Dostoevsky's Short Fiction

In this course we will study four of Dostoevsky’s shorter works: The Double (1846), The Insulted and Injured (1861), Notes from Underground (1864), and The Gambler (1866). We will launch the course with a close read of The Double, a story in which a minor official hallucinates his own double. Next, we will take a deep dive into The Insulted and Injured that plunges the reader into a sphere of childhood trauma, moral squalor, and unreciprocated love. Our reading of Notes from Underground will serve as a succinct and powerful introduction to the characters and themes of Dostoevsky’s mature works. Among such works is The Gambler, which centers on a portrait of a young man’s addiction to gambling, a compulsion from which Dostoevsky himself suffered. With each successive read, students will acquire an introduction to Russian culture, as well as an appreciation for one of the great authors of world literature.



Michael Katz is the former Dean of Language Schools and Schools Abroad, emeritus in the Russian Department, and currently the C.V. Starr Professor Emeritus of Russian and East European Studies at Middlebury.