Fyodor Dostoevsky inspiration for his writing. They continued their trip through Germany, visiting Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Heidelberg and Karlsruhe. They spent five weeks in Baden-Baden, where Dostoevsky had a quarrel with Turgenev and again lost much money at the roulette table. The couple travelled on to Geneva. In September 1867, Dostoevsky began work on "The Idiot", and after a prolonged planning process that bore little resemblance to the published novel, he eventually managed to write the first 100 pages in only 23 days; the serialisation began in "The Russian Messenger "in January 1868. Their first child, Sonya, had been conceived in Baden-Baden, and
Prince Myshkin by any of her other misguided opinions. Aglaya's illusions and the Prince's real motivations are juxtaposed in a number of scenes or consecutive scenes. For example, in a scene from Part II Aglaya reads aloud Pushkin's poem "The Poor Knight", unambiguously indicating to the assembled company that she is identifying the Prince with the poem's subject, a noble Knight who goes off to fight heroically in the Crusades. When this scene is interrupted by the arrival of the group of Nihilists who are seeking to slander the Prince and exploit his wealth, Aglaya is ecstatic that he will have the