The Gambler

[Free Audio Links]

The Gambler is a short novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky about a young tutor in the employment of a formerly wealthy Russian general. The novella reflects Dostoyevsky's own addiction to roulette, which was in more ways than one the inspiration for the book: Dostoyevsky completed the novella under a strict deadline to pay off gambling debts.

[Adaptations]

The novel was the basis of an opera by Sergei Prokofiev, also called The Gambler.

Three films have been based on the book. The Great Sinner, a loose adaptation, starred Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner under the direction of Robert Siodmak in 1949. The Gambler, released in 1974, was directed by Karel Reisz and starred James Caan, Lauren Hutton, and Paul Sorvino. It adapted the story in a twentieth-century American setting. The Gamblers, a German film released in 2007, was directed by Sebastian Bieniek. There are also two movies based on Dostoyevsky's life during the time when he was writing the novella. Hungarian director Károly Makk's film The Gambler was released in 1997, and the romantic comedy Alex & Emma—freely adapted and with a modern setting—was released in 2003. An adaptation of the novella, The Gamblers, is among the early unpublished plays of Tom Stoppard.

A radio play version was aired by BBC Radio 4 in December 2010, written by Glyn Maxwell and directed by Guy Retallack.