkward and strange trip to his consciousness wherein the incoherent knick-knacks of his brain pull the reader through the random mumblings about witticism, artistic criticisms, self-absorbed opinions on humor and its style, on expression of smartness through self-deprecating humor; essentially creating a disorganized and jumbled satire of society which perhaps may not comprehend the Voltaire’s bon mots, setting the tone for the story from the word go.




There is or are some strange voices which keeps knocking his head (reminds me of How It Is by Samuel Beckett with an inevitable anticipation that perhaps the narrator here too will reside inside someone’s head), making him aware that something strange might be happening to him but he proclaims that those are not voices but it’s as if someone right besides him is saying, ‘Bobok, bobok, bobok. Though there might be various probable interpretations of ‘bobok’ but the contextual meaning of the word 'bobok’ makes itself clear by now as idiocy, nonsense or gibberish.




The probing inquisitiveness makes him uneasy to look for something which may assuage his anguished heart, he decides to find comfort in the balmy contraptions of some distractions, as we know that they may soothe the anxious mind, and chances upon a funeral of a distant relative of his collegiate councilor. Though he joins the procession there but gradually, the emotional distance from relatives of the deceased and their perhaps unintended ignorance lead him to lie down near some graves.




link: Source




The profound contemplation surrounds his mind and forces him to examine and meditate upon the cemetery as to what might be lying beyond those graves, which perhaps act as a bridge between life and death, or this world and the other world, if there is any. Something rings in his ears and what initially appears to be muffled voices from some far distant world, eventually emerges to be the voices of ruminations of deceased who are lying fully conscious in the graves. The graves seem to be variegated assortments of corpses from various timelines as some are newly arrived while others have been there since eternity, from classes, ranks and strata of society, as well as having various moods since some are pretending to mourn while others are evidently cheerful.




Finding solace in his voluntary solitude with the graves, the narrator gets awestruck by the profound and sinful words emanating from the depths of those graves, there are full-fledged conversations, arguments and gossiping about various facets of life as they might be having drawing room discussions. Though all the individuals have severed their sacred thread of life, but they seem to be in some kind suspended existence which may be the continuation of their lives, however, perhaps only in the form of pure consciousnesses. The physical death may not be the ultimate death since a remnant ‘inertia’ of consciousness keeps their minds alive for some time and these suspended consciousnesses, the sacred remnants of life, may get a final chance appear in front of judgement seat of God.



The suspended existence of these corpses appears to be window of salvation as these consciousnesses may reflect upon their mortal lives and repent their ‘sins’ to look for the path leading towards redemption and deliverance. Though it seems that Dostoevsky comes to fantasy land but gradually the nuances of the short story makes one realize that the profound questions of God, morality, philosophy, religion, immortality, suffering, free will and others, which are extensively explored in his acclaimed works like The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment, lie at the core of the story. The corpses could not only talk or move but may also smell each other, though the foul smell may not be originating their decomposing physical bodies but rather from their ‘rotten and decayed’ morals, which could not be resurrected even in this extended existence through their consciousnesses.




link: Wikipedia


The newly acquired, disembodied acquaintances of the narrator, to the utter dismay of the narrator and perhaps the reader, appear to be oblivious to such expectations of repent and redemption. They reflect deeply on their mortal lives which have been just suspended by cutting off their thread of life. These seemingly ‘chosen’ corpses lie indifferent to the universe and create a universe of their own wherein they establish a sort of ‘new rationality’, as per that they need not to be ashamed of anything and may gossip about fancies of their heart covering scandals, flirting and bickering, or may question their social statuses, putting in place a kind of ‘utopia’ where no one is required to lie and people may reveal their supposedly ‘shameful’ truths. Let’s strip ourselves bare and be naked!



Bobok may perhaps refer to an inconspicuous spark of life glimmering inside a consciousness, the final flickering of a candle before it dies off, the final meaningless words a decaying soul utters before meeting its eternal end and becoming one with the universe, forever. The under-world of the ‘life beyond life’ hides a surreal, dreamy and hazy secret of these beings of suspended existence, the secret which can’t be revealed to us, the mortals. The secret order of these suspended consciousnesses is not bound by ‘silly norms’ of morality and God since there is no immortality of soul and God, so they can express all their whims and fancies. Fyodor Dostoevsky pens down a scathing satire of Russian society of that time or perhaps our society of any time, through this surreal replica of ‘life beyond life’ which is devoid of any morality or faith, by reflecting that even if we are reduced to just being consciousness, our abstracts and frameworks, which are so deep-rooted in our psyche, fail to leave us, showing the utter hypocrisy of humanity.

