A Gentle Creature
| "A Gentle Creature" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky | |
| Original title | Кроткая (Krotkaya) |
| Country | Russian Empire |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre(s) | Short story |
| Publication | |
| Media type | |
| Publication date | 1876 |
"A Gentle Creature" (Russian: Кроткая, romanized: Krotkaya), sometimes also translated as "The Meek One", is a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky written in November 1876. A first-person stream of consciousness narrative, the piece comes with the subtitle of "A Fantastic Story", and it chronicles the relationship between a pawnbroker and a girl that frequents his shop. The story was inspired by a news report that Dostoyevsky read in April 1876 about the suicide of a seamstress. Dostoyevsky referred to it as a "meek suicide" that "keeps haunting you for a long time."