Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Idiot began appearing in serial publication in 1868.
Dostoevsky wrote The Idiot during a turbulent period of travel and financial pressure. The novel was published in installments in the journal The Russian Messenger, beginning in 1868 and continuing into 1869. Its central figure is Prince Lev Myshkin, a compassionate man whose openness clashes with the pride, desire, and social calculation around him.
The title refers to how some characters perceive Myshkin, not to a simple lack of intelligence. Dostoevsky presents him as morally perceptive but socially vulnerable. This distinction is central to the novel’s tragedy and is often lost when the title is treated as a straightforward insult.
The Idiot is one of Dostoevsky’s major mature novels. Its publication followed Crime and Punishment and preceded Demons, placing it within the period when his best-known long works appeared.