Dostoevsky and Freud: Autonomy and Addiction in Gambling

In this paper the modern ideal of autonomous or pure gambling is put forward in an analysis of Dostoevsky's gambling behavior, his novel The Gambler (1866) and Freud's psychoanalysis of Dostoevsky. The significance of The Gambler lies in the way conceptions of gambling are related to the social conditions of gamblers. Furthermore, the author demonstrates that Dostoevsky and Freud express contradictory views on gambling addiction. While Dostoevsky primarily appreciated roulette as a means of making money, Freud mistakenly interpreted this as a pathological passion. In different ways, however, both approaches toward excessive gambling presuppose and reinforce gambling-for-its-own-sake - Le jeu pour le jeu.