The Dostoyevsky Library

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Enter a quiet room of conscience and conflict, where every word presses against the soul. The Dostoyevsky Library offers unabridged readings of the great novels, not as mere stories, but as confessions whispered in the dark. Here, restless minds wander through guilt and grace, doubt and redemption, while the human heart stands exposed in all its fragile contradictions.

Listen as each chapter unfolds slowly, like footsteps echoing through a winter street. These readings invite you to linger with princes and prisoners, dreamers and sinners, and to ask, as Dostoyevsky always asked: what does it mean to be free, to suffer, to believe? This is not simply a podcast - it is a vigil beside the restless spirit of humanity itself.

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85 episodes
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Avg 16 min
English

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S12 · E7
August 16 · 23 min
The Permanent Husband Chapter 7
In which an impatient gentleman, burdened by restless thoughts and elusive confidences, engages in a fraught and revealing dialogue with a dissolute acquaintance whose sardonic revelations unsettle the very foundations of his composure. Their uneasy...
- Transcript
S12 · E6
August 15 · 16 min
The Permanent Husband Chapter 6
In which we observe a tumultuous encounter between Velchaninoff and the troubled child Liza, whose anguished silence and haunting revelations paint a poignant picture of pain and neglect, set against the kindly and reassuring backdrop of old friends...
- Transcript
S12 · E5
August 15 · 23 min
The Permanent Husband Chapter 5
In which the visitor encounters Pavel Pavlovitch in a disordered lodging, witnessing a strained and sorrowful interaction with a young girl named Liza, his purported daughter, whose delicate nature and mournful circumstances evoke a mixture of...
- Transcript
S12 · E4
August 14 · 14 min
The Permanent Husband Chapter 4
In which the protagonist, roused from slumber by restless thoughts, contemplates the intricate and tormenting memories of a past passion for Natalia Vasilievna, a woman whose death has stirred long-buried reflections on love, deceit, and social...
- Transcript
S12 · E3
August 14 · 21 min
The Permanent Husband Chapter 3
In which two old acquaintances meet suddenly at an ungodly hour, one bearing sombre news masked by peculiar behaviour and a crape band, stirring unease and curiosity in the other. The visitor’s melancholy disclosures and muddled demeanour ignite a...
- Transcript
S12 · E2
August 13 · 28 min
The Permanent Husband Chapter 2
In which our somewhat irritable and restless Velchaninoff becomes obsessively haunted by the persistent and enigmatic presence of a man wearing a crape band on his hat, a figure who seems to both puzzle and unsettle him deeply amid the stifling heat...
- Transcript
S12 · E1
August 13 · 14 min
The Permanent Husband Chapter 1
In which we observe the gentleman Velchaninoff, detained by a vexing legal affair in the dusty heat of St. Petersburg, wrestling with his restless nights and the gnawing spectres of his past, which bring upon him a new and keenly felt vanity. Through...
- Transcript
S11 · E6
August 12 · 59 min
Notes From The Underground A Propos of the Wet Snow Part 4
In which the narrator confronts the bitter torment of his own contradictory nature and societal isolation, marked by a humiliating encounter with a woman named Liza and the tyrannical presence of a loathsome servant, Apollon. His reflections reveal a...
- Transcript
S11 · E5
August 12 · 44 min
Notes From The Underground A Propos of the Wet Snow Part 3
In which a nocturnal conversation unfolds between a disillusioned gentleman and a young woman ensnared in a degrading existence, their words wandering through the dark corners of human misery and lost innocence as he imparts his bleak reflections on...
- Transcript
S11 · E4
August 11 · 1 hr 2 min
Notes From The Underground A Propos of the Wet Snow Part 2
In which a man, haunted by a mixture of contempt and craving for recognition, intrudes upon a farewell dinner for an old school rival and is met with cold disdain and biting mockery, plunging him into bitter self-reflection and increasing humiliation....
- Transcript
S11 · E3
August 11 · 45 min
Notes From The Underground A Propos of the Wet Snow Part 1
In which a young man, plagued by a tumultuous mix of vanity, self-loathing, and social alienation, navigates the dreary monotony of his office life alongside his dark indulgences and fanciful dreams of grandeur. With painstaking care, he rehearses a...
- Transcript
S11 · E2
August 10 · 48 min
Notes From The Underground Underground Part 2
In which the narrator reflects with a pensive and somewhat sardonic tone on the nature of human free will, caprice, and the paradox of reason opposing desire, arguing that man often chooses the irrational and the self-destructive in order to affirm...
- Transcript
S11 · E1
August 10 · 44 min
Notes From The Underground Underground Part 1
In which a man of acute consciousness lays bare the peculiar maladies of his soul, confessing a life spent in spiteful inertia and vexed self-reflection amid the cold ironies of nature’s laws. He muses on the paradox of intelligence as both a torment...
- Transcript
S10 · E16
August 9 · 56 min
Short Stories 10 - The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
In which a forlorn and self-proclaimed ridiculous man contemplates the futility of existence and his own planned demise, only to be stirred by the desperate plight of a little girl, leading him into a profound and strange dream of death, resurrection,...
- Transcript
S10 · E15
August 9 · 44 min
Short Stories 9 - Bobok
In which a disillusioned man attends a funeral and, resting by a tombstone, begins to overhear the dead conversing with one another in a strange, shadowy realm between life and oblivion. This eerie gathering reveals a curious blend of personalities...
- Transcript
S10 · E14
August 8 · 21 min
Short Stories 8 - The Crocodile Part 4
In which a most extraordinary spectacle of a live crocodile draws the curious gaze of Petersburg’s society, inspiring peculiar debates on love, social standing, and human folly, while domestic life and romantic entanglements unfold within humble...
- Transcript
S10 · E13
August 8 · 29 min
Short Stories 8 - The Crocodile Part 3
In which a most curious gentleman finds himself lodged within the cavernous belly of a monstrous crocodile, reflecting with feverish pompousness on his newfound fame and the grand designs he intends to unfold from this singular imprisonment. Amidst...
- Transcript
S10 · E11
August 7 · 25 min
Short Stories 8 - The Crocodile Part 1
In which a refined gentleman and his lady companion visit a curious exhibition of a supposedly dormant crocodile, only to witness the former being startlingly and quite inconceivably swallowed whole by the creature itself. Amidst a mixture of shock,...
- Transcript
S10 · E12
August 7 · 22 min
Short Stories 8 - The Crocodile Part 2
In which the narrator visits the venerable Timofey Semyonitch to seek counsel on a most peculiar and unprecedented predicament involving the hapless Ivan Matveitch, whose unusual circumstance stirs a variety of opinions rooted in bureaucracy,...
- Transcript
S10 · E10
August 6 · 14 min
Short Stories 7 - A Peasant Marey
In which a sombre prisoner, amidst the harsh and chaotic life behind iron bars during an uneasy holiday, is transported by a vivid childhood memory of a fearful encounter in the countryside with a kindly peasant named Marey. This recollection kindles...
- Transcript

Showing 61–80 of 85 episodes