The Gambler

The story of "The Gambler," one of Dostoevsky's most autobiographical novels, is narrated in diary form by the protagonist, a young tutor in the household of a Russian general residing in a German spa resort. Welcomed into the colorful court of parasites revolving around the now ruined general, the tutor is won over by the demon of gambling and becomes a professional risk-taker who impassively suffers wins and losses and accepts good and bad fortune with the same indifference, the same nobility, the same imperturbable calm. Faced with the haughty refusal of the woman he loves, to whom he would like to donate a huge sum won at roulette, the protagonist decides to leave for Paris with the greedy mademoiselle Blanche, who squanders all the money before dismissing him. His fate is sealed: he will drag himself from one casino to another, with a few interludes in prison, and with the perhaps fatally illusory hope that tomorrow everything will end.

Unabridged edition with an interactive table of contents.