num_pages: 128
description: A compulsive gambler himself at a certain period of his life, Dostoyevsky wrote this novel with real authority. Set in the appropriately named Roulettenburg, a German spa with a casino and an international clientele, it concerns the gambling episodes, tangled love affairs and complicated lives of Alexey Ivanovitch, a young gambler; Polina Alexandrovna, the woman he loves; a pair of French adventurers and other characters. Although not as dark as some of Dostoyevsky's other works, The Gambler nevertheless offers a grim and psychologically probing picture of the fatal attractions of gambling. Among its strengths are its well-drawn characters—Aunt Antonida, although lightly sketched in, is especially delightful—and its faithful depiction of life among the gambling set in fashionable German watering holes. This edition reprints Constance Garnett's authoritative translation.
language: English
title: The Gambler
titlecomplete: The Gambler
characters: Polina Aleksandrovna, Alexei Ivanovich
genres: Fiction, Russian Literature, 19th Century, Classics, Classic Literature, Russia, Roman, Romance, Literature, Novels
ratings_count: 84553
places: Eastern Europe, Russia
awards: awardedAt: 94723200000
name: National Book Award Finalist
category: Translation
publisher: Dover Publications