The Gambler

The Gambler

1866 • 160 pages

Ratings49

Average rating3.8

15

The Gambler (Russian: Игрокъ, romanized: Igrok; modern spelling Игрок) is a short novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky about a young tutor in the employment of a formerly wealthy Russian general. The novella reflects Dostoevsky's own addiction to roulette, which was in more ways than one the inspiration for the book: Dostoevsky completed the novella in 1866 under a strict deadline to pay off gambling debts.

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“Useless, you say? But pleasure is always useful, and wild, boundless power—if only over a fly—is also a pleasure of a certain sort. Man is a despot by nature and likes to play the torturer. You like it terribly.”

“A true gentleman, even if he loses his entire fortune, must not show emotion.”

Esperaba más, mucho más. Mí primer encuentro con Dostoyevski no ha sido el más fructífero.

I've been through the BBC radio 3 audio version of the book. It have amazing sound effects and each character narrated by different person. It's short and sweet novel. However it seems this version of the audio book look a bit different from the original version.

99% quit gambling before their big win.


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