Dubrovsky was written in 1832-1833 but left unfinished and published posthumously in 1841. Vladimir Dubrovsky is a young officer whose elderly father is cheated of his estate through a corrupt legal proceeding engineered by the neighboring landowner Troekurov — a powerful, brutal man who uses the law as an instrument of personal vengeance. The father dies of grief; Vladimir returns from Petersburg to find himself dispossessed.
Unable to obtain justice through legitimate channels (the courts are corrupt, the powerful are untouchable), Dubrovsky becomes a bandit — leading his father’s former serfs in a campaign of robbery against the wealthy. He is not a common thief but a figure of romantic justice: he robs only the corrupt, treats his victims with courtesy, and redistributes wealth to the poor. The complication is that he falls in love with Troekurov’s daughter Masha, creating an impossible conflict between his desire for revenge and his love for the enemy’s child.
The novel was never completed — it breaks off abruptly after Dubrovsky’s attack on Masha’s wedding — but what exists is a powerful study of class relations under autocracy: the serfs’ loyalty to their young master, the impossibility of legal remedy when the law serves the powerful, and the inevitable drift toward violence when justice is systematically denied.
Collecting Dubrovsky
First publication (posthumous, 1841): Russian-language.
Market values:
- Early Russian editions: Rare
- Fine translations: $10–$25