Arian’s Reviews > The Idiot > Status Update
Arian
is on page 668 of 768
I cannot begin to imagine the emotions that were brewing inside Aglaya as she was making her way to confront Nastasya Filippovna. Aglaya denies Nastasya’s victim status, ‘Why are you now not marrying the noble man who loves you so and has done you an honour by offering his hand? It’s all too clear why: if you marry Rogozhin, what would become of the insult to you? You would even receive too much honour!’
— 4 hours, 9 min ago
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Arian’s Previous Updates
Arian
is on page 647 of 768
Dostoyevsky introduces the reader to an 'upper stratum of Russian people' (so close to the end of the story) at the soiree. Prince Myshkin speaks of them, directly, 'I have always heard so much about you that is bad, more than is good, about the pettiness and exclusiveness of your interests, about your backwardness, your poor education, your ridiculous habits - oh, I mean they write and say so much about you!'
— Nov 05, 2026 10:19AM
Arian
is on page 628 of 768
The evening the Yapanchin's are hosting a formal gathering 'of an important step as the resolution of their daughter's destiny, for the first time in his life (the prince's) he saw a corner of what is given the intimidating name of "society". It somehow suddenly seemed to him that all these people had been born to be together; that there was no "soiree" at the Yepanchins' that evening...
— Nov 04, 2026 10:45AM
Arian
is on page 590 of 768
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the general's personal (but fantastical of course) narrative of Napoleon's march into Moscow. He opens his account by clarifying to the prince that he was 10 years old 'because as a 15 year old I would not have run away from our wooden house on Staraya Basmannaya on the day of Napoleon's entrance to Moscow, leaving my mother, who was too late to leave Moscow, and trembling with fear...
— Oct 29, 2026 04:27PM
Arian
is on page 562 of 768
The opening of the final part of the story focuses on the 'commonplace' characters of our story. The narrator speaks of Gavrila, 'indeed, there is nothing more vexing, for example, than to be wealthy, of decent family, of decent appearance, not badly educated, not stupid, even kind-hearted, and at the same time to possess no talent, no special quality, nor even any eccentricity, not a single idea of one's own...
— Oct 26, 2026 05:24AM
Arian
is on page 537 of 768
As I’m on the final part of the story I think this is a good moment to reflect a little. It’s taken me awhile to get to this point (close to five months) and it’s bcos of the philosophy woven into the narrative. This is the most challenging novel I’ve read, emotionally and intellectually, and I’m glad I’ve taken my sweet time. I look forward to the endgame!
— Oct 13, 2026 06:11AM
Arian
is on page 510 of 768
‘Let us allow that the spark of consciousness was lit by the will of a higher power, let us allow that it was suddenly instructed by that higher power to destroy itself, because for some reason - and the reason was not even explained - that’s just how it was up there, let us allow, I admit all that, but there still remains the eternal question: why is my meekness demanded in all this?…
— Oct 08, 2026 02:42PM
Arian
is on page 480 of 768
‘Individual kindness will always remain, because it is a need of the personality, a living need for the direct influence of one personality on another. (…) How can you know, Bakhmutov, what significance this communication between one personality and another may have in the fate of the personality that is communicated with?….
— Sep 29, 2026 12:56AM
Arian
is on page 461 of 768
Without a doubt, Ippolit is the most tragic character I have ever read. In his 'NECESSARY EXPLANATION' (which I suspect is his suicide note) writes about 'the idea that it was not worth living for a few weeks (..) and that the first moment that this thought penetrated me completely and directly was at the very same moment when it occurred to me to sample life for the last time, and I wanted to see people and trees...
— Sep 13, 2026 02:23PM
Arian
is on page 428 of 768
I'll admit that I've read too much without updating my progress (it's gotten so good). Rogozhin and the Prince meet for the first time since 'you made an attempt on my life', says Myshkin. The Prince reaffirms Rogozhin, saying, 'the only Rogozhin I remember is the one with whom I exchanged crosses as a brother that day; I wrote that to you in my letter yesterday, so that you'd stop thinking about all that delirium'.
— Aug 30, 2026 12:42PM
Arian
is on page 377 of 768
I really enjoyed reading Keller's confession to the Prince. Keller says to the Prince after he revealed his true motive 'by means of tears', 'Well, that's how to flabbergast a man completely! For pity's sake, Prince: such simple-heartedness, such innocence as were unheard of even in the golden age, and then suddenly you pierce a man through like an arrow, with such profound psychology of observation.'
— Aug 24, 2026 10:32AM
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Aglaya says, ‘I felt sorry for him, as he is such a simple-hearted man who, because of his simplicity, believed that he could be happy… with a woman… of that character. What I feared would happen to him did indeed happen: you were unable to love him, you tormented and abandoned him. You couldn’t love him because you’re too proud… no, not proud, I was wrong, but because you’re vain… not even that: you are self-loving to the point of… insanity, of which your letters to me may serve as proof. You couldn’t love him, such a simple man, and you even, perhaps, privately despised and ridiculed him, could love only your own disgrace and the constant thought that you were disgraced and that you’d been humiliated. If your disgrace had been less, or none at all, you’d be more unhappy than are…’
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