Бесы

The novel "Demons" holds a special place in the works of F. M. Dostoevsky. It is not only part of the so-called "great pentateuch" of the writer alongside "Crime and Punishment," "The Idiot," "The Adolescent," and "The Brothers Karamazov," but also stands out particularly in this line. This novel, dedicated to the issues of the confrontation between darkness and light, evil and good, was conceived by Dostoevsky in 1870 after the murder in Moscow by a terrorist group of Sergey Nechaev, one of the members of his underground organization - Ivan Ivanov, who intended to break away from it. The writer foresaw that phenomena of this kind are the result of a whole complex of problems that have been accumulating in the country for centuries. However, "Demons" is not only a work about Nechaev and the nechaevshchina; it is also about the possibility and necessity of the human soul to overcome all temptations and doubts, endure all trials, and find the saving path, by following which one can achieve victory over the triumphant demonic chaos in the world - evil, lies, and other vices. At the same time, "Demons" is a vast literary canvas depicting, in an original narrative form, the life of a provincial town during fateful events.

The edition is accompanied by illustrations created in the mid-1930s by Sarra Shor (1897-1981), a graduate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. The future artist was born in a small county town in Volhynia province three years before the beginning of the 20th century. It seemed that she was destined for the usual fate of hundreds of thousands of Jewish girls living in the Russian hinterlands. However, Sarra developed a passion for drawing. First, Sarra enrolled in the Kiev Art School, where she became acquainted with European avant-garde art, and then moved to St. Petersburg. Over time, she joined a new artistic association - the "Cultural League"; the Jewish artists within it sought to promote new art while combining it with national motifs. In this vein, the creativity of Sarra Shor also developed. She created sketches for theatrical productions and later became interested in book graphics. Books with illustrations by S. Shor were published by leading publishing houses in Moscow and Leningrad. These editions were repeatedly showcased at international exhibitions of book art, including abroad: in Cologne, Amsterdam, New York, Berlin, and London. An example of such work by Shor includes her illustrations for Dostoevsky's "Demons."