I have always had a desire to take on Dostoyevsky's massive novels such as Brothers Karamazov and Demons. However, I have mostly confined myself to his shorter to middle-length works, and The Gambler follows this pattern. The very title of the novel and its setting in a town called Roulettenberg make it quite obvious that the game at the heart of the story is roulette. I have never played this game as I have no interest whatsoever in gambling or casinos.

So, did this lack of personal connection to the central game make the novel uninteresting to me? The simple answer is no. There is far more happening on a psychological level within the characters than just the act of placing bets and watching the wheel spin. In fact, I would say that more minds are in a state of turmoil. And, not surprisingly for a Dostoyevsky work, the narrator is a mess, driven solely by hope while living in a constant state of anxiety. For the most part, the tone of the novel is one of sordidness, which stems from the comedy of manners that Dostoyevsky is so擅长 at. He is just as humorous as he is gloomy, and his more prim characters in The Gambler spend an excessive amount of time tortured by self-consciousness. The narrative is driven by an awareness of the difference between vulgar gambling for money and the kind that a gentleman can engage in, where the money is secondary.

This work is filled with details that one suspects may be somewhat autobiographical (he wrote it in an incredibly short period of time to pay off his many debts). Overall, I found it to be an interesting book where the actual gambling takes a backseat to the first-rate portrayal of a degenerate. One thing I also noticed is that his characters seem more recognizable from English or French literature than those who are typically Russian. In a sense, it didn't feel like a Russian novel at all, apart from some of the names, of course. Who knows how much better this could have been if he had taken more time and not rushed the writing. But considering it was a rushed novel, it is still very good.

Fyodor Dostoevsky is indeed a remarkable writer and a significant figure in Russian literature. His story presents a novel with excellent prose, unique characters, and profound insights into the human condition, worthy of 4 stars. However, as a native of Las Vegas, I have a different perspective. The book starts well, introducing Alexei Ivanovich and his introduction to roulette through Polina. But then, Dostoevsky portrays Alexei's gambling as a negative influence, which I and casino executives worldwide believe is a departure from reality. While it's true that Alexei loses money and social standing, he also experiences a sense of aliveness and enjoyment. I don't like seeing gambling's reputation tarnished based on false information. Therefore, I present the top ten myths about gambling, as compiled by the Las Vegas Casino Executive Bonus and Stock Option Institute. These myths include claims that gambling destroys families, leads to addiction, and costs money, but the truth is often different. Gambling can bring families together, and only losing is considered a problem. It can also make people happy and is not necessarily for losers. Additionally, casinos take patrons' health and safety seriously. Finally, there is a bonus 11th myth about not being able to make a career out of gambling, but there are examples that prove otherwise.

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This is a genuine Russian psychological drama and when it is firmly lodged in the obsessive Dostoyevsky, then surely we are talking about a wonderful story of classic prose in world literature.

Alexei Ivanovich, a young teacher who works as an educator for the children of a wealthy elderly Russian general, gets lost in a tragic path of clues, gambling, addiction, decline, oversight, destruction and loss. While the family, both related and not, of the affected Russians travel to a German spa - unfortunately games, casinos, roulette, debts, mortgages, promissory notes and wills that the relatives hope and pray to inherit soon, praying at the altar of death, they plot and "take the plunge", the secrets of the entire family and of the rich or deceitful friends and acquaintances are revealed, the sub-plots, the self-plots of the games of life and death, love,

deceit and hatred, they rotate and reverse.

Like the charm of the roulette that someone bets on its colors, its numbers, its chips of recklessness that gamblers call fate or luck.

On the profit, on the money that gambling of any kind always gives you, but unfortunately it takes everything back, because

from the beginning it has warned you that everything you win is on loan and within the joy of victory rotates the whirlpool of return not only of the profits but also of everything you have and don't have - because the betting continues even when everything is lost

always hoping to "catch the good one".

The misfortune of Alexei - who is looking for himself mainly through the behavior of others - worsens from his love for the general's niece, Polina, and the unpleasant difficulties that confuse him and lead him astray as a wandering and wasteful Jew of love through profits.

