The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

The Russian Government has recently publisheda small paper-covered book containing Stavrogin’sConfession, unpublished chapters of Dostoevsky’snovel The Possessed, and Dostoevsky’s plan orsketch of a novel which he never actually wrotebut which he called The Life of a Great Sinner.The circumstances in which these MSS. werediscovered are described in the note of theRussian Government which we give below. Ourtranslation of Stavrogin’s Confession and of theplan is from the text as published by the RussianGovernment. We have added translations ofintroductory or explanatory notes upon the twoMSS. by V. Friche, V. Komarovich, and N.Brodsky. The notes by Friche and Komarovichare given in the book published by the RussianGovernment, that by M. Komarovich appearedin Builoe (No. 18, 1922).

It should be added that there are two different6versions of the unpublished chapters of ThePossessed in existence, and they have both beenpublished for the first time this year. The secondversion, which is in the Pushkin Department ofthe Russian Academy of Sciences, was publishedin Builoe. We have not included it, since itappears to be an earlier version than that publishedby the Russian Government. It should be notedthat M. Komarovich’s note refers to this versionin the Academy of Sciences.