This darkly humorous story, a Russian classic from the golden period, describes the ascent of a schoolteacher to sadism, murder, and arson.The regional schoolteacher Peredonov is insane, lustful, cruel, and foolish; nevertheless, to everyone else, he is a respectable member of society. He torments his students and has hallucinatory thoughts about deeds of brutality and humiliation. His pursuit of marriage as a means of advancement leads to paranoia, sexual depravity, arson, torture, and murder.One of the great comic monsters of twentieth-century literature, Sologub's anti-hero gave his name to the sadomasochistic subculture known as Peredonovism.The author of "The Little Demon" (1907), who rejected claims that the book was autobiographical, became an instant celebrity after saying, "No, my darling contemporaries... it is about you." The best Russian novel to come out of the Symbolist movement is perhaps this hideous portrait of a spiritually bankrupt society.
Fyodor Sologub, a Russian Symbolist poet, writer, dramatist, essayist, and translator, lived from 1863 to 5 December 1927. At the 1905 Revolution, his political fairy tales were compiled into a book. A Created Legend (1905-1913), Sologub's subsequent significant literary work, shared many of the same characteristics but offered a more upbeat and happy view of the world. He wed translator Anastasia Chebotarevskaya in 1908. The Complete Works of Fyodor Sologub were published in 12 volumes between 1909 and 1911. He founded the writers' journal Dnevniki pisatelei in 1914, but it was discontinued when World War I broke out. Sologub developed a terrible illness in May 1927. He died in Leningrad on December 5th after a protracted battle. He was laid to rest alongside his wife in the Smolensk Cemetery two days later. His best-known works are the Sologubs books, although he is also well-known for his poetry.