Somewhere there everything gets lost. Consciousness, philosophy of life, spiritual energy, emotional load, survival, sociopolitical relations and economic conditions of which the dosages involve you and characterize you as a person, as an entity, as a personality.

And then it is when the powerless and the addicted acquire a position in the human pyramid or a bed in some institutional and legal establishment of aggressive treatment and reintegration or a permanent state of semi-final and degrading existential state that failed to reverse the roles and the sane descent into addiction.

I hate all kinds of gambling, but I love every addicted being that confesses publicly by writing in this book within the prison of the roulette wheel.

You cannot judge the deranged people in their obsessive fevers when they are burning from the fire of madness due to their personal impotence.

Besides, they themselves are the ones who, until the last grain of their breath, look with the eyes of impotence, with a response that lionizes them and shatters them, comforts them, the thought that they can still shout loudly and internally in the depths of Being that they need love.

Good reading.

Many and solemn greetings.

Igrok (Игрок) = The Gambler = Le Joueur, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Gambler is a captivating short novel penned by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It revolves around a young tutor in the service of a formerly prosperous Russian general. This novella not only reflects Dostoyevsky's personal struggle with roulette addiction but was also inspired by it in more ways than one. In fact, Dostoyevsky completed the novella under a tight deadline to settle his gambling debts.

The story is told in the first person from the perspective of Alexei Ivanovich, a tutor working for a Russian family residing in a suite at a German hotel. The head of the family, The General, is indebted to the Frenchman de Criet and has mortgaged his property in Russia, yet only manages to pay a small portion of the debt. Upon learning of the illness of his wealthy aunt, "Grandmother," he bombards Moscow with telegrams, eagerly awaiting news of her passing. His anticipated inheritance is expected to clear his debts and win him the hand of Mademoiselle Blanche de Cominges in marriage.

Alexei is hopelessly smitten with Polina, the General's stepdaughter. She requests him to visit the town's casino and place a bet for her. After some hesitation, he gives in and surprisingly wins at the roulette table. He returns the winnings to her, but she remains tight-lipped about the reason she needs the money. She merely laughs in his face (as she does when he professes his love) and treats him with cold indifference, bordering on outright malice.

It is only later in the story that he discovers the details of the General's and Polina's financial situation through his long-time acquaintance, Mr. Astley. Astley is a shy Englishman who appears to share Alexei's affection for Polina. He hails from the English nobility and is quite wealthy.

The first reading date was in December 1875 AD.

The title is "The Gambler"; the author is Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky; the translator is Jalal Al-e Ahmad; published in Tehran by the Knowledge Center in 1948; in 167 pages; another edition was published in Tehran by Ferdowsi in 1984, in 242 pages; the fifth edition was in 1996; and it has been published many times in other publications. The subject is Russian literature of the 19th century.

The psychological stories of "Dostoyevsky," like his own personality, are about rebellious, sick, and spiritual people. His unique feature in his works is the psychological exploration and examination of the corners and sides of the characters' souls. The "Surrealists" presented their manifesto based on the writings of "Dostoyevsky." "The Gambler" was first translated into Persian from the French version of the book by Jalal Al-e Ahmad in 1948. Another translation of the same work also exists in the same years by Mr. Mehrdad Mehrin, which was published by Eskandari Publications. Also, Mr. Salih Hosseini and Mrs. Fahimeh Hesaraki have translated their book from the English version into Persian, and Mr. Soroush Habibi has also arranged it with Persian words from the Russian version. This story is the author's account of the game of "roulette." The author wrote the book in twenty-six days and was reportedly under pressure to pay off his gambling debts.

The date of encoding was 04/04/2020 Hijri Shamsi; 04/05/2021 Hijri Shamsi; A. Sharbiani

I read it again. The first time it was average for me. And this time I understood that my first reading was very superficial.

On the second reading, I was able to delve deeper into the text and uncover more of its meanings. I paid closer attention to the details and was able to pick up on things that I had missed the first time around. This made me realize the importance of reading something more than once, especially when it comes to complex or difficult material.

