Here is a list of links to digital editions of the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) that are in the public domain. If you just want to stick your toe in the water, The Gambler and The Eternal Husband are brisk reads. Notes from the Underground is a deceptively slim volume that packs a considerable existential wallop. The short story collections contain a few gems. Doorstoppers like Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov have rightly justified reputations as two of the greatest novels in world literature, and the latter among the most challenging. One of my personal favorites is Notes from the House of the Dead, a thinly-veiled novel about an inmate of a Siberian prison that draws much from Dostoevsky's real life experience and shuffles the chronology of events in a recognizably modern, non-linear way.
English translations of some of his earliest novels are not in the public domain, but all of his major works are available for free. Most of the works on this page were translated by Constance Garnett, whose translations of Dostoevsky are not without detractors as some critics believe that Garnett failed to successfully capture the author’s sometimes jagged and idiosyncratic style. For most of us, It’s difficult to truly evaluate the worth of a translation unless you speak both languages fluently. Garnett’s translations have endured and remained in print for over one hundred years and will serve very well to introduce you to Dostoevsky's works. If you want to dig deeper, there are plenty of translations out there to choose from.
I consulted Wikipedia’s bibliography page to date the novels and stories (definitely one of their better pages). I found some useful bibliographical information about Constance Garnett’s translated works at Eldritch Press. Novels are listed in the chronological order of first Russian publication. The short story collections are ordered by the year in which the English translations first appeared (when available) with the date of original Russian publication indicated for each story. (*) denotes key works.
Novels
Poor Folk (1846)* tr. by C. J. Hogarth
The Double (1846)* tr. by Constance Garnett
The Insulted and the Injured (1861) tr. by Constance Garnett
Notes from the House of the Dead (1861)* tr. by H. S. Edwards
Notes from the Underground (1864)* tr. uncredited
Crime and Punishment (1866)* tr.Constance Garnett
The Gambler (1867) tr. C. J. Hogarth
The Idiot (1868)* tr. Eva Martin
The Eternal Husband (1869) tr. Constance Garnett
The Possessed (a.k.a. The Demons) (1871)* tr. Constance Garnett
A Raw Youth (1875) tr. Constance Garnett
The Brothers Karamazov (1880)* tr. Constance Garnett
Short Stories
Short Stories (unknown date) tr. uncredited
“An Honest Thief” (1848)
“A Novel in Nine Letters” (1847)
“An Unpleasant Predicament” (1862)*
“Another Man's Wife” (1848)
“The Heavenly Christmas Tree” (1876)
“The Peasant Marey” (1876)
“The Crocodile” (1865)
“Bobok” (1873)
“The Dream of a Ridiculous Man” (1877)*
You and read my post about Short Stories here.
White Nights & Other Stories (1918) tr. Constance Garnett
“White Nights” (1848)*
“Notes from Underground” (1864)* (complete)
“A Faint Heart” (1848)
“A Christmas Tree and a Wedding” (1848)
“Polzunkov” (1848)
“A Little Hero” (1849)
“Mr. Prohartchin” (1846)
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If you read and enjoy ebooks prepared by Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive, please make a donation today. Their efforts ensure that there are plenty of free ebooks in the world to read.
