The Idiot The Idiot The Idiot (pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform ) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal "The Russian Messenger" in 1868–9. The title is an ironic reference to the central character of the novel, Prince (Knyaz) Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, a young man whose goodness, open-hearted simplicity and guilelessness lead many of the more worldly characters he encounters to mistakenly assume that he lacks intelligence and insight. In the character of Prince Myshkin, Dostoevsky set himself the task of depicting "the positively good and beautiful man." The novel examines the
Lev Panyutin Lev Panyutin Lev Konstantinovich Panyutin (, 6 March 1831 in Yelisavetgrad region, Kherson Governorate, Imperial Russia – 13 December 1882 in Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia) was a Russian writer, poet and journalist. Panyutin, who debuted as a published author in 1858 in Moscow with the "Stikhotverenya" (Poems) collection, then moved to Saint Petersburg where he started contributing to "Golos", using the pseudonym Nil Admirari, and soon became a popular author of feuilletons which came out in 1872 as a separate two-volume edition. Panyutin was also writing stories, as well as critical and historical essays for "Otechestvennye Zapiski", "Nedelya" and "Budilnik".