[yara ❦ · Rating 3 out of 5]

in what world is "oh ho ho ho" hiccups?..

[Renée Paule · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who like to reflect on what happens to our consciousness after we die - Dostoyevsky gives us a lot to think about in this lovely short story.

[paula can read · Rating 4 out of 5]

loggin two dostoevsky short stories separately so they both count towards my reading goal? yes

[Micah Cummins · Rating 4 out of 5]

16th book of 2022

I would like to start off by saying that great things can come in small packages.

Bobok by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a short story, (my edition falls right at 24 pages.) Dostoevsky brings much to the table, writing part comedy, part philosophical work in Bobok. Our protagonist, Ivan Ivanovich is sick and tired of the rejection he has been receiving from publishing houses regarding his writing. He has been trying for years and no one has yet seen his potential, at least, that is the situation through Ivan's eyes.

In order to distract himself, Ivan Ivanovich decides to join a funeral procession of a distant relation. Following the group of mourners to the cemetery, making many silent observation to himself along the way.

Finally, Ivan Ivanovich decides to stay back at the cemetery rather than attend the indoor service. While sitting and observing the graves, he hears the voice of a man in an argument with another. There is no one around, and it only takes a moment for Ivan Ivanovich realizes that the voices are coming up from under the tombstones.

It is through these conversations with the dead that Ivan Ivanovich comes to realize many things about his own life that had been hidden from him, and gives him a clearer perspective.

The story ends with the voices of the dead being interrupted by all things, a sneeze.

Witty, heartfelt, and incredible easy to read, I highly recommend Bobok to anyone looking for a half hour read that comes along with quite a lot to think about. Five stars.

[Marianna Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

When your soul stinks even the dead can hear it ))

[Fernando · Rating 3 out of 5]

¡Es muy interesante y divertido este desconocido cuento de Dostoievski! Esa desopilante charla de muertos que dialogan con el narrador (en una sutil forma que Dostoievski tenía de hablar sobre la disparidad de las clases sociales de la Rusia zarista) me hace acordar al cuento "Un sueño extraño" de Mark Twain, protagonizado por esqueletos.

[Farya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depravity exists even when you are dead.

[Sammy's Study · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was definitely different. I do like the surrealism of the story! Such a fun concept! I did like the beginning more than the ending.

✨️"To be astonished at everything, of course, is silly, while to be astonished at nothing is much more handsome, and for some reason is recognized as good form. But surely it's not like that in reality. In my opinion, it's much sillier to be astonished at nothing than at everything. And what's more: to be astonished at nothing is almost the same thing as to respect nothing. And a silly man is not capable of showing respect." ✨️

[Carmo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quando Dostoyevsky publicou Os Demónios, foi crucificado pelos críticos que o acusaram de haver criado um romance que lembrava um manicómio povoado de gente excêntrica e delirante que só articulava enxurradas de asneiras.
Nesse período, Dostoyevsky era chefe de redação do semanário Grajdanin e podia ter dado resposta a estas pérolas por meio de alguma publicação, mas tal não fez. Em vez disso, respondeu com a arma que melhor dominava e em que era, claramente, superior a quem o acusava: a ficção.
Assim nasceu Bobok. Bobok é um pequeno conto desenvolvido a partir dos moldes de quem lhe apontava o dedo e aos quais dá uma resposta a preceito.

Não se passa num manicómio mas num cemitério, e as personagens estão mortas e enterradas. Todavia, oscilam no fio da navalha, numa espécie de antecâmera da morte, um período em que ainda estão conscientes e se manifestam embora já não dominem o corpo.
E o que vão fazer? Vão entrar numa pandega desavergonhada, perfeita metáfora da conduta imoral de uma certa aristocracia decadente na Rússia da época, e onde se incluíam muitos dos seus delatores.
Em meio a esta turba de devassos, Dostoyevsky realça o único comportamento que se destaca pela positiva: o homem simples; o homem pobre mas de firmes valores morais, que vivia num ambiente afetivo bem estruturado e que, nem aqui onde já ninguém o pode julgar, se deixa corromper.
Já o narrador desta história deliciosa podia muito bem ser o próprio autor.

