Demons
by Fyodor Dostoevsky · first published 2022
62% recommend38% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A political novel and a deep study of psychology, in which the characters' inner lives feel real. It rewards rereading and hits differently at different ages.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
First published in 1872, ‘Demons’ is a rich political novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and journalist. It is a testimonial of life in Imperial Russia in the late 19th century.\ The novel follows the travails of a small provincial town beset by a band of modish radicals—and in so doing presents a devastating depiction of life and politics in late 19th-century Imperial Russia. Both a hideous comedy and a shocking illustration of clashing ideologies, Dostoevsky’s famed novel stands as an undeniable masterpiece.\ Dostoyevsky’s life of ideas and spirit
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…everything Jordan B. Peterson writes and speaks about. If I could add to this list: - everything by Alexander Solzhenitsyn that was translated to English. - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky - Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky - Ward No 6 by Anton Chekhov
on “Brutality of Life Reading List” ↗…book, couldn’t put it down. Was working as a Java dev at The Ministry of Internal Affairs, must have been 20 or 21 yrs old. - Dostoevsky - bot reading any of the big five is a missed opportunity: The Demons (one of the finest political fiction work), Brothers Karamazov (Will drain you from emotions), Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Notes from Underground - Oh, Cervantes - Don Quixote was the book took…
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite fiction book?” ↗…point on reading multiple viewpoints. As for fiction, there are a few writers who say true and interesting things about the world but they don't write Star Wars novels. I'd say "Disgrace" by Coetzee and "Demons" by Dostoevsky are examples.
on “Ask HN: What talks or videos do you suggest to watch on a long flight?” ↗You’re spot on! Good catch. Now, while the narrative style is different in the later of these books, if you enjoy NFU, I recommend both Crime and Punishment and Demons. I see Notes From Underground, Crime and Punishment, and Demons/The Possessed as unified by a core set of ideas. In the first, Dostoevsky states his claims. Crime and Punishment is a case study of what…
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗…yet(at least could not find it where we lived), had to wait couple month to read Return of the King. I read it in English about 7-8 times since and as I became fluent the book only became better. Besy/Demons, Dostoevsky. I read it after I finished Archipelago Gulag I was 15. It is potent stuff, the most powerful thing I ever read by far. Highly recommended. The more you know and read about Russian revolution…
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗…Road years ago, but I was probably too young to fully understand it; more recently, I read Blood Meridian a few months ago for my book club. Few novels have had me think about them as much (Dostoevsky's Demons and Melville's Moby Dick come to mind). McCarthy was an absolute American treasure. Rest in peace. His poetic Blood Meridian epilogue really stuck with me: "In the dawn there is a man progressing over…
on “Cormac McCarthy, Novelist of a Darker America, Is Dead at 89” ↗…second half of my 40s, I can't get enough, and they _really_ speak to me, and make me really reconsider some things at a really deep level. In retrospect it kind of makes sense - Dostoevsky wrote "The Demons" when he was only a few years older than I am now, so I can relate better to it. Following the same logic, I'll have to re-read "Brothers Karamazov" about 10 years from now, and I'm sure I'll get even…
on “Review: Demons, by Fyodor Dostoevsky” ↗…think religious belief is genuine if it's rooted in some kind of (obvious) psychological trauma The one thing that stands out in Dostoevsky is the psychological depth of the characters, especially in Demons
on “The Light of “The Brothers Karamazov”” ↗…certain philosopy I strongly disagree that Dostoevsky characters are created to be genre representatives by the way - the closest match to this kind prototypical categorization would probably be Devils (Or Demons depending on the translation) which of his works has the most political character hues - and I've read the various literary theory that pigeon hole Dostoevsky's characters in Devil's to various ideological/political…
on “Economics in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged [pdf]” ↗…values and western ideas such as nihilism and socialism. Dostoevsky was such an idealist in his youth, then turning his back on those movements after being imprisoned in hard labor camp. In his book Demons, he very much groks the dangers of these western ideas, which led to the disastrous 70 year reign of the Bolsheviks
on “Peter the Great’s Beard Tax” ↗…(and Soviet state has never disavowed World Revolution, future Communism, people's dictatorship, etc.). How it was twisted from the very beginning — even long before revolution itself, see Dostoevsky's “Demons” — is a different story. I think that “we had a noble goal, and accidentally ended up with a dead body” is an explanation only suitable for children. It is better to pay attention to the process, not…
on “Invention of satanic witchcraft by medieval authorities was met with skepticism” ↗The fascinating thing about Dostoevsky is that he seems to argue the points he doesn’t believe in better. I walked away from Demons and Brothers Karamazov thinking that the points for atheism were more firmly established than the religious worldview he himself espoused. Yes, the nihilism points were argued to be a point of comparison…
on “Floating in the Air: The World That Made Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment” ↗I started the year reading Demons by Dostoevsky. Seemed prophetic in a lot of ways about what was coming about 40 years later in 1917. At the beginning of the summer I read All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I'm not into westerns,…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗…himself that he is not seeking to flatter us. Thus, he will court us negatively, in the manner of Dostoevsky's passionate characters." – Girard, Romantic lies And novelistic lies. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Demons: - If you want to overcome the whole world, overcome yourself. - God is necessary, and therefore must exist... But I know that he does not and cannot exist... Don't you understand that a man with these…
on “Constitutional AI: RLHF on Steroids” ↗