The Village of Stepanchikovo

'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.' First published in 1859 shortly after Dostoyevsky was freed from compulsory military service, The Village of Stepanchikovo is a comic portrait of tyranny disguised as virtue. When Sergey Alexandrovich is summoned back to his uncle's remote estate in St. Petersburg, he's faced with a cast of extraordinary characters. His Uncle, a retired colonel, usually keeps the company of nobleman, yet to Sergey's surprise, a middle-aged charlatan – Foma Fomich Opiskin – holds the floor. From pompous preaching about the importance of modesty to snide, humiliating remarks towards the other guests, Opiskin manipulates his way to a position of influence. But when Opiskin's thinly veiled scheming is challenged by the colonel, all hell breaks loose… Early Dostoyevsky at his funniest, The Village of Stepanchikovo is a sharp, witty and waspish portrayal of farcical morality. Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821 – 1881) was a Russian novelist, journalist and philosopher. Famed for his masterpieces Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Adolescent, his works are characterised by profound psychological insight and existentialist exploration. Today, he is regarded as one of the greatest novelists of all time.