I also found that by reading it again, I was able to form my own opinions and interpretations of the text. I was no longer just passively接受 what the author was saying, but was able to engage with the ideas and think critically about them. Overall, the second reading was a much more rewarding experience for me.

Jogo — Uma Escravidão Auto-Induzida

“Estava como que febril e carreguei todo o montão no vermelho — e, de repente, caí em mim! Fora a única vez, durante todo o jogo desta noite, que o medo me percorreu, gelando-me, e se repercutiu em tremores nas mãos e nas pernas. Num instante senti e percebi, horrorizado, o que significava para mim perder agora! Apostara ali toda a minha vida!”

The game is a powerful force that can consume a person's entire being. In this moment, the player is overcome with fear and realizes the enormity of what is at stake.

Ai como é poderosa aquela bolinha brilhante que corre, que saltita alegremente de casa em casa, de número em número, alheia aos olhares ansiosos daqueles que lhe seguem o rasto! The shining ball seems to have a life of its own, bouncing and skipping without a care in the world. It is oblivious to the desperate looks of those who are following its path.

Atenção...está a abrandar...a abrandar...quase a parar...PAROU! The anticipation builds as the ball slows down, almost coming to a stop. And then, it finally does.

Seguem-se os gritos de júbilo dos ganhadores e os suspiros desencantados dos perdedores! The winners欢呼雀跃, while the losers sigh in disappointment.

Os jogadores e outros viciados que tais, são escravos: marionetes dum poder maior que os manipula restringindo-lhes a liberdade e enegrecendo-lhes a vida — Sua Majestade El-Rei D. Vício!!! The players and other addicts are slaves to a greater power that manipulates them, restricting their freedom and darkening their lives. It is a powerful and dangerous force that can have a devastating impact on those who fall under its spell.

Seria cómico se não fosse trágico. Dostoievsky speaks in the first person about a theme he knows well, the fanaticism of gambling and the adrenaline felt in front of the roulette wheel. Risk everything, lose everything and still挑衅destiny and throw the last coin in pursuit of the crazy idea of getting rich without working.

In this story, everything is gambled. All the characters make plays that don't necessarily have to be in front of the roulette wheel. Friendships, passions, even family ties have a common denominator: money, or the lack of it. They are neurotic, depressive, negotiate life and the future based on hypotheses and power relations change at the speed with which money changes hands. There are not many characters in this book, but they all share eccentricity and delirium.

The family that longs for the death of the matriarch to receive the inheritance, but she not only refuses to die but also squanders a fortune at the roulette wheel, right under the noses of the hypothetical and desperate heirs.

The protagonist, Alexéi Ivanivich, an excellent gambler who devotes an overwhelming passion to Paulina, who despises and humiliates him constantly. He has no goals or aspirations, he lives life at the pace of the unexpected. It is with him that one can best understand the twists and turns of the game, the delirium of bets and the fatalism of vice. A world of illusion that can lead to moments of euphoria as well as despair.

The remaining characters orbit around the family in the hope of benefiting from the grandmother's inheritance or possible winnings in the casino.

Despite the good humor with which this story is told, it is still a plunge into the weaknesses of the human soul. In the style of the author and with an ending that well represents the mentality of a veteran gambler.

I haven't read Dostoievsky for a long time. I found out little by little.

As I reached the end of "The Gambler", I recalled the "blindness" of Saramago, specifically in its last line, when the character (the ophthalmologist's wife) says that we are not born blind, but rather we are blind from the start. Or something along those lines.

After finishing this short story, one begins to read what the work did not say explicitly, but rather in silence - which is what I prefer - to see that we are actually gamblers, each in our own way and according to our ability; whether you are the general who bets on the death of the old woman, or the girl who bets on a man she loves to mature, or the old woman who regresses to childhood in front of the casino tables, or the man who bets that he will make a woman love him and then completely loses his voice in front of roulette. The difference between one gambler and another, between one addiction and another, between love and roulette, is just variety.

