Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel written in only 26 days for a publisher’s deadline was The Gambler.
Dostoevsky dictated the novel to the stenographer Anna Snitkina in October 1866. The urgent schedule arose from a contract with the publisher Stellovsky, which threatened to give the publisher rights to Dostoevsky’s existing and future works if a manuscript was not delivered on time.
Anna Snitkina’s rapid shorthand and transcription made completion possible. She and Dostoevsky married the following year, beginning a partnership in which she managed manuscripts, finances, and later publication arrangements.
The novel draws on Dostoevsky’s own gambling addiction and experiences at European roulette resorts. Its narrator, Alexei Ivanovich, becomes entangled with the General’s household and the magnetic Polina. The work appeared in 1867 alongside The Idiot’s publication history.