The Adolescent Author:Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Andrew R. MacAndrew (Translator) The fourth of Dostoevsky's five great major novels, The Adolescent was written in 1874 and is the story of a nineteen-year-old searching for identity amidst the disorder of Russian society in the 1870s. — The illegitimate son of a landowner, Arkady Dolgoruky was raised by foster parents and tutors, and has scarcely ever seen his fath... more »er, Versilov, and his mother, Versilov's peasant common-law wife. Arkady goes to Petersburg to meet this "accidental family" and to confront the father who dominates his imagination and whom he both disdains and longs to impress. Having sewn into his coat a document that he believes gives him power over others, Arkady proceeds with an irrepressible youthful volatility that withstands blunders and humiliations at every turn.« less