The Dream of a Ridiculous Man Audiobook By Fyodor Dostoevsky cover art

The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

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The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
Narrated by: Walter Zimmerman
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Dostoevsky is primarily known for his monumental works like Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov. However, he also wrote many excellent shorter works that embody the same exploration of human psychology on a smaller scale.

The Dream of a Ridiculous Man is one of his best short pieces. No less a writer than Virginia Woolf says of Dostoevsky, "Out of Shakespeare there is no more exciting reading."

Public Domain (P)1987 Jimcin Recordings Literary Fiction Classics Fiction Genre Fiction

Editorial reviews

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s penultimate serial plays like a super-concentrated version of his most famous works from the 1860s and '70s. The story follows a man perhaps even more brooding, deranged, and paranoid than Dostoevsky’s most famous anti-heroes, a man who’s very thoughts are so numerous and twisted that they seem to nullify him, rendering his life meaningless. On his way to kill himself, the ridiculous man is struck by a chance encounter with a young girl, which in turn prompts a life-altering vision of paradise. Performer Walter Zimmerman’s fluid, deliberate style brings clarity and tempo to the labyrinthine psychoanalytics for which Dostoevsky is famous. Through his tortuously absurd protagonist, the author’s telltale meditations on utopia, nihilism, and spirituality are all expounded to satirically outrageous conclusions.
Philosophical Depth • Challenging Themes • Clear Narration • Theological Truth • Fantastical Elements

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Good Dostoevsky story that raises lots of issues about life and dreams. Solid narrator.

Intellectually challenging

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The story was great the narrator not so
much... I suggest listening to the story but looking for a different narrator

The story was great

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What a wonderful, challenging, philosophical, fantastical short story by Dostoyevsky. The narrator is very clear and well-paced. Audio quality is OK.

Dostoyevsky Gem

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Although this is one of my favorite Dostoevsky short stories, this translation and the telling felt a bit stiff. This story is best read or told as one of those conversations you have on rare occasions when you are both trapped waiting. The reader doesn't share the urgency and conviction that Dostoevsky was trying to convey.

Not the greatest telling

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Dostoevsky's gift as a story-teller is on display in "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man". Zimmerman is ideal for narrating FD.

Incredibly imaginative

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