The Landlady (1847)

This long story (or short novel) by Fyodor Dostoevsky is probably more fairly called a novella, in the notably vaporous task of separating stories, novelettes, novellas, and novels. Like The Double and even Poor Folk it already bears the mesmerizing quasi-hysterical voice of Dostoevsky which is so familiar now. Other elements of his writing we would come to know are here as well: grinding poverty, urban squalor, disease, fever, a central character so sensitive he verges on mental illness, along with various ways of being inept about relationships. In this case his beloved—his landlady only because her father or lover is the landlord—is first seen collapsing in church, where our guy has followed her. It’s more or less a case of love at first sight, because he is out on the street looking for a place to live when he first sees her. In the inchoate way the plot of The Landlady advances, she goes for him too, after he has taken a room at her place and then fallen into a stupor for weeks with disease. She nurses him and falls in love with him. It seems to be her way. But there is the complication of Murin, who is older than her and altogether a mysterious figure. Wikipedia suggests he may be a sorcerer. He’s at least a failed businessman, failed but capable of building an operation with barges and a factory. That’s the story about him anyway. I got a little lost in this one, taking the ride on the high points of Dostoevsky’s keening voice. His internal dialogues are impeccable, or maybe I share his sense of the outrage and frustration of the marginalized. I feel like I already know a lot of his characters, especially the protagonists who rant and go mad with rage. I enjoyed watching this one fall in love in the scene in the church. The ways of this landlady are strange and inscrutable. Murin might be her abusive father or her abusive lover or even possibly her abusive trafficker. It’s not clear, but her loyalty to him is very clear. Lots of strange notes through all the sturm and drang here. I can see why it’s considered minor, but it has its points, starting with what a pleasure as usual it is to dive in and read.

In case the library is closed due to pandemic, which is over.