First published 2008
A provincial Russian town seethes with revolutionary fervor and destructive ideologies. A group of radical intellectuals plots political upheaval, their abstract theories threatening to ignite real violence. As competing factions of anarchists, nihilists, and would-be revolutionaries converge, personal obsessions and philosophical conflicts threaten to consume everything around them. One charismatic but unstable leader manipulates the group's deepest anxieties, pushing them toward an explosive confrontation that could destroy the entire community. Not a political tract, but a visceral exploration of how ideology can transform ordinary people into agents of chaos.
Genres: fiction, classics, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 19th-century, russian-literature
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking, visceral
Tropes: charismatic-leader, ideological-conflict, philosophical-debate
Setting: Russia
Period: 19th-Century
769 pages · Paperback · Oxford University Press
Content warnings: violence