El jugador

Por Fedor Dostoyevski

Esta es una novela autobiográfica en la que podemos asistir a dos sensaciones extremas: el juego y la apuesta como iluminación, como poesía por una parte; como un infierno insufrible y doloroso, por otra. Asimismo, el amor considerado como un mundo donde solo hay entrega y pasión; pero también como un espacio de recriminaciones, reproches y enemistad. Este descenso a la personalidad del mismo Dostoyevski es enfatizado con una narración en primera persona y al estilo de la forma en que se redacta un diario personal. El subtítulo que en su momento le puso el autor, De los pauntes de un joven, indica el ritmo de la novela: más cercano al esbozo y al cuaderno de notas o un primer borrador, que a una trama altamente elaborada y retocada. Ese estilo es acentuado por la circunstancia de que El jugador fue dictada y realizada en menos de un mes. En síntesis: su prosa gira tan rápido como la ruleta.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: LD Books - Lectorum
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 10 ene 2014

Comentarios para El jugador

[hemlokgang · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Passe, manque, noir, rouge.......words which can destroy a life! Dostoevsky's novella, based on his personal experience, portrays the destructive force of gambling. The tutor, the wealthy grandmother, the ingenue.....each is ruined in the course of this story, while surrounded by observers and others who make their way in life by latching on to the winners and dumping the losers. Powerful psychological insight lends great depth to this story of being human, of being Russian, and of being vulnerable to risk-taking in love and in finance! Great read!

[fpdc_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

A new portuguese translation of the classical russian novel Igrok. Not knowing the russian language it is impossible for me to really judge the quality of this translation by Nina and Filipe Guerra, who in recent years have been responsible for the translation into portuguese of about half a dozen works by Dostoiévski. All I can do is to assert the extremely captivating nature of the final result!

[gbill_7 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

There are many things to like about "The Gambler" (1866), which Dostoyevsky wrote simultaneously with "Crime and Punishment" and under great duress. He had lost his first wife, failed at business, and accumulated large debts gambling in Baden Baden, Germany; as with his other works the angst this produced led to raw, memorable fiction.At its highest level the novel is about the difficulty of controlling one's passions. This is seen in several characters and in a few different forms (women, money, and gambling); Dostoyevsky writes of these passions convincingly, particular the love/hate, obsessive relationship between the narrator and Polina ("When I talk to you I long to tell you everything, everything, everything." ... "I shall simply kill you because I have an impulse to devour you." .... "I often have an irresistible longing to beat you, to disfigure you, to strangle you.") The descriptions of "systems" to beat roulette are of course flawed by fascinating; Dostoyevsky also reflects the gambler's thought process and philosophy ("Why, what, what can they tell me that I do not know? And is that the point? The point is that - one turn of the wheel, and all will be changed, and those very moralists will be the first (I am convinced of that) to come up to congratulate me with friendly jests.").The character of Granny and her ups and downs in gambling are memorable. I also enjoyed insight into the Russian psyche, in particular, the struggle Russians had in the 19th century with their own identity, wanting to preserve Russia from bad Western influences but at the same time feeling inferior. ("Why am I to model myself upon our Russians here? They sit, not daring to open their lips, and almost ready to deny they are Russians." ... "The Russian is not only incapable of amassing capital, but dissipates it in a reckless and unseemly way." ... "The Russian abroad is sometimes too easily cowed, and is horribly afraid of what people will say, how they will look at him, and whether this or that will be the proper thing." ... and lastly, "Yes, you have destroyed yourself. You had some abilities, a lively disposition, and were not a bad fellow; you might have even been of service to your country, which is in such need of men, but - you will remain here, and your life is over. I don't blame you. To my mind all Russians are like that, or disposed to be like that. If it is not roulette it is something similar.")As a corollary to that, the culture clash with other nationalities at the spa town is interesting. This takes strongest form with the French, reflecting disdain, admiration, and envy at the same time ("De Grieux was like all Frenchmen; that is, gay and polite when necessary and profitable to be so, and insufferably tedious when the necessity to be gay and polite was over. ... The natural Frenchman is composed of the most plebeian, petty, ordinary practical sense - in fact, he is one of the most wearisome creatures in the world. In my opinion, only the innocent and inexperienced - especially Russian young ladies - are fascinated by Frenchmen." .... "The national type of Frenchman, or, rather, of Parisian, had been moulded into elegant forms while we were still bears."Final quote; on lawyers and arguing metal illness as a self-defense (yes it was happening then too):"Lawyers have taken to arguing in criminal cases that their clients were not responsible at the moment of their crime, and that it was a form of disease. 'He killed him,' they say, 'and has not memory of it.' And only imagine, General, the medical authorities support them - and actually maintain that there are illnesses, temporary aberrations in which a man scarcely remembers anything..."

[bzedan_2 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

Wow, this guy likes his descriptive writing. He's good at it though. The Grandma is a great character, not only because she's called exactly that through the whole bit. I think there was a lesson here, but it's about being Russian or something and I don't really get it. This was one of those books that you're glad you read because it's a good story, but you don't spend the rest of the day imagining about it.

[hvymetalmg · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I must have been thinking of playing Let It Ride and Poker at the Bellagio when I picked this up. As a classic, this does not really age well into today's gabling world. But to be fair, I have to re-read and get my mind out of the tables and read for a story about human nature and not doubling down on an 11.

[mewilbur · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Believe it or not, Dostoevsky wrote a short novel. It isn't his best. He left a couple of probable plot devices hanging, But then he wrote it in a month (with the help of a stenographer, who became his wife) on a bet. So it's a good novel about obsessive gambling, a problem which Dostoevsky knew all too much about. The protagonist, who tutors the two young children of a very odd family of obsessives and is obsessed with his employer's adult step-daughter, adds obsessive gambling to his list of quirks. The result is a story that isn't only sad; sometimes it's hilarious.