Demons

Pyotr and Stavrogin are the leaders of a Russian revolutionary cell. Their aim is to overthrow the Tsar, destroy society and seize power for themselves. Together they train terrorists who are willing to go to any lengths to achieve their goals - even if the mission means suicide. But when it seems the group is about to be discovered, will their recruits be willing to kill one of their own circle in order to cover their tracks? Partly based on the real-life case of a student murdered by his fellow revolutionaries, Dostoyevsky's sprawling novel is a powerful and prophetic, yet lively and often comic depiction of nineteenth-century Russia, and a savage indictment of the madness and self-destruction of those who use violence to serve their beliefs.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-û1881) spent four years in a convict prison in Siberia, after which he was obliged to enlist in the army. His novels, including Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, rank among the greatest of the nineteenth century in any language. Robert A. Maguire was the Boris Bakhmeteff Professor Emeritus of Russian and Eastern European Studies at Columbia University. He died in 2005. Ronald Meyer is the director of the master-'s program in Russian translation at Columbia University. Robert L . Belknap is an emeritus professor of Russian at Columbia University.