Demons (pre-reform Russian: Бѣсы; post-reform Russian: Бесы, tr. Bésy, IPA: [ˈbʲe.

sɨ];
sometimes also called The Possessed or The Devils is a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, first
published in the journal The Russian Messenger in 1871–72. 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."[1] According to Ronald Hingley, it is Dostoevsky's "greatest onslaught on Nihilism", and
"one of humanity's most impressive achievements—perhaps even its supreme achievement—in
the art of prose fiction."[2]
Demons is an allegory of the potentially catastrophic consequences of the political and moral
nihilism that were becoming prevalent in Russia in the 1860s.[3] A fictional town descends into
chaos as it becomes the focal point of an attempted revolution, orchestrated by master
conspirator Pyotr Verkhovensky. The mysterious aristocratic figure of Nikolai Stavrogin—
Verkhovensky's counterpart in the moral sphere—dominates the book, exercising an
extraordinary influence over the hearts and minds of almost all the other characters. The
idealistic, Western-influenced generation of the 1840s, epitomized in the character of Stepan
Verkhovensky (who is both Pyotr Verkhovensky's father and Nikolai Stavrogin's childhood
teacher), are presented as the unconscious progenitors and helpless accomplices of the
"demonic" forces that take possession of the town.

Title[edit]
The original Russian title is Bésy (Russian: Бесы, singular Бес, bés), which means "demons".
There are three English translations: The Possessed, The Devils, and Demons. Constance
Garnett's 1916 translation popularized the novel and gained it notoriety as The Possessed, but
this title has been disputed by later translators. They argue that "The Possessed" points in the
wrong direction because Bésy refers to active subjects rather than passive objects—"possessors"
rather than "the possessed".[4][5] 'Demons' in this sense refers not so much to individuals as to
the ideas that possess them. For Dostoevsky, 'ideas' are living cultural forces that have the
capacity to seduce and subordinate the individual consciousness, and the individual who has
become alienated from his own concrete national traditions is particularly susceptible.[6] According
to translator Richard Pevear, the demons are "that legion of isms that came to Russia from the
West: idealism, rationalism, empiricism, materialism, utilitarianism, positivism, socialism,
anarchism, nihilism, and, underlying them all, atheism."[7] The counter-ideal (expressed in the
novel through the character of Ivan Shatov) is that of an authentically Russian culture growing out
of the people's inherent spirituality and faith, but even this—as mere idealization and an attempt
to reassert something that has been lost—is another idea and lacks real force.[8]
In a letter to his friend Apollon Maykov, Dostoevsky alludes to the episode of the Exorcism of the
Gerasene demoniac in the Gospel of Luke as the inspiration for the title: "Exactly the same thing
happened in our country: the devils went out of the Russian man and entered into a herd of
swine... These are drowned or will be drowned, and the healed man, from whom the devils have
departed, sits at the feet of Jesus."[9] Part of the passage is used as an epigraph, and
Dostoevsky's thoughts on its relevance to Russia are given voice by Stepan Verkhovensky on his
deathbed near the end of the novel.