Follow along the intrigue of a slice of Russian pre-communist society as they fight and make up, fall in love, party and suffer. All this is observed by our protagonist, who may indeed be an idiot but also might just be ignorant of the conventions of society because he was raised in a sanatorium. The poor prince has nothing but kindness in his heart for all fellow humans and infuriates the women who love him by not seeing why he needs to choose just one. A must read for anybody interested in classical literature.