WHEN THE DEMONS WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1871, the quintessential political and prophetic novel by Dostoevsky, a storm of reactions erupted within the literary and political (mainly revolutionary) circles of Russia. A massive discussion arose and a war was declared against the "repentant" former death-row author and ex-convict from Siberia. The events that resonated in the novel were the "Nechayev case," the activities of the organization "People's Retribution," and the murder of a student by five of its members. Dostoevsky was drawn to the ideological and organizational principles of the nihilists, the accomplices in the crime, and the personality of their leader, S. G. Nechayev. The rich factual material came from revolutionary literature, the newspapers of the time, and the records of the sensational trial – the first open political trial until then – the defenses, and the political manifestos of the accused.
"In the work I am currently writing for the magazine Rouskii Vestnik, I place many hopes, not from a literary perspective but from an ideological one. I want to express some of my thoughts, even if the artistic value of this work is lost. I am seriously preoccupied with what has collected in my heart and mind. I don't mind if it ends up being a 'charge,' I will have said my piece. I hope it will be successful," he writes on March 25, 1870.
He does not hesitate to scorn, sharply, the "utopias" of Fourier and Chernyshevsky (whose classic novel What Is To Be Done? had become the bible of the restless and revolutionary youth), as well as several other literary giants of Russian literature like his friend Turgenev and Granovsky.
The story of The Demons revolves around the "controversial" personality of the nihilist Pyotr Verkhovensky (Nechayev) and the enigmatic and demonic figure of Nikolai Stavrogin ("evil... a tragic personality, a character that stands out exceptionally with its peculiarity, but a Russian character... I feel pain for him," declares the author, who deeply hides a Stavrogin within himself – as asserted in an excellent article of the same name by Berdyaev). Surrounding these two demonic figures are the liberal-idealist and father of the nihilist, Stepan Trofimovich, and the "ideologues" (Svidrigailov, Kirillov, Sigaliov). And around them, tragic figures, the women. Three women and their "absolute," "fatal" love for Stavrogin (not to mention the unconditional worship shown to him by his dominating, noble mother; the competition, stoicism, pride, and passion of which provide rich material for the study of the female psyche.
