El pequeño héroe

In Dostoevsky's novels, children and adolescents often play a tormented role. The writer's own childhood, fraught with hardship, served as a model for him, leading him to consider it a stage of life marked by unhappiness. The protagonist of The Little Hero, however, is an exception. It is summer, at a festival filled with amusements and pastimes: horseback riding through the countryside, excursions in the forest or along the river, walks, picnics, dinners on a terrace laden with fragrant flowers, music, dancing, theater, all sorts of games and antics, laughter. We are surrounded by a cheerful, sun-drenched landscape, the sweet Russian countryside where we follow the "little hero's" journey from childhood to adolescence, through the birth of his first feelings of love for a beautiful young lady, but also through pain and unease. A delightful novel.