The Gambler

The story of Alexey Ivanovitch, a young tutor working in the household of in imperious Russian general, is told, in this dark and compelling short novel.

Although Alexey wants to break through the wall of the established order in Russia, he becomes mired in the downward spiral of betting and loss, turning himself into an addited, his intense and inescapable addiction is intensified by his affair with Polina, the General’s niece, a cruel and seducively expert woman.

A stunning psychological portrait of a man, that reaches the heights of drama, said to be inspired in the writer’s own addiction to gambling.