History Literature / Demons

* GenreShift: The first third of the novel is basically a social [[{{Satire satire]] about the clueless intelligentsia of a nondescript small town. The middle section starts to get more serious, but still retains a strong satirical bent. In the last third the book veers towards full-blown [[{{Tragedy}} tragedy]], complete with a [[EverybodyDiesEnding massive death toll.]]
* AGodAmI: Kirillov's personal philosophy revolves around the idea that by killing himself he will in some sense ''become God''. It makes about as much sense in context.
* GratuitousFrench: About every second sentence Stepan Tromifovich utters is in French, illustrating his snobbish, sentimental, and "Western" (in the political terms of the day) outlook.

* AuthorTract: Dostoevsky even wrote that he originally conceived the book as a "novel-tract" about what he perceived as a growing ideological problem in Russia.

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: About half the main cast has been wiped out by the end of the book, most of them in the last few chapters. Lebyadkin and Marya Timofeevna are murdered by Fedka, Fedka himself is killed mysteriously outside of town, Lizaveta is beaten to death by a mob who blame her for the Lebyadkins' deaths, Shatov is murdered by the fivesome, Kirillov shoots himself and takes the fall for Shatov's murder, Stepan Trofimovich dies of an illness after striking out on his own, Marya Ignatyevna and her newborn child die after after hunting for Shatov in the cold, and Stavrogin hangs himself.]] It's [[{{Understatement}} a bit]] [[DownerEnding of a downer.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Verkhoevensky becomes a KarmaHoudini, convinces his group to murder Shatov, Kirillov and Stavrogin commits suicide, and the appendix of Stavrogin's confession only proves how hollow and empty their adulation of Stavrogin was. About half the cast--including several of the most sympathetic characters, relatively speaking--also die for various reasons, and it's unclear if or how the community is going to rebuild in the wake of the chaos that has just been unleashed upon it.]]

* GratuitousFrench: About every second sentence of Stepan Tromifovich's is in French, illustrating his snobbish, "Western" (in the political terms of the day) outlook.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Karmazinov is widely seen as a caricature on fellow writer, Creator/IvanTurgenev. (Though somewhat confusingly, the novel does reference Turgenev and his novel ''Literature/FathersAndSons'' by their real-life names at least once as well.)

* DownerEnding: To a certain degree, [[spoiler:Verkhoevensky becomes a KarmaHoudini, convinces his group to murder Shatov, Kirillov and Stavrogin commits suicide, and the appendix of Stavrogin's confession only proves how hollow and empty their adulation of Stavrogin was]].

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Karmazinov is widely seen as a caricature on fellow writer, Creator/IvanTurgenev.
* OneWordTitle

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: About half the main cast has been wiped out by the end of the book, most of them in the last few chapters. Lebyadkin and Marya Timofeevna are murdered by Fedka, Fedka himself is killed mysteriously outside of town, Lizaveta is beaten to death by a mob who blame her for the Lebyadkins' deaths, Shatov is murdered by the fivesome, Kirillov shoots himself and takes the fall for Shatov's murder, Stepan Trofimovich dies of an illness after striking out on his own, Darya Pavlovna and her newborn child die after after hunting for Shatov in the cold, and Stavrogin hangs himself.]] It's [[{{Understatement}} a bit]] [[DownerEnding of a downer.]]

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: ''Demons'' is a blatant fictionalization of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Nechayev Sergey Nechayev's case]].

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Karmazinov is widely seen as a caricature on fellow writer, Ivan Turgenev.

Set in a small provincial town, the ''Demons'' concerns a group of revolutionaries led by Pyotr Verhoevensky who plan to usher a revolution of some sort but explode as a series of personal connections between them weakens discipline, driving Verkhoevensky to seek aid from Nikolai Stavrogin, a dissolute liberal nobleman and purported ProdigalHero who he sees as the charismatic leader who could bind the cause and heal disputes. However, Stavrogin is himself highly schismatic and divided, reeling from secret trauma and is reluctant to take the role Verkhoevensky tasks for him.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Karamzinov is widely seen as a caricature on fellow writer, Ivan Turgenev.

* TheConfidant: Nikolai Stavrogin treats Darya Shatova as one.

Set in a small provincial town, the ''Demons'' concerns a group of revolutionaries led by Pyotr Verhoevensky who plan to usher a revolution of some sort but explode as a tense of personal connections between them weakens discipline, driving Verkhoevensky to seek aid from Nikolai Stavrogin, a dissolute liberal nobleman and purported ProdigalHero who he sees as the charismatic leader who could bind the cause and heal disputes. However, Stavrogin is himself highly schismatic and divided, reeling from secret trauma and is reluctant to take the role Verkhoevensky tasks for him.

[[caption-width-right:298]]''Demons'' (''Бесы'', also translated under the titles ''The Devils'' and ''The Possessed'') is a novel by Creator/FyodorDostoevsky. It was first published as a serial in ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1871–2.

[[caption-width-right:298:some caption text]]''Demons'' (''Бесы'', also translated under the titles ''The Devils'' and ''The Possessed'') is a novel by Creator/FyodorDostoevsky. It was first published as a serial in ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1871–2.

''Demons'' (''Бесы'', also translated under the titles ''The Devils'' and ''The Possessed'') is a novel by Creator/FyodorDostoevsky. It was first published as a serial in ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1871–2.

Drawing inspiration from the trial of Sergei Nechaev and the actions of several nihilist terrorists, Dostoevsky initially intended the book as a political pamphlet but as he wrote the book, he gradually departed from his original idea and devoted himself to exploring his complex cast of characters. The novel was originally published in English and French under the title of ''The Possessed'' by which it was known for the majority of the 20th Century, leading to adaptations for the stage by Creator/AlbertCamus under ''Les possédés'' (later adapted for film by Andrezj Wajda). A chapter excised from original publication for its controversial content has since appeared in later editions as an Appendix, titled ''Stavrogin's Confession''.

-->-- '''Arkady Kirillov'''

* DownerEnding: To a certain degree.

* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: "Shigalyovism", the philosophy of the terrorist group.

* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: A important plot point.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:To a certain degree.]]

* FallenCreator: InUniverse, Karamzinov had been one of the greatest Russian writers in the past, but then he JumpedTheShark.

* NietzscheWannabe: Pretty much ''all'' the young radicals (although Stavrogin and Verkhovensky stand out). This is a case of UnbuiltTrope since Dostoevsky was a rough contemporary of Nietzsche but did not read his books, while the latter read his books after formulating some of his beliefs and noted how Dostoevsky anticipated his ideas.