Игрок

Translated by C. J. Hogarth

УДК 
372.8
ББК 
84(2Рос=Рус)
 
81.2 Англ
 
Д 70

ISBN 978-5-9925-0976-2

Достоевский Ф. М.
Д 70 Игрок: пер. с рус. К. Д. Хогарта. — СПб.: КАРО, 
2014. — 288 с.: ил. — (Русская классическая литература на иностранных языках).

ISBN 978-5-9925-0976-2.

Вашему вниманию предлагается переводное издание 
одного из самых известных романов русского писателя 
Ф. М. Достоевского. Центральными темами произведения 
стали всепоглощающая страсть к азартной игре и актуальная 
для писателя проблема взаимоотношений между Россией и 
Европой. В основе сюжета лежат мучительные отношения 
между генеральской падчерицей Полиной и молодым учителем Алексеем, для которого игра из средства самоутверждения превращается в «ужасное наслаждение удачи, победы, 
могущества».
Английский перевод с русского языка, выполненный 
К. Д. Хогартом, снабжен постраничными комментариями. 
Книга адресована студентам языковых вузов, носителям 
языка и всем любителям русской классической литературы.

УДК 372.8
ББК 84(2Рос=Рус)
81.2 Англ

© КАРО, 2014

THE GAMBLER
by
Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Translated by C. J. Hogarth

This edition includes the English translation of “The Gambler” — 
one of the most celebrated novels by the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The central themes of this work are obsessive gambling and 
an important problem in the eye of Dostoyevsky, namely the complex 
relationship between Russia and Europe. The basis of the plot makes 
an excruciating affair between a General’s stepdaughter Polina and 
a young teacher Alexis, for whom the gambling transforms from a 
means of self-assertion into “a sort of fearful pleasure — the pleasure 
of success, of conquest, of power.”
The English translation of the novel made by C. J. Hogarth is 
complemented with footnotes. The book may be of interest to the 
University or College students who study English, the native English 
speakers and everyone who admires Russian Classic Literature.

LIFE AND WORKS 
OF FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was born in 
Moscow in 1821 and got an excellent education 
despite unsuccessful situation of his family. His 
moving to St. Petersburg became the signifi cant 
moment in the biography of the writer, the city of 
contrasts captured his soul forever which was 
refl ected in his works, in the extraordinary mastery 
of depicting the city life.
He didn’t serve even a year and in 1844 Dostoyevsky retired and refused from the hereditary rights 
of noble properties whereby literature became the 
only source of income for him. Within 1844–1845 
he worked with enthusiasm on his fi rst novel “Poor 
Folk” (it was written in an epistolary form), which 
caused a huge delight in the Petersburg representatives of the “natural school”, in particular a wellknown critic V. G. Belinsky. Further Dostoyevsky 
wrote some stories (“Th e Double”, “Mr. Prokharchin”, 
“Th e Hostess”, etc.) in which he penetrated deeply 
into the psychology of man. Th is feature of creativity 

LIFE AND WORKS OF FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

of Dostoyevsky — the psychologism, the thinnest 
analysis of the depth of human characters –developed 
in his famous novels and made him one of the 
greatest world writers and philosophers.
In 1849 Dostoyevsky was arrested in connection 
with the “Petrashevsky’s case” because be failed to 
report about the distribution of the criminal 
“freethinking” letter of V. G. Belinsky to N. V. Gogol 
where all Russian reality was criticized. On penal 
servitude he spent four years, from 1850 till 1854, 
aft er this the exile followed, and only in 1859 the 
Russian offi  cials allowed the writer to return to St. 
Petersburg. Th e period of the imprisonment and 
military service became the turning point in the life 
of the writer, it changed his life views and resulted 
in deep religiousness. It became the time of the 
rebirth of his creed and of the refusal of socialist 
ideals of the writer. His impressions of the exile 
Dostoyevsky expressed in the documentary story 
“Notes from the House of the Dead” (1861–1862) 
about life of the criminals. Th e concept of “good” 
human nature still remained here, but the writer 
found a more important aspect of the personality 
and human life and it was the material and spiritual 
freedom.
In 1861 the novel “Humiliated and Insulted” was 
published. It is about the tragedy of the “little 

LIFE AND WORKS OF FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

people” whose human dignity is off ended by those 
in power.
In 1864 Dostoyevsky went abroad where he was 
carried away by a roulette, and exporienced the 
continuous fi nancial need. In 1866 he published 
one of the most known novels “Crime and 
Punishment” which refl ected all his own diffi  cult 
and contradictory way of his personal internal 
search.
Further he began to work on two novels — 
“The Idiot” (1868–1869) and “The Possessed” 
(“Th e Devils”) (1871–1872). Th e Duke Myshkin — 
the main character of the novel “The Idiot” — 
embodies the best noble human qualities and 
personifi es an image of Jesus Christ. A criminal case 
of murder conceived by one of the activists of the 
revolutionary circle to consolidate his power and 
caused a great resonance in society became the basis 
of a plot of the novel “Th e Possessed”. From 1873 to 
1881 Dostoyevsky published “A Writer’s Diary” in 
which his own reactionary (from the point of view 
of the populistic intellectuals) political judgments 
and a sentimental appreciation to the idols of his 
youth (G. Sand, V. G. Belinsky) came face to face. 
This work represented a series of feuilletons, 
sketches and publicistic notes about actual problems 
of the day.

LIFE AND WORKS OF FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

In 1880 his last novel “Th e Brothers Karamazov” 
was published. Th e main subject of this work is a 
thin border between the good and the evil. Th e story 
is about three brothers — Ivan, Alexey and Dmitry, 
each of whom tried to fi nd for himself the answer 
to the basic philosophical questions — about the 
Prime Cause and sense of life, about human soul 
and God.
For many years the writer suff ered from serious 
illnesses — an epilepsies, an emphysemas of lungs 
and a tuberculosis. His premature death in 1881 was 
the result of his grave fortune and intensive creative 
work.
Dostoyevsky’s creativity had a huge impact on 
the Russian and world cultures. The special 
concept — “dostoyevshchina” — connected with 
the name and works of the writer has two meanings: 
“a psychological analysis in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s 
manner (with a touch of condemnation)” and 
“a spiritual unbalance, sharp and inconsistent experiences which are peculiar to the heroes of the 
novels of Fyodor Dostoyevsky”.
His works represent the social turmoils and 
spiritual transformations of mankind, they were 
translated into tens of languages, and Dostoyevsky 
is recognized as one of the most read writers of the 
world.

LIFE AND WORKS OF FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

***
Th is edition includes a novel “Th e Gambler” 
written by Dostoyevsky in less than a month in 
1866. Th is novel became partly autobiographical 
because during his trip abroad in 1865–1867 the 
writer himself experienced the intoxicating force of 
passion and all troubles from similar addictions. 
However, the author found force in his own soul to 
refuse from roulette forever, unlike his main 
character. So, the novel represents a history of the 
passion which became for the person not only the 
sense of game and not even the sense of life, but the 
only vital reality. The action takes place in the 
German resort town. Alexey Ivanovich — the main 
character — travels with the family of the retired 
general as the teacher of his children. Th e love of 
the game is directly connected with Alexey’s love to 
Polina, the stepdaughter of the general which had 
fallen in love with another man. For the sake of 
Polina the hero took up the dangerous way of the 
game, wishing to provide his beloved financial 
independence.

THE GAMBLER

I

At length I returned from two weeks leave of 
absence to fi nd that my patrons had arrived three 
days ago in Roulettenberg1. I received from them 
a welcome quite diff erent to that which I had expected. The General eyed me coldly, greeted me 
in rather haughty fashion, and dismissed me to 
pay my respects to his sister. It was clear that from 

1 Roulettenberg — Wiesbaden, the city in southwest 
Germany. (Hereinaft er — Editor’s Note.)

FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY

10

somewhere money had been acquired. I thought 
I could even detect a certain shamefacedness in the 
General’s glance. Maria Philipovna, too, seemed 
distraught, and conversed with me with an air of 
detachment. Nevertheless, she took the money 
which I handed to her, counted it, and listened 
to what I had to tell. To luncheon there were 
expected that day Mezentsov, a Frenchman, and 
an Englishman; for, whenever money was in 
hand, a banquet in Muscovite style was always 
given. Polina Alexandrovna, on seeing me, inquired why I had been so long away. Then, without 
waiting for an answer, she departed. Evidently 
this was not a mere accident, and I felt that I must 
throw some light upon matters. It was high time 
that I did so.
I was assigned a small room on the fourth fl oor 
of the hotel (for you must know that I belonged to 
the General’s suite). So far as I could see, the party 
had already gained some notoriety in the place, 
which had come to look upon the General as a 
Russian nobleman of great wealth. Indeed, even 
before luncheon he charged me, among other 
things, to get two thousand-franc notes changed for 
him at the hotel counter, which put us in a position 
to be thought millionaires at all events for a week! 
Later, I was about to take Misha and Nadia for a