Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Crime and Punishment - a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian novelist, philosopher and short story writer. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychological novelists in world literature.   Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in Saint Petersburg, who formulates a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money. Before the killing, Raskolnikov believes that with the money he could liberate himself from poverty and go on to perform great deeds. However, once it is done he finds himself racked with confusion, paranoia, and disgust for what he has done. His justifications disintegrate completely as he struggles with guilt and horror and confronts the real-world consequences of his deed.  

Notes from Underground

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Notes from Underground - a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian novelist, philosopher and short story writer. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychological novelists in world literature.    Notes from Underground is considered by many to be one of the first existentialist novels. It presents itself as an excerpt from the rambling memoirs of a bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator (generally referred to by critics as the Underground Man), who is a retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg.  

Poor Folk

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Poor Folk - a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian novelist, philosopher and short story writer. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychological novelists in world literature.   Poor Folk is written in the form of letters between the two main characters, Makar Devushkin and Varvara Dobroselova, who are poor third cousins twice removed. The novel showcases the life of poor people, their relationship with rich people, and poverty in general. A deep but odd friendship develops between them until Dobroselova loses her interest in communicating with Devushkin after a rich widower Mr. Bykov proposes to her.  

The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Brothers Karamazov - a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian novelist, philosopher and short story writer. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychological novelists in world literature.   Set in 19th-century Russia, The Brothers Karamazov is a passionate philosophical novel that enters deeply into questions of God, free will, and morality. It is a theological drama dealing with problems of faith, doubt and reason in the context of a modernizing Russia, with a plot that revolves around the subject of patricide. Since its publication, it has been acclaimed as one of the supreme achievements in world literature.  

The Gambler

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Gambler - a short novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian novelist, philosopher and short story writer. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychological novelists in world literature.   The first-person narrative is told from the point of view of Alexei Ivanovich, a tutor working for a Russian family living in a suite at a German hotel. The patriarch of the family, The General, is indebted to the Frenchman de Grieux and has mortgaged his property in Russia to pay only a small amount of his debt. Upon learning of the illness of his wealthy aunt, "Grandmother", he sends streams of telegrams to Moscow and awaits the news of her demise. His expected inheritance will pay his debts and gain Mademoiselle Blanche de Cominges's hand in marriage.  

The Idiot

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Idiot - a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian novelist, philosopher and short story writer. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychological novelists in world literature.   The title is an ironic reference to the central character of the novel, Prince (Knyaz) Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, a young man whose goodness, open-hearted simplicity and guilelessness lead many of the more worldly characters he encounters to mistakenly assume that he lacks intelligence and insight. In the character of Prince Myshkin, Dostoevsky set himself the task of depicting "the positively good and beautiful man.” The novel examines the consequences of placing such a unique individual at the centre of the conflicts, desires, passions and egoism of worldly society, both for the man himself and for those with whom he becomes involved.  

White Nights

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

White Nights - a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian novelist, philosopher and short story writer. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychological novelists in world literature.   Like many of Dostoyevsky's stories, "White Nights" is told in the first person by a nameless narrator. The narrator is a young man living in Saint Petersburg who suffers from loneliness. He gets to know and falls in love with a young woman, but the love remains unrequited.