The Possessed

By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Constance Garnett - translator

Narrated by: Constantine Gregory

Also known as Demons, The Possessed is a powerful socio-political novel about revolutionary ideas and the radicals behind them. It follows the career of Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky, a political terrorist who leads a group of nihilists on a demonic quest for societal breakdown. They are consumed by their desires and ideals, and have surrendered themselves fully to the darkness of their "demons". This possession leads them to engulf a quiet provincial town and subject it to a storm of violence. Inspired by a real political killing in 1869, the book is an impassioned response to the ideologies of European liberalism and nihilism, which threatened Russian Orthodoxy; it eerily predicted the Russian Revolution, which would take place 50 years later. Funny, shocking, and tragic, it is a profound and affecting work with deep philosophical discourses about God, human freedom and political revolution.

Translation by Constance Garnett; appendix translated by S. S. Koteliansky and Virginia Woolf.

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2017 Naxos AudioBooks

One of the Greatest

The audible version of the Possessed is a better way of going through Dostoyevsky novel. This narration brings out the characters which helps the reader of the hard cover to gain clarity. I really took notice in chapter 75 when they were talking about how to unite indivduals and then lead them to revolution, very timely for our own world situation.

Excellent, excellent, excellent...

...a wonderfully entertaining critique of nihilism (so skillfully penned by Dostoevsky's hand and mind). Stepan and Varvara might as well be boomer college dean and donors (respectively)... Pyotr might as well be a... a young narcissistic Marxist agitator... oddly relevant to today. The 'Girl-Student' and 'Boy Student' are wonderful mirrors for 'educated' thought today. Again, wonderfully entertaining (even outside of it's psychological and social relevance).

Narrator

The goofy voice he uses for Stepan Trofimovitch is awful, but what’s worse is he accidentally reads narration in the same goofy voice quite a lot, which is really confusing

Reading second to none, masterful story

Full disclosure: this story has a long set up. Maybe 2/3 of it is introducing characters and back story. But its so worth it. Some of Dostoevsky's most painful and beautiful passages lie within. Deserves a 2nd or 3rd listen to digest.
The reader is excellent as well. Not corny with his voices, but distinct enough to know who's talking at any instant.

The complexity and depth

Great narration of a classic. Well worth the time to listen but very complex & hard to follow at times.