Fyodor Dostoevsky 

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) is widely considered not just one of the greatest Russian novelists but one of the greatest novelists of all time. His gift for organically integrating theological and philosophical questions into narrative fills his novels with rich insight into human psychology, the tensions between modernity and tradition, and the state of 19th-century Russia. Within the Western canon, Dostoevsky’s influence ranges from twentieth-century existentialists like Jean-Paul Sartre to the great Catholic novelist Walker Percy. 

In this video, Ralph Wood, Emeritus University Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor University, provides a thorough examination of Dostoevsky’s great novel, The Brothers Karamazov. This lecture took place during Belmont Abbey’s conference on Henri de Lubac’s great work, The Drama of Atheist Humanism. It was graciously funded by the Lily Endowment. 

Preferred Editions:

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Adolescent, trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (New York: Vintage Classics, 2004).
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (New York: Everyman, 1992).
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (New York: Everyman, 1993).
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons, trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (New York: Everyman, 2000).
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Great Short Works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, (New York: Harper Perennial, 2004).
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot, trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (New York: Vintage Classics, 2003).

Insightful Secondary Literature:

Henri de Lubac, The Drama of Atheist Humanism (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995).
Ellis Sandoz, Political Apocalypse: A Study of Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor (Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2002). Currently out of print. 

Useful External Links:

The Great Courses: Classics of Russian Literature
Project Gutenberg: Dostoevsky