Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s ‘Unfortunate Incidents’ in Persian

A satirical short story about the escapades of a civil servant by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky is available in Persian.

“An Unpleasant Predicament” has been translated from English into Persian by Mitra Nazarian and published by Mahi publication. It is one of Dostoyevsky’s more obscure works, written and published in 1862 following his brief tour of Spain. In the story, he presents a man who must come to terms with his own weaknesses and illusions. The story is about a state councilor Ivan Ilyich Pralinsky, a 43-year-old man, who after drinking several extra glasses with two fellow civil servants, expounds on his desire to embrace a philosophy based on kindness towards the downtrodden and help those at the lower-end of the socio-economic ladder.

After leaving his colleagues, Ivan goes to the wedding celebration of one of his subordinates and decides to put his philosophy into action. A novelist, journalist and philosopher, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) has written 11 novels, three novellas and 17 short stories.