The Gambler

[Golyadkin]

I have not personally read The Gambler, but I intend to soon. For those of you who have read it, here's a place for you to discuss it.

[Mogwai]

It's a very fast read and a good one, too.  I read it right after 'Poor People' but liked 'The Gambler' more.  

While it is fiction, a lot of it ties into personal experiences of Dostoevsky and his addiction to gambling.  He goes into what makes gambling so addictive and portrays the highs and lows of the results very, very well.

[Golyadkin]

From what you say about it, I look forward to reading it.

[Worm]

There's more gambling in "The Adolescent", by the way.

I've read 'The Gambler', but i didn't like it all too much.  It was a nice book.  I've read better of Dostojewski.  A minor work.

[Golyadkin]

Oh, yeah, gambling.

[the magician]

i read the Gambler recently and liked it. I read some where that he was pressured into writing the gambler in a month although it is a short novel , a month is still a short time to write a novel.

[Mogwai]

I think I read about that, too, in the foreward.  I enjoyed the novel - short and sweet.  You really get into the mind of a gambler!

[Worm]

Another thing about the book is that it's dictated by Fyodor.  And the woman who typed it all down while he dictated it all, fell in love with him .. and they married later on.
I've also read somewhere (not sure if it's true) is that there is supposedly a sunrise (or sunset; or something like that) which occurs two times in the book, and is described two times in the same way.  An editor or sth. said that two sunrises were both probably based on the same memory Dostojewski had of a certain sunrise .. he probably was unaware he used it two times for the same book.

[Mogwai]

there is supposedly a sunrise (or sunset; or something like that) which occurs two times in the book, and is described two times in the same way.  An editor or sth. said that two sunrises were both probably based on the same memory Dostojewski had of a certain sunrise .. he probably was unaware he used it two times for the same book.

I guess that's easy to do when you write a book in a month's flurry.  

[Golyadkin]

Yeah, but writing a book in a month is the hard part.

[Mitya]

Gentlemen, you have completely motivated me to read The Gambler.... the whole discussion about D's writing it in a month's time is also intriguing... I personally hate rewriting, and if I was an author, I think speedwriting would be the way to go but writing so fast is usually not the most conducive to excellence... that D could write The Gambler so quickly and still give it his own quality, that just blows me away.

[Golyadkin]

He was a great man, no doubt about that.

[Mogwai]

Mitya, have you picked up The Gambler yet?  Started reading it?  It's a pretty short read...

[axon]

Actually The Gambler is a very poorly written, yet fun, short novel. D hated it as soon he has written - er - dictated it

Has anyone seen the movie adaptation?

[Mitya]

Mitya, have you picked up The Gambler yet?  Started reading it?  It's a pretty short read...

Funny you should mention it... I borrowed it from the library yesterday. I've been reading Demons, so I haven't had a chance to read more than the first two pages or so of The Gambler. It is pretty short... the version I checked out has two shorter stories in it as well, Poor Folk, I think, and something else. I'll probably discuss those elsewhere.