The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Several times in the past years, I attempted to read Dostoyevsky’s novels, but at some point, I gave up. I guess I was not ready yet for him. The House of the Dead is the first novel by Dostoevsky that I successfully completed reading, and it is awesome.
Dostoevsky is one of those few authors who transcend time and cultures, and this is perhaps one of the reasons why he is regarded as one of the best writers ever. He lived during the end of the 19th century, a time when Russia was undergoing several social changes against the power of the upper social classes. His involvement in literary associations was seen as progressive, and eventually, he was arrested and sent to prison in Siberia, where he collected the experiences presented in this book.
The main character in the book, Aleksandr Petrovich Goryanchikov, has been sent to a prison located in a remote area of Siberia for the murder of his wife. Over the course of several years, Aleksandr witnesses the sordid life in the military prison, with hundreds of inmates cramped in a few buildings. The prisoners fight and steal from one another and commit all sorts of horrible actions. During this time, Aleksandr learns to understand and appreciate his fellow inmates.
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the book is how Dostoevsky constructs and analyzes the psychological profiles of his fellow inmates. This is why this book is atemporal. It goes beyond time and geographical borders and accurately describes the human mind in astonishing detail. He explains, for instance, why a convict behaves in prison even worse than he would if he were in his normal life as a free man. The reason is that a convict is already a convict and can act poorly without feeling ashamed. Dostoevsky also explains the concept of freedom and how inmates idealize their freedom as their ultimate goal, even though most of them will spend decades in prison, and many of them will die without ever going out again.
The book deals with forced labor, violent corporal punishments that send inmates to the hospital, and provides a detailed portrait of pain and loss of hope. All of this is in this book, and perhaps one of the takeaways is that all human beings share a core of psychological features, regardless of their social class.