White Nights and Other Stories (Alma)

The young, reclusive scholar Vasily Ordynov becomes infatuated with Katerina, who is married to the much older Ilya Murin, a man of forbidding manners and appearance. Having managed to secure a lodging at their home, Ordynov becomes aware of his landlord`s murky past and his reputed gift of clairvoyance, which has created a stir in the neighbourhood. As he develops a passion for his landlady, which Katerina reciprocates, the scene is set for a violent confrontation and a cataclysmic denouement. The Landlady, a novella written in 1847, immediately after The Double, is accompanied in this volume by the rest of Dostoevsky`s shorter fiction, including famous stories such as `Mr Prokharchin`, `White Nights`, `The Dream of a Ridiculous Man` and `A Gentle Creature` - all presented in sparkling new translations by Roger Cockrell.