A Gentle Creature

by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Frederick Whishaw (Translator)

"She should have appreciated my deed"! Control and narcissism, greed and jealousy. The evil of a man driving his young wife to suicide and yet, he still believes he has done no wrong.'A Gentle Creature' is a short story about a heartbroken pawnbroker, who takes an interest in a young girl that frequents his shop. Dostoevsky's attempt here is to portray the evil, prideful, cowardly man who wants above everything else to possess, control, and ultimately destroy everything that he touches. Based loosely on an event that the author read about in a newspaper, the story criticizes the destructive impulses and greed for domination over that kind of life these spiteful men can never have. A gentle, yet emotionally cruel tale of wickedness, abuse and tragedy that is tinged by Dostoevsky's most somber tones. 'A Gentle Creature' was made into a film adaptation in 2017 and this was in the main competition section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.-

Genres: Classics

70 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 29, 2022

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

[Jovana (NovelOnMyMind) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I missed Dostoevsky, now I remembered why I love him so much... 😌

[Ernest · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most amazing story I’ve ever read. The intensity and the depth of this character study is indescribable.

To shortly summarize what I’ve understood (and this summary cannot capture the insane heaviness of the story):

A man, beaten down by his past injustices, projects onto his young wife his miseries and bitterness. He is fighting a Cold War against her, of which is she is unaware of (an emotional and mental war) and relishes in antagonizing her, akin to a boy finding enjoyment and satisfaction in beating a dog to submission, or satisfaction in burning a bug using a magnifying glass. His satisfaction and joy, however, lies in the process of the complete emotional and spiritual oppression of his wife. He plays mind games on her to emotionally manipulate her to behave the way he wants her to, to control her and enjoys his superiority over her. The emotional torture he puts her through offers him a type of catharsis. He guilts her to the point where she essentially becomes sick and eventually his shadow; tethered to him completely due to said guilt along with all the other emotional stress he puts onto her. His behaviours eventually pushes her to commit suicide. Which then circles us to the start of the story: the narrator pondering over the events leading up to this fated day, beside the body of his late wife.

———-

Personal commentary:

Throughout the story, image of the wife is unreliable as it is filtered through the narrator’s eyes, who at many times admits to not understand her. His description of her is completely what he wants to see in her. E.g. childish, innocent, naive and ignorant. Many of the narrator’s comments differ from the way other people described the wife and also contrasts the way the wife is described to have behaved in certain circumstances.

Overall it was about a vile and pathetic man who drove and innocent young girl to madness, and then death. But there are even more to this story than what I’ve described here and I sincerely hope those who are interested will go study and experience this story for themselves.

A Gentle creature is very detailed and specific in the depiction of a narcissist abuser’s rotten inner workings. The way he manipulates and the way he sees the life solely from the little well he resides in, ignorant to the lives outside of it. Readers who’ve experienced either side of these depictions will find a chilling realism to it all.

[Paul Ataua · Rating 5 out of 5]

A first person stream of consciousness story told by a pawnbroker about his destructive marriage that ends in his wife’s suicide (not a spoiler as we know about this from the beginning) It is the first time I have come across this Dostoevsky short story and was surprised both by how dark it is, and by how modern it is given our present day concerns with domestic abuse. I was just surprised how perceptive Dostoevsky was, managing to capture the abuser’s mind. I also wondered how many of us, the readers, might recognize some of those interactions in our own lives, either past or present. A five star read for me.

[˚ ༘♡ margaux ⋆｡˚ · Rating 5 out of 5]

the narrator got me so riled up. that's how i know it was a damn good story. i was so invested in the lives of these people, in such a short amount of time.

dostoevsky did such an incredible job at diving into the mind of a controlling narcissist.

this is what it feels like to deal with someone who justifies everything they do because they have suffered in life.

[Cara Howe · Rating 3 out of 5]

🤨

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feels like this is how Luzhin from crime and punishment thinks.