Which Dostoevsky novel is narrated by the troubled former student Arkady Dolgoruky?

Dostoevsky’s novel The Adolescent is narrated by Arkady Dolgoruky, a troubled young man who calls himself an adolescent. The novel was published in 1875 and follows Arkady’s attempt to understand his family, ambitions, resentments, and relationships in a morally unstable society.

Arkady is the illegitimate son of the landowner Versilov and Sofia Dolgorukaya. His complicated family position contributes to his insecurity and desire for independence. He develops a private “idea” centered on becoming rich and self-sufficient, but the plot repeatedly exposes the tension between abstract schemes and emotional life.

The Russian title, Подросток, is often translated as The Adolescent, though older English editions may use A Raw Youth. Those titles refer to the same novel, not separate works. The book is sometimes overlooked between Dostoevsky’s better-known late novels, but it is part of the sequence of major works he wrote after returning from exile.

The novel’s first-person narration gives it an intentionally youthful, uneven, and self-justifying voice, reflecting Arkady’s stage of development.