Demons

“One negation, without any magnanimity and without any force,” says the main character of the novel Nikolai Stavrogin and essentially describes the political unrest in Russia of the 1870s. Dostoevsky had already written “The Idiot,” “Crime and Punishment,” and “The Gambler,” and he was preparing to start the main book of his life. But at this time, a revolutionary terrorist movement is violently developing in St. Petersburg, resulting in the murder of a student organized by the leader of the “People's Retribution” party, Sergey Nechayev. The contemplation of the absurdity and cruelty of such forms of struggle forced Dostoevsky to put aside what he had started and take on “Demons.” Today, when the novel is just as relevant as it was 150 years ago, there can be no doubt that Dostoevsky wrote a great book.

The artist Yuri Gershkovich is well-matched to Dostoevsky. In his illustrations, the darkness, filth, and despair of human existence are refracted into vicious caricatured types, juggling meaning, truth, and other people's lives.