At the country estate of Stepanchikovo, the household has fallen completely under the sway of the despotic charlatan and humbug Foma Fomich Opiskin, one of the most notorious creations in Russian literature. The owner of the estate, Colonel Rostanev, a meek, soft-hearted giant of a man, is cruelly dominated by his parasitic houseguest and now Opiskin has plans to marry his host off to an elderly widow. With deftly controlled suspense, amid a teeming variety of wildly eccentric minor characters, the novel builds up to a confrontation between these two. Will Rostanev give way to Opiskin’s bullying and sacrifice the love of his life? Or will his sense of honour finally push him to resist the tyrant’s demands? Full of pace, effervescence and absurd characters, this short comic novel represents a rare instance of Dostoyevsky’s antic side.