Moreover, gambling, as it seems, as a system, is entangled in the nature of the relationships that draw us to each other, for relationships - the betting position, the subject of winning or losing - are always full of fluctuation. And the more fluctuating they are, the less often we call them love, although in reality they are just another addiction, for the shot of adrenaline that pumps through our veins from time to time, so that we remember, if only for a few moments, that we are alive.

I prefer this work because it can be read as an enjoyable story, but it - with a bit of interpretation - makes us see man in his nakedness, hanging on various forms of addictive patterns, forever hanging.

It was extraordinary, truly extraordinary.

Each time I read this book, I could sense the difference from the previous time. I think after experiencing love, losing it, and living in extreme loneliness and exile, I have understood many sentences in a much deeper way. I believe that from the age of 22 when I first read this book to the age of 29 when I am reading it for the second time, how much more mature I have become...

Really, you must read the translation by Soroush Habibi because Jalal Al-e-Ahmad's translation is really, really good.

This book has a special charm that draws me in again and again. It makes me reflect on my own life and emotions. The words seem to come alive on the page and touch my heart.

I am looking forward to seeing what new insights and understandings I will gain from future readings of this wonderful book.

We once again see the classic "Dostoevskian" protagonist who is alienated and eccentric.

He is a man who thinks he is and is treated as completely crazy, yet in reality, he sees the wrongly written aspects of society. He is stripped of all kinds of pretensions and is a realist and genuine. However, he chatters and behind his words lie thoughts and calculations of hours or parts. He believes he is corrupt because he cannot fit into the mold of society and because he does what he wants without beautifying situations.

He is a slave to his passions of gambling and love. He lives for the adrenaline that roulette offers and the fever of love. As the feelings from the girl do not seem to be mutual, there is exploitation and he feels he has become a slave to her.

Roulette, for me, was a symbol of life. The gentlemen, in contrast to others, take risks not to win, they do not expect victory but do it for the joy that risk gives. If by chance they win, they smile; if not, it doesn't matter to them and they smile again. Also, it shows us how futile calculations are when different people try to guess and arrange the result. But they lose like the others. That is, even if you program your life, again there will be ups and downs and you will lose, even if you think you have everything under control.

It showed how alienated society was and is from money and how deeply it has penetrated into the relationships and the psychological makeup of people. Roulette alienated him from his friends and from his feelings, and he could not or rather did not want to see that.

As always, the ending of Dostoevsky's stories is captivating. You don't expect it and it always leaves you with a strange feeling. I loved the ending.

**The Gambler by Dostoyevsky: A Deep Dive**

Dostoyevsky's "The Gambler" is a captivating work that delves into the complex world of gambling and human nature. The story unfolds over twenty-five days, with Dostoyevsky penning it while writing "Crime and Punishment." The protagonist is a man who becomes addicted to gambling, losing himself in the process.

The Allure of Gambling

The novel explores the intense passion for gambling, the excitement of the gaming hall, and the roulette wheel that is at its center. Dostoyevsky exaggerates the power and significance of this theme, presenting it in a short story with astonishing brevity. He shows how some people are born with a gambling addiction, caring more about the risk and the thrill than the money won or lost.

The Psychology of the Gambler

Dostoyevsky doesn't stop at analyzing the gambler's thoughts and actions at the gaming table. He also delves into the gambler's life outside the casino, the hardships and humiliations they endure to get money to return to the table. The social relationships of the gambler are also explored, where money is the only sacred thing.

The Characters in the Story

The protagonist is a person who has no control over himself in front of the roulette wheel, sacrificing everything for the sake of the game. Dostoyevsky also presents other characters, such as the French Marquis, the General, Mademoiselle Blanche, and the old woman who lost a hundred thousand rubles in one night. These secondary characters, although not prominent in the story, have a significant impact on the reader.

The Uniqueness of the Novel

"The Gambler" is a very enjoyable novel, unique in its fast-paced plot compared to Dostoyevsky's other works. The brevity of the story gives the impression of a rapid sequence of events, which might have been different if it were presented in the usual length of his novels. Overall, it is a remarkable work that offers a profound insight into the human psyche.