El jugador

Illustrated edition on the occasion of the second centenary of Dostoyevsky's birth. "The Gambler" (1866), one of the most famous novels by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), is based on the author's personal experiences, who felt dominated by the passion for the game and by disastrous love disappointments. Set in the spa town of Roulettenburg (inspired by the historical Wiesbaden), in the novel we witness the relationships of a gallery of uprooted and transhumant characters who try to satisfy their desires for wealth through the evil arts, either by appealing to the erotic seduction, already to the game, to the deceit or the usury. The protagonist is Aleksei Ivanovich, a disturbing figure who falls victim to his cowardice by not accepting that he deserves to be loved by the woman he loves and who places his hopes of social promotion in the game, condemning his life to a state of moral misery.