Tag Archives: Fyodor Dostoevsky

RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: The Chink of Gold Coins on the Roulette Table Drives the Gambler into Near Convulsions! (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

When I hear the cries of the croupiers – ‘Trente-et-un rouge, impair et passe’. ‘Quatre, noir, pair et manque’ it’s with a sort of apprehension, a sort of sinking feeling in my heart. How greedily I look at the gaming table, with its scattered louis d’or, gold friedrichs and thalers, at the streams of goldContinue reading “RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: The Chink of Gold Coins on the Roulette Table Drives the Gambler into Near Convulsions! (Fyodor Dostoevsky)”

RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: With Gambling You Have Renounced Everything! (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

‘You have not only renounced life, with its interest and social ties, but the duties of a citizen and a man. You have not only given up the friends I knew you had, and every aim in life except winning money, but you have also given up your memories. Although I can remember you duringContinue reading “RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: With Gambling You Have Renounced Everything! (Fyodor Dostoevsky)”

RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: Always…The Next Spin of the Roulette Wheel (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

I have a feeling of expectation and it can’t be wrong. I’ve got 15 louis d’or now, though I only began with fifteen gulden. If I play carefully to start with…..But no! Surely I’m not such a fool as that. I’m a lost soul. But why should I not rise from the dead? All IContinue reading “RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: Always…The Next Spin of the Roulette Wheel (Fyodor Dostoevsky)”

RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: The Sordidness of Beggary After Being Wiped Out at Gambling! (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

Scarcely a year and a half have passed, but I’m worse off than the poorest beggar. But what is a beggar anyhow? Who cares about being a beggar? I’ve just ruined myself, that’s all. There’s nothing I could compare my situation to at the moment, and moralizing would serve no purpose in any case. AtContinue reading “RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: The Sordidness of Beggary After Being Wiped Out at Gambling! (Fyodor Dostoevsky)”

RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: Bloodsucker Mademoiselle Blanche Completely Cleans Out Our Protagonist (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

I frequently had recourse to champagne because I constantly felt depressed and bored, owing to the fact that I was living in the most bourgeois, mercenary milieu imaginable, where every sou was counted and grudged. Indeed, two weeks had not gone by before I realized Blanche had no real affection for me, even though sheContinue reading “RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: Bloodsucker Mademoiselle Blanche Completely Cleans Out Our Protagonist (Fyodor Dostoevsky)”

RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: Mademoiselle Blanche an Unapologetic Bloodsucker (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

‘What do you want with money?’ she would say to me with an air of total simplicity, and I never argued the point. She fitted out her flat very nicely with the money, which did not stop her from saying when, later, she was showing me over the rooms of her new home.’ See whatContinue reading “RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: Mademoiselle Blanche an Unapologetic Bloodsucker (Fyodor Dostoevsky)”

RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: Charlatan Poles at the Casino Robbing Grandmother (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

An hour later, the two Poles who earlier in the day had been thrown out of the casino, made a reappearance behind the old lady’s chair and renewed their offers of service, even if only to be sent on errands; but Potapych told me these rascals exchanged winks with the said “gentleman of honour”, andContinue reading “RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: Charlatan Poles at the Casino Robbing Grandmother (Fyodor Dostoevsky)”

RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: Croupiers at Casino Guardians of Assets of the House (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

At the casino Grandmother seemed to be expected, for no time was lost in getting her to her former place beside the croupier. It is my opinion that though croupiers seem such ordinary humdrum officials – men who couldn’t care whether the bank wins or loses – they are, in reality anything but indifferent toContinue reading “RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: Croupiers at Casino Guardians of Assets of the House (Fyodor Dostoevsky)”

RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: The Tedious and Unbearable Frenchman (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

He was a true Frenchman insofar as that, though he could be lively and engaging when it suited him, he became insufferably dull and wearisome as soon as the need for being lively and engaging had passed. Seldom is a Frenchman naturally polite: he is polite only to order and for a purpose. For example,Continue reading “RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: The Tedious and Unbearable Frenchman (Fyodor Dostoevsky)”

RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: Yet Another Satirical Knock on the Germans (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

I remember that the baroness was clad in a voluminous silk dress, pale grey in colour, and adorned with flounces and a crinoline and train. Also, she was short and inordinately fat, while her gross, flabby chin completely concealed her neck. Her face was purple, and the little eyes in it had an impudent, maliciousContinue reading “RKS RUSSIAN LITERATURE: Yet Another Satirical Knock on the Germans (Fyodor Dostoevsky)”