Netochka Nezvanova
 | |
| Author | Fyodor Dostoyevsky |
|---|---|
| Original title | Неточка Незванова |
| Translator | Ann Dunnigan (1972) Jane Kentish (1985) |
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | Novel |
Publication date | 1849 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 173 pp |
| Preceded by | The Double: A Petersburg Poem |
| Followed by | The Village of Stepanchikovo |
Netochka Nezvanova (Russian: Неточка Незванова) is an unfinished novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was originally intended as a large scale work in the form of a 'confession', but a background sketch of the eponymous heroine's childhood and adolescence is all that was completed and published. According to translator Jane Kentish, this first publication was intended as "no more than a prologue to the novel".[1] Dostoevsky began work on the novel in 1848 and the first completed section was published at the end of 1849. Further work was prevented by the author's arrest and exile to a Siberian detention camp for his part in the activities of the Petrashevsky Circle. After his return in 1859, Dostoyevsky never resumed work on Netochka Nezvanova, leaving this fragment forever incomplete.
Plot
The plot unfolds in three distinct sections, corresponding to upheavals in the heroine's life.
Chapters 1–3 are predominantly concerned with Netochka's recollections of her childhood with her mother and stepfather in St. Petersburg, up until the time of their death. She begins with the background story of her stepfather, Efimov, a talented but self-obsessed violinist, who she describes as "the strangest and most extraordinary person I have ever known" and a man whose powerful influence over her affected the rest of her life.[2] Efimov's madness brings terrible poverty and discord to the family, and leaves the child with a premature and painful insight into the dark side of human emotions. This part of her life comes to an end when Efimov kills her mother, after which he himself becomes completely insane and dies.
Netochka is adopted by Prince X., an acquaintance of her stepfather, and chapters 4 and 5 are concerned with the orphaned girl's immersion in this unfamiliar aristocratic world, focusing particularly on her relationship with the Prince's daughter Katya. Netochka immediately falls in love with the beautiful Katya, but Katya is initially repelled by the strange newcomer, and is cruel and dismissive toward her. Over time, however, this apparent dislike transforms into an equally passionate reciprocation of Netochka's feelings. Their young, unashamed love leads to an intimacy that alarms Katya's mother, who eventually takes steps to ensure their separation. Katya's family move to Moscow, and Netochka is placed in the care of Katya's elder half-sister, Alexandra Mikhailovna. According to the narrator, Netochka and Katya will not see each other for another eight years, but as the novel remained unfinished, their reuniting is never described.
The final chapters describe Netochka's teenage years growing up in the household of the gentle and maternal Alexandra Mikhailovna and her cold and distant husband Pyotr Alexandrovitch. She forms a loving, deeply empathetic relationship with Alexandra Mikhailovna, but is troubled by her painfully solicitous attitude toward her husband, and by what appears to be calculated indifference and dissimulation on his part. Netochka suspects some mystery from their past, and eventually a clue presents itself to her young mind in the form of a letter that she accidentally discovers pressed between the pages of an old book in the library. It is a distraught letter from a lover to Alexandra Mikhaylovna, lamenting the necessity of their final separation, and grieving for the irreparable harm he has caused her reputation and her marriage. Netochka's discovery of the letter sets off a chain of events that bring Alexandra Mikhaylovna to the point of emotional breakdown, and Netochka to the point of womanhood as she confronts Pyotr Alexandrovitch with the truth of what he has done to his wife.
Footnotes
- ^ Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Netochka Nezvanova. Translated with an introduction by Jane Kentish. Penguin Books. 1985. p 5. ISBN 0-14-044455-6
- ^ Fyodor Dostoevsky. Netochka Nezvanova. translated by Jane Kentish. 1985. p7.
External links
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