[❀ Tia ❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story felt like a fever dream. Totally bizarre but also rather amusing.

I thought that the "moral stench" that the deceased people believed they could smell was an interesting concept — implying a person's trespasses and moral failings will follow them to the grave and that they cannot be outrun. However, I feel like there could've been a deeper philosophical meaning hidden in this story that I may have missed….

Either that, or Dostoyevsky had simply had one too many alcoholic beveraginos while writing this. 🙃

[Tasnim · Rating 5 out of 5]

kind of reminded me of that jean paul sartre play where everyone is waiting to go to hell and discuss all the things they feel guilty for and then realise that the waiting and discussion itself is actually hell.

its a very small story about how moral corruption exists even after death.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wth was this....

[Rania · Rating 2 out of 5]

OKAY WELL I understood absolutely NOTHING but it had me giggling and smiling like an idiot as I finished it 20 minutes after finishing white nights and sobbing over it

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

A brief tale that is not worth retaining. The narrative centers on Ivan Ivanovitch, who hears the voices of the newly buried and deceased while attending a funeral. While they wait for whatever is going to happen to them, the dead amuse themselves by chatting about various topics. If there was a point, I believe I missed it. It was devoid of the depth that I've grown accustomed to reading Dostoevsky, and I don't believe that the story's extremely little running time is the only factor in this. This is a short story that can be finished in less an hour, therefore I think it deserves another opportunity, so I will be returning to it.

[Hon Lady Selene · Rating 4 out of 5]

'What I want, first of all, is to feel respect. I long to feel respect,' an acquaintance of mine once said to me, not so long ago. He longs to feel respect! Good God, I thought, what would happen to you if you dared print that nowadays?

[Connie Ashpole · Rating 2 out of 5]

maybe i’m stupid but i didn’t find this witty or clever

[Asad Mustafa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly couldn’t tell you what this was supposed to be about, and then it just ends.

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh Fyodor, you are such a bird.
So complicated. I know you'd be on Fox News for sincere, even holy reasons. Yet, your imagination is one for the ages.

An addled, disagreeable writer helps out at a family funeral. He isn't welcome there, just needed. He hangs out afterwards amongst the tombstones and begins to overhear the conversations of the recently deceased. The ensuing banter skewers all sections of society and it becomes clear that wretched souls are smelly and the dead can recognize another's depravity.

I wasn't expecting this story to be intact within The Writer's Diary but there it was.

[Piero Marmanillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un magnífico relato publicado en la revista El Ciudadano en 1873.
La trama se centra en el inesperado suceso ocurrido a un escritor poco exitoso: cuando visita un cementerio escucha de pronto unos diálogos procedentes de las tumbas!
En ese momento él permanecerá en silencio para enterarse de las cosas que tienen que decir aquellos difuntos.

Es considerado uno de los mejores relatos de Dostoievski según Bajtín.

[ivana · Rating 5 out of 5]

ko prizna pola idiotizma mu se prašta.

[Roya · Rating 3 out of 5]

خیلی شبیه به کتاب "نازنین" بود و یجورایی دلم برای این روی داستایفسکی تنگ شده بود :")

[Kashan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moral collapse, freedom without responsibility, and the danger of losing meaning are central themes in Dostoevsky’s Bobok. Through the grotesque image of dead people talking and confessing their darkest secrets, Fyodor Dostoevsky exposes a disturbing truth about human nature.

The cemetery is not merely a setting, but a symbol of society itself. The “dead” are, in fact, reflections of the living individuals stripped of social masks. Once freed from consequences, they reveal their hypocrisy, corruption, and moral emptiness. Death just removes the mask.

The repeated word “bobok” becomes a powerful symbol of decay not only of the body, but of thought, language, and meaning. It suggests a collapse into nonsense, where truth and coherence no longer exist.

Although the narrative may feel chaotic and the characters somewhat indistinct, this disorder mirrors the very breakdown Dostoevsky is portraying. Beneath the confusion, the message remains clear: when human beings are freed from responsibility, they risk descending into moral and existential emptiness.