Demons (Dostoevsky novel) Demons (Dostoevsky novel) Demons (pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform ; sometimes also called The Possessed or The Devils) is a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, first published in the journal "The Russian Messenger" in 1871–2. It is considered one of the four masterworks written by Dostoevsky after his return from Siberian exile, along with "Crime and Punishment" (1866), "The Idiot" (1869) and "The Brothers Karamazov" (1880). "Demons" is a social and political satire, a psychological drama, and large scale tragedy. Joyce Carol Oates has described it as "Dostoevsky's most confused and violent novel, and his most satisfactorily 'tragic' work." According to Ronald
Fyodor Dostoevsky Russia. Mikhail Bakunin once wrote to Alexander Herzen that the group was "the most innocent and harmless company" and its members were "systematic opponents of all revolutionary goals and means". Dostoevsky used the circle's library on Saturdays and Sundays and occasionally participated in their discussions on freedom from censorship and the abolition of serfdom. In 1849, the first parts of "Netochka Nezvanova", a novel Dostoevsky had been planning since 1846, were published in "Annals of the Fatherland", but his banishment ended the project. Dostoevsky never attempted to complete it. The members of the Petrashevsky Circle were denounced to Liprandi, an