Preface#
The roulette wheel is an agent of destiny. Every spin, every outcome is a manifestation of fate itself. We have the dramatic contrast of plebeians and aristocrats, punters with distinct betting strategies on this wheel of destiny.1
One’s detachment is crucial. For the aristocrat, the wheel is a game, a form of amusement. He stands above the fray, observing how fate plays out for those around him, secure in the knowledge that his stakes are never truly existential. No matter the outcome, his life remains untouched. This is his safety net, similar to the gods of Greek mythology, who toyed with mortals without suffering the consequences themselves. He is an observer of destiny, not its victim. He’s always crunching popcorn.
For the plebeian, the stakes are far higher. Every spin could determine their future in a visceral, immediate way. There’s no safety net. For the plebeian, this isn’t a game—it’s a struggle for survival, where each outcome could change everything. In this confrontation with destiny, the plebeian is more alive, more vulnerable, and more exposed to the whims of the wheel.
The casino is the marketplace that brings them together—the arena where destiny and the speculators intersect, with the house acting as the orchestrator of this dance of fate.2 The house always wins because the system is designed to profit from both the aristocrat’s amusement and the plebeian’s desperation. The aristocrat is entertained, the plebeian risks everything, and the house reaps the rewards.
We hereby capture the absurdity and cruelty of life’s unpredictability, especially when viewed through the lens of class and fate.3
Fig. 1 Casino of Life. This preface sets the stage for a deeper exploration of how Dostoevsky’s works—particularly those dealing with fate, chance, and social dynamics—mirror this metaphorical casino of life. From the aristocrats’ strategic positioning to the plebeians’ desperate struggle, Dostoevsky’s characters move through a world governed by unpredictable forces, where survival and self-destruction are often determined not just by individual choice, but by the inherent inequities in the system itself. Illustration: Llama3. meta-llama/llama3#