Dostoievsky, Fyodor

(1821–81)

   Novelist.

   Dostoievsky was born in Moscow. As a young man he became involved in the activities of a left-wing group and was sentenced to death by the authorities. At the very last moment, he was reprieved and was sent instead into exile in Siberia for ten years. He is remembered for his novels (in their English translations), The House of the Dead, Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed and The Brothers Karamazov. In his books, Dostoievsky understands salvation as a free gift from God, but God himself cannot be found by human reason or determination. In this, together with the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, he is seen as a prophet both of the dialectical theology espoused by Karl Barth and of modern existentialism.

   Fyodor Dostoievsky, Complete Letters, edited and translated by D.A. Lowe and R. Meyer (1987);

   K. Mochulsky, Dostoievsky: His Life and Work, translated by M.A. Minchan (1967);

   V.V. Rosanov, Dostoievsky and the Legend of the Grand Inquisitor, translated by S.E. Roberts (1972);

   A. Vgrinsky, Dostoievsky and the Human Condition after a Century (1986).