The Literature of Fyodor Dostoevsky

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The Literature of Fyodor Dostoevsky

If literature is a game, then Fyodor Dostoevsky is one of literature's most

talented and respected players. All of Dostoevsky's works are not only highly

regarded by his readers, but also scholars of literature. Sigmund Freud stated that

Dostoevsky's place in literature is "...not far behind Shakespeare" (Freud 972). The

novel most commonly referred to as his masterpiece is Crime and Punishment. This

novel is written with such genius that practically anyone could enjoy it (anyone who

would be willing to read a five hundred page novel, that is). Dostoevsky uses many

devices to keep his reader's attention. He uses the timeless intrigue of a detective

story but still produces an intellectually challenging novel. Crime and Punishment

can be read and enjoyed by the average reader, but also challenges the intellectually

superior reader by the use of psychological insights. Crime and Punishment's

characters are filled with deep psychological and spiritual questions that haunt the

reader long after the story is read.

Janko Lavrin stated that Dostoevsky tapped into "...the most hidden recesses

of man's soul and spirit, he was the first European novelist to explore the

unconscious and to annex it wholesale to modern literature..." (973-4). Victor

Terras elucidates one of the fundamental differences in the psychological

development of Dostoevsky's characters and other nineteenth-century novelists'

characters:

They are developed centrifugally rather than centripitally. As the novel

progresses, the reader keeps discovering new character traits in a

Dostoevskian hero, and some of these traits will come quite

unexpected. As a result the character in question k...

... middle of paper ...

...ng a belief in Christ. Dostoevsky also uses

his characters to describe the mental suffering and questioning that realizing the

truth of Jesus Christ caused him. Dostoevsky projected his own inner turmoil and

his doubting faith into his characters to "...achieve a kind of catharsis..." and

perhaps prevent himself from going mad (Lavrin 974).

In the game of literary composition, Fyodor Dostoevsky is still one of the

most talented and respected players. His works are still highly regarded by all

readers, including literary critics and scholars. Dostoevesky's masterpiece Crime

and Punishment is written with such propensity that anyone, from the average reader

to the superincumbent reader, can enjoy this novel. The psychological and spiritual

questions pondered by Crime and Punishment's characters will haunt any reader

long after the novel has been read